Anti-sink valve puzzle

[RobL]

Hi all. I've had a bit of a disaster this week - a river of LHM from the front anti-sink valve, the seal has gone on one of the ends. It doesn't look too difficult to repair, however I've spoken to Martin at Pleiades who very kindly sent me a photo of what a replacement should look like - hence the puzzle. There are only 4 pipes coming out of mine whereas there should be 5. Mine has both ends blanked off. He says he can't recall seeing one like it.

Now I could just get it repaired, but I am left wondering that if mine has been repaired/adapted/botched in the past, then where on Earth should the missing pipe go to, since the anti-sink did actually work before, although it had started to sink fairly quickly in the days just before the leak.

Anyone got any thoughts on this?

Btw it's a 99 Xantia 2.0 16v Exclusive Hydractive II

[KevMayer]

The 5 pipes would normally be:-

1. In - High Pressure feed from Security valve
2. Out - Feed to Hydractive Electrovalve.
3. Out - Feed to Height Corrector.
4. In/Out - Connection to Height Corrector for up/down height control.
5. In/Out - Connection to Hydractive block for up/down height control (through flow from 4).

If you only have 4 pipes then could it be a non hydractive anti sink valve that's fitted and maybe there's no pipe to the front electrovalve? I can't find a pic of a non hydractive anti sink, so, I'm only guessing. Then again, he must have had an anti sink problem as well because it's a much bigger job to change it than just 2 spheres.

It maybe that the previous owner has turned the front end into a non-hydractive version because of electrovalve problems. He'd also have had to fit non hydractive spheres to the front struts.

My Activa had Non Hydractive front spheres on it when I got it. I don't think the front electrovalve was working and the softer speres were fitted to overcome the bouncyness.

[RobL]

Thanks for that Kev, Ill have another look tomorrow to see if I can identify where the pipes actually go, and to see if there's a stopped off port somewhere where a pipe might go.

I've got it off now, the leaking end simply screws off, it looks like it just needs a new o-ring. This is the end that's supposed to be blank, I can't even see why there's a removable end in the first place - unless there's a six port system out there and this is a standard valve

Regarding the electrovalves - they both work(ed) in that during the timeout both front and back suspension can be bounced, then afterwards both become hard as expected. And just to make it more complicated, I got underneath the back end today and discovered the back valve is the same as the front

[CitroJim]

Rob,

There's a bit in this thread about leaky anti-sink valves and the O rings...

[addo]

Is it possible one of the pressure lines is "teed" elsewhere? My '99 estate is like that; it has a union that's not there according to Service.Citroen, but is original...

Regards, Adam.

[Mandrake]

Hi Guys,

According to the scans I have, there are 3 types of anti-sink valve, but all of them have 5 ports, see below:

http://homepages.igrin.co.nz/simon/imag ... ink-06.jpg

The rest of the anti-sink manual can be found here:

http://homepages.igrin.co.nz/simon/imag ... /antisink/

Hope this helps

Regards,
Simon

[RobL]

Thanks for all the replies guys, the resource link from Mandrake was especially useful. I think I may have solved the puzzle

According to service.citroen parts drawings, after RP 8280 (ie. my vehicle) there are only 4 ports shown being used, whereas earlier drawings show 5. Mine are 2 to the height corrector, one to the safety valve and one to the front electrovalve/control block.

Now I know how easy it is to remove, I'm going to source a new O-ring, screw it up and give that a go before laying out any more for a new valve.