Help. Rear Suspension wont go down and MOT tomorrow

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cox377
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Help. Rear Suspension wont go down and MOT tomorrow

Post by cox377 »

Hello guys,

I noticed the back of my xantia was riding a little low when I left work so I put the suspension to high and back back down again, unfortunaty the front came down but the back didnt. The back will however go right to very low but wont come back up unless I put it on highrise.

Can anyone make any recommendation?

Thanks again

James
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Post by CitroJim »

Hi James,

The white "Dogbone" linking the anti roll bar to the height corrector mechanism will have fallen off and allowing the height corrector to do as it wishes.

The dogbones don't fall off for no reason. Either the dogbone itself has hairline cracks in the ballcups or the height corrector mechanism has become very stiff due to lack of lubrication.

Support the rear well and go under hand have a look. If the dogbone pops back on very easily, it's cracked. IIf it's tough to pop on then the mechanism is stiff. Spray the spring area with WD40, exercise them and then spray them with spray grease.

Be careful doing this just pre-MOT as the tester might mistake lubrication for leaks.

The diagram below shows both the front and rear height correctors. The dogbone is item 6.

Image

Rarely, the steel extension attached to item 4 breaks off. Again, due to undue stiffness in the mechanism.
Jim

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Post by cox377 »

Thanks. Just putting my scruffs on now.

Wish me luck

James
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Post by Old-Guy »

Hi James

This sounds as though the plastic 'dog-bone' link between the rear anti-roll bar and the height corrector has broken or popped off.

Lots of posts on the subject or have a look at the Height Adjusters PDF file on my site at http://www.attfield.dircon.co.uk/xantia.

The suspension will go to Low and High because these settings move the height control mechanism to the two extremes (on the bump stops). For any point in between the mechanism needs the input via the plastic link to 'tell' the mechanism how high the suspension is - because it's self-levelling.

So it's a quick trip to your nearest Citroen agent (or GSF) for a new link (should be about £2.50) and maybe you can get the garage that's doing the MoT test to fit it?

If you do the job yourself PLEASE SUPPORT THE REAR OF THE CAR SECURELY - Xantias can kill anyone working underneath who doesn't take the proper precautions.

Guy

I see Jim beat me to it!
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Post by cox377 »

Hello guys,

well, it had come off, got a load of WD40 on the spring and popped the bone back on. She is now sitting right.

However, after you mentioned the word leak, the leak on my fuel pump maybe an instant failure :(

James
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Post by Chris570 »

if the clip was easy to put back on then get a new one from citroen (it'll only fall off again otherwise, i know :( )

otherwise hopefully the lube you've given it should be ok
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Post by citronut »

as you have probably read allready James,

the usual cause for this is the H/C linkage turrets becomming partly or fully seized up, the only wat to free them off fully, is to remove them from the car and work, lube,work, lube,work, lube, work, lube, work, lube them till they are realy floppy loose, them apply loads of grease and re/fit,

regards malcolm
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Post by cox377 »

Hello guys,

Had the MOT and on the face of it the only thing to worry about was the rear brakes braking unevenly. Whats the best course of action here? Is it a new pads job?

Much appreciated in advance

James
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Post by Xaccers »

Jack the back up, get the wheels off, look down at the discs and see if they pass the pads at an angle or not.
Chalkie stuff builds up between the arm and the caliper pushing it out at an angle.
You need to take the caliper off (hopefully not sheering the bolts) and chip off the chalkie stuff, then refit with a thin home made gasket or some grease in the way to prevent it happening again.
You may need to replace the pads and discs if they've worn at an angle.
It's also the usual culprit behind squeeky rear wheels.
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Post by cox377 »

Thanks for coming back to me Xac

The MOT tester said that if the bolts snap then the car is scrap, is this the case?

Can the pads be taken out without removing the caliper, may sound stupid :) just what I was told

Much appreciated

James
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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

Pleiades= £79 plus fitting, in case you wanted to know. that is for a complete New height corrector unit. mine was totally seized last christmas.

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Post by cox377 »

superloopy1 wrote:
cox377 wrote:Thanks for coming back to me Xac

The MOT tester said that if the bolts snap then the car is scrap, is this the case?

Can the pads be taken out without removing the caliper, may sound stupid :) just what I was told

Much appreciated

James
James

Take a look at this thread.

The pads can be removed quite easily from the caliper if that's all that needs doing but i'd bet my 6p'worth on needing to remove the calipers and clean the gunge from behind them as Xac says.

This is a well known rear braking problem :wink:

As the thread shows you need to go easy on the caliper retaining bolts and cleaning the rear threads of each bolt and dousing with Plusgas normally does the trick, just go gentle when you turn them :wink:
Thanks for the link mate,

So I'm assuming that there is no way on doing this with the caliper on. I do have a welder so can I assume I can try and weld a nut on it all goes pete tong.

If I changed the pads would it balance the breaking for the MOT?

I wish I had got my car MOT'ed on Monday now, this would have given me the easter holiday to get this work done. Very tight for time and if it all goes wrong I'm car less until she is back on the road.

Wish me luck

James
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Post by Xaccers »

I would imagine it depends on how bad they are.
One of mine was so bad the disc was actually rubbing against the caliper.
The pads were being worn down at an angle, and the disc wasn't reaching the end of them, so looking from the side it looked like the pads were new, but looking from above there was only a mm or so left!
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Post by cox377 »

thanks for coming back to me Xac, so theoretically, if the caliper isn't hitting the disc then a new set of pads may be an option.

Damn this rain :evil:

James :)
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Post by Xantidote »

Any white corrosion material behind the caliper pushes the caliper away from the radius arm, & upsets the alignment of the pads, causing them to wear "at an angle", as others have described. Just replacing the pads without removing the corrosion (if significant) would mean the new pads taking a longer time to bed in to the non-parallel disc faces, if you get my meaning. In the meantime, whilst the new pads are wearing/bedding in, you will have reduced braking effort from the rear brakes.

Good luck with the bolts. Wire brush the exposed threads behind the radius arm, & dose with Plus-Gas :) :)
Martin

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