bumpy ride

tomrostron · Unread post by **tomrostron** » 21 Nov 2008, 16:46

i have a 1999 xantia2.1 td. it has 70,000 miles on clock. i have owned it for a month or so. the car has been well maintained, and looks good.My question is, why am i feeling every crack in the road, or manhole covers etc. i thought these had a very comfy ride. thanks Tom.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 21 Nov 2008, 17:02

Hi Tom,

Flat spheres most likely. Test by having the car at normal height and pushing on each corner of the car. The rear should be very soft and well damped. The front will be harder but still easily bounced. In fact it should not take a lot of effort to push the back right down to the bump stops.

Spheres loose pressure and the first sign of low pressure is a bouncy "boaty" ride with poor damping. Then, as more pressure is lost, the suspension goes harder and harder until there is none at all.

If you have a VSX/Exclusive 2.1TD than you may be experiencing the common problem of the suspension remaining in hard mode and not switching to soft due to failure of the Hydractive electrovalve back-emf diodes. Sounds serious but dead easy to fix.

Another cause can be incorrect ride height of seized/sluggish height correctors. Test by doing "Citarobics" and observing the car going beteen heights smoothly. Check particularly the car will fall from high to normal and from low to normal properly. You'd be amazed the effect sticky height correctors can have on ride. Ditto ride height. It must be correct.

I recommend a good bout of Citarobics is performed as a weekly ritual. It'll disperse any entrained air in the system and give the height correctors a good exercise.

Spheres are easy enough to change. See the "sticky" at the top of the Citroen Index Page on this forum.

Spheres are seen very much as a consumable item although they can be recharged as good as new by either Pleiades or Westroen.

handyman · Unread post by **handyman** » 21 Nov 2008, 17:08

Welcome to the Forum.

Sounds like your suspensions spheres are low on gas, assuming the height control lever is located in the correct slot for normal driving. The suspension spheres require recharging or replacing every three years.

There is an easy test you can do to identify which suspension spheres are faulty. With the engine running and the suspension on normal mode, walk around the car and press down on the bodywork. The car should respond by moving downwards and then return to normal level. If the car is abnormally hard to depress, the suspension unit on that corner is defective.

Chances are, you will find the rear units are gone first, although it is possible for the fronts to be defective.

Does the car have hydractive suspension? If you are not sure, there will be a switch located down near the gear lever, that is illuminated when turned on. That is the switch for the hydractive system. When the light is on, you are in sport mode.

If you do not have the switch, you ain't got the sportier suspension.

If you are still not sure, post up the trim level of the car, as we can probably identify whether you have the standard or hydractive systems.

Replacement of the spheres is not a difficult job, if you are handy with the spanners and have the right tools to remove the old spheres. If you ain't a meckanik, I am sure we can point you in the right direction to get the problem resolved.

Which part of the country are you located in?

Handyman.

handyman · Unread post by **handyman** » 21 Nov 2008, 17:12

Hi Jim, looks like you saw this at the same time that I did. I did not want to frighten Tom with the complexities of the Hydractive system.

Handyman

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 21 Nov 2008, 17:12

Handyman, we must have both been typing at the same time

What is more remarkable is we both said exactly the same things. Great minds and all that

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 21 Nov 2008, 17:37

Tom,

Negleted to say, a well set up Xantia on good spheres is as comfy as a comfy thing

Once you experience it properly, you'll be hooked. Biassed I know, but the 2.1TD is the pick of the crop

Unread post by **Peter.N.** » 22 Nov 2008, 15:35

..also the tyre pressures and wear have quite a marked effect on rough surfaces. All hydropnumatics tend to ride poory over small bumps at low speed but it improves markedly as your speed increases.