Lowering Suspension No Engine

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acrowot
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Lowering Suspension No Engine

Post by acrowot »

I have a 1999 Xantia with a snapped Cambelt, engine Goosed with no Auxcillery Belt. I want to remove some parts that require that the Suspension be de-pressurised, is it possible to do this as the pump cannot be run in the normal manner.
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Post by citroenxm »

Yes you CAN activate the pump manually..

If you carefully remove the nuts around the pump securing the pipe work first, then remove the two mounting bolts that hold the pump in place, you can fit a 13mm headded bolt to the centre of the pump, then make an adapter that will fit a 13mm socket and fit in a power drill

You can then use the drill to spin the Pump to build up the system pressure.. If you put the car in low setting she will then sink..

BE AWARE: The pumps are a good quarter horse or so! you will need a VERY POWERFULL drill, as the drain on a lower powered drill CAN burn it out.

But thats how I do it and it works well to, if your anti sink works its also a good way of getting the car up to tow it..

Paul
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Post by citroenxm »

Just thniking about it, are you not going to fix her up??

They DO NOT break the Cam shafts like the old engines, just the rocker fingers, so theres NO need to remove the head to fix her???

PAul
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acrowot
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Post by acrowot »

Thanks for your reply, no I am not fixing it, it is the 1.9 td and I have replaced it with a HDI, the Camshaft pulley is split and when I turn the camshaft using the nut sequring the pulley it does jam, I think a Piston or Pistons have come into contact with some of the valves. Before the Aux. belt shredded and some of it got under the Cambelt and caused the belt to jump a few teeth it was in good condition. These cars are very cheap now and I decided not to repair the faulty one.
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Post by citroenxm »

Ah, I assumed it was the car in your signiture :oops:

What age, spec colour is she?

Paul
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Post by addo »

Easiest "crack" for suspension pressure is to loosen the input pipe nuts to a strut top (front suspension) or into a suspension cylinder (rear suspension). Do not fully remove the nut, keep it in by a thread or two and carefully pull the pipe away. Be wary of the fluid jet - messy and high pressure.

Setting the height lever to high first, might help.
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Post by acrowot »

It is a 1999 LX newer shape Dark Blue.
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Post by Xaccers »

acrowot wrote:Thanks for your reply, no I am not fixing it, it is the 1.9 td and I have replaced it with a HDI, the Camshaft pulley is split and when I turn the camshaft using the nut sequring the pulley it does jam, I think a Piston or Pistons have come into contact with some of the valves. Before the Aux. belt shredded and some of it got under the Cambelt and caused the belt to jump a few teeth it was in good condition. These cars are very cheap now and I decided not to repair the faulty one.
Belt snapped on Cassy doing 40mph on the M25
Broke the cam and it's caps.
Sourced new ones for about £50, fitted and good as new.
The valves rarely bend as they are inline with the pistons.
Great engines, much better than the hdi ;)
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Post by lexi »

Excellent Xac....... the "old donk" is a fine engine.
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Post by handyman »

Hullo Acrowot, to answer your question, that seems to have gotten overlooked, yes, you can depressurize the system without the engine running.

Simply switch on the ignition, move the suspension level lever to 'low', stick your head under the bonnet and open the pressure bleed valve on the regulator block, 12mm head, next to the accumulator sphere. That should release the pressure in the system, sufficient to remove parts, assuming they are not spheres as you will need maximum pressure to 'crack' the joint on these.

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Post by Xantidote »

Handyman,

Following the procedure you suggest (sounds very plausible), would the anti-sink come into play, preventing the rear suspension from dropping to it's LOW position?
Martin

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Post by handyman »

How do you de-pressurise the system when removing spheres? Does the anti-sink stay pressurised? :roll: :roll:

All the ones I do sink to the ground. There may be a small amount of residual pressure, but it is nowhere near full operating conditions.

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Post by acrowot »

handyman wrote:How do you de-pressurise the system when removing spheres? Does the anti-sink stay pressurised? :roll: :roll:

All the ones I do sink to the ground. There may be a small amount of residual pressure, but it is nowhere near full operating conditions.

Handyman
Thanks Hanyman will give this a try.


Belt snapped on Cassy doing 40mph on the M25
Broke the cam and it's caps.
Sourced new ones for about £50, fitted and good as new.
The valves rarely bend as they are inline with the pistons.
Great engines, much better than the hdi

Xac, In what way is the 1.9TD better than the HDI?
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Post by Xaccers »

Well, you can repair the damage done by a slipped/snapped cam belt easily ;)
Runs on vegetable oil so is much cheaper.
Spares are readily available from most scrap yards again reducing the cost of ownership.
Easier to tweak for more power.
Fewer complicated parts to go wrong.
Available in the better looking S1 Xantia rather than only in S2 ;)
1.9TD+ SX Xantia Estate (Cassy) running on 100% veg
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Post by acrowot »

Xac wrote:Well, you can repair the damage done by a slipped/snapped cam belt easily ;)
Runs on vegetable oil so is much cheaper.
Spares are readily available from most scrap yards again reducing the cost of ownership.
Easier to tweak for more power.
Fewer complicated parts to go wrong.
Available in the better looking S1 Xantia rather than only in S2 ;)

Well I would not and do not run on veg, so for me that is not a reason to prefer the 1.9 to the HDI.
There did used to be many of the old Xantias in my local scrappy, there are non there now but the HDIxants and Pugs are now begining to appear.
I have a HDI90 and am led to believe you can chip or remap these quite cheaply, but will not be doing it anyway.
Complicated parts, yes OK.
Available in S1 that is better looking, not in my opinion.
I also find the HDI smoother and more economical.
I have had a few Xantias over the years, one I bought with a snapped Cambelt, valves in this were bent, I souced a skimmed and allegedly recon head, this also had 1 bent vale, it was a pig to remove.
So most of your reasons seem to be your own personal opinion which are not mine.
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