IS IT REALLY THAT EASY

[Jaspwieser]

HI GUYS, HAVING READ THE POSTS ON REMOVING SPHERES ON A XANTIA AND EVEN WATCHING A YOU TUBE VIDEO, IS IT REALLY THAT EASY.. I DO HAVE SOME MECHANICAL KNOWLEDGE BUT NOT WITH A CITROEN.

HAVE BOUGHT A REMOVAL TOOL FROM EBAY, WILL GET SOME RAMPS
WANT TO CHANGE ALL THE SPHERES.. DO I OR SHOULD I CHANGE THE FLUID


RICHARD

[addo]

Yes, change the fluid. If you can stretch to it, buy the gallon of "hydraflush" - orange container labelled "TOTAL Hydraurinçage" and run with this for a thousand miles. Then empty it all out and refill/bleed again.

Reservoir itself is easily removed with two 10mm nuts to the rear then pulling steadily upwards from its retainer grommets below, and swilled clean with petrol. Before removing it, take note of the way its lid retainer wire is clipped on, and be careful easing the feed hoses (fragile and costly at 10+ years of age) off the lid spigots - use worm drive clamps on refitting.

Don't use a brush or compressed air on the fluid filters - just gentle swilling in a clean sauce jar or similar full of petrol or white spirit. Shake/drip dry after.

[CitroJim]

Well, it can be easy but on the other hand, it can be bloody difficult, it all depends on how long the sphere has been on and how tight it was done up and how much corrosion is present...

On my cars, most will spin off with ease because they are regularly off for routine pressure testing...

However, I worked on a project car earlier this year where almost every sphere needed the attentions of a cold chisel, a punch and a 4 lb club hammer to remove them. Most fall somewhere between these two extremes...

If the tool won't cut the mustard, then a hammer and chisel is your salvation.

Have you read the sticky on sphere changing?

Note carefully the safety warnings and the special procedure for the rear corner spheres...

[Jaspwieser]

Thanx guys...

[Old-Guy]

With fairly tight spheres, letting some PlusGas soak into the joints overnight (or longer) seems to make a big difference. Having Plus Gas'd my rear spheres, I then bust my strap wrench (Yes, I should have known better!), trying to get the corner ones off. When I came back to the job several hours later with a hefty chain wrench, they came off surprisingly easily - using exactly the same breaker bar I'd been swinging on until the strap wrench gave up the unequal contest.

Do cover the radiator with a sheet of stout cardboard, thin ply hardboard (best) when doing the accumulator sphere - protects both the radiator and your knuckles - radiator fins are like a giant cheese grater!

There's a condensed version of the sticky thread here.

[frenchcarnut]

I did my old Xantia.......and a cold chisel was in order. It was a dream to get them replaced and experience a whole new Xant once done however.

[citronut]

in all the years i have worked on and around citroen's i have never had to resort to the use of a cold chisel,

i do own/use either my proper citroen tool (bit like the ebay jobby) but instead of a bolt tightenning against the sphere, the steel band has has a split then tightened onto the sphere with a pinch bolt,

this tool is usualy used in conjunction with a club hammer to shock the sphere loose,

or my stanley 30cm pipe chain wrench, sometimes aided by a length of tube to give it more leverage,

regards malcolm

[Citroenmad]

in all the years i have worked on and around Citroën's i have never had to resort to the use of a cold chisel,

i do own/use either my proper Citroën tool (bit like the ebay jobby) but instead of a bolt tightenning against the sphere, the steel band has has a split then tightened onto the sphere with a pinch bolt,

this tool is usualy used in conjunction with a club hammer to shock the sphere loose,

or my stanley 30cm pipe chain wrench, sometimes aided by a length of tube to give it more leverage,

regards malcolm

We have that tool too, usually works, though not on C5s, their spheres are bigger.