xantia_v6 wrote:Jim, I have to disagree with your prognosis that a 20 second tick rate will stress the hydraulic system.
Oh no!! a disagreement on FCF!!!
This is a different situation to a fast tick caused by a flat accumulator sphere, where due to the time taken by the regulator to react, there will be sharp spikes and dips in the system pressure.
In your case, with a good accumulator, the system pressure variation should be minimal, with no component seeing abnormal pressures, just the regulator going through a few more switching cycles.
I agree too Jim - apart from the regulator having to switch more often (which over a period of years may wear it out a bit faster) the system is under no more stress.
My Xantia went for a couple of years or more with cycle times ranging from 10-20 seconds due to a leaky electrovalve but with a good accumulator sphere and no ill effects.
If the leakage was severe the pump may struggle to top up the pressure in a timely fashion each cycle, but if the leakage is a lot less than the pumping capacity of the pump (which it will be) the only thing you would really notice is a longer time to pump up in the morning, and maybe the imfamous "groan" when getting out of the car due to the system pressure dropping off rapidly after the engine is switched off.
Although I could never prove it for certain I think on my car that the front electrovalve leakage may have played a role in the front suspension being intermitantly stiff (when it shouldn't be) but that is only going to hurt your behind, not the suspension
If the time until you get the new electrovalves is only a few weeks and the car seems to be riding ok, I honestly wouldn't worry about it and would continue to drive as is.
If it's not riding well and it could be some time before you replace them then I see no reason why you couldn't remove the hydractive fuse and fit normal corner spheres.
In theory the ride should be slightly worse in this state than a non-hydractive car, because the left/right flow (which softens pitching motions in the roll axis) will be blocked off by the permanently hard mode hydractive block.
So you may find on uneven surfaces the car pitches on the roll axis a bit more, (more like a sprung car) but the handling should be perfectly safe, and the ride acceptable.
Regards,
Simon