Changing Xantia Hydractive Spheres

Post by **DHallworth** » 10 Jun 2011, 12:43

Hi Guys,

It's around 2 - 3 years since I last changed a set of Hydractive Spheres...

It was on our Series 1 Xantia V6. I remember having problems removing one of them from the car. A centre sphere rings a bell but I might be wrong.

In the end our local indie changed it for me. He did something to depressurise it and it unscrewed easily by hand.

As I'm about to change all of the spheres on our HDi Exclusive on Saturday I thought I'd ask as I can't remember what he did!

I've got a Lexia so am wondering if there's an option to depressurise it on there somewhere?

Thanks in advance!

David.

Post by **CitroJim** » 10 Jun 2011, 13:02

Hi David,

Easy, keep the engine running and bring the car down on low. Don't switch off until the whole car is fully low and has been for a minute or so.

Absolutely no need to struggle with the regulator bleed screw.

Doing it like this will keep the anti-sink valves open and the hydractive valves in soft mode, allowing the hydractive centre spheres to loose a good deal of their stored pressure.

They may still hold a tad of pressure but nothing a good sphere tool will fail on.

Pop a piece of plywood between the rad and the front hydractive block to protect the rad. This sphere can be a tad tight and is mounted on a springy bracket. If it proves a bit recalcitrant, take a club hammer and a cold chisel to it just to get it on the move... You see the need of plywood now!!!

Post by **DHallworth** » 10 Jun 2011, 16:52

Thanks Jim.

Cheryl is on holiday as of 6am tomorrow morning so I've got her car for a week.

It's the ideal time to change all the sphere's and the cambelt as I can have it sitting for a couple of days without causing disruption if needs be.

Dropping her off at 6am at Glasgow Airport, hoping by 7am it'll be in the shed being worked on! (Well... I can hope! At that time of morning the couch will be much more appealing!)

David.

citroenxm · Post by **citroenxm** » 10 Jun 2011, 20:35

Hmmmmmm Jim, I ve tried this, and HAVE to report this method doesn't work.

I changed two outer spheres on the grey 24v XM S1, backed the car up ramps, lowered it to the ground, well, to her lowest setting and left her running for 5 mins...

Then stopped the engine, and the spheres were Still hard to remove and I got an ice cream tub full of fluid out of both struts....!!!

David, BE PREPARED for there to still be some pressure left. You will know because anything more then Two turns they should be loose, if not, theres pressure there... you can either continue to unscrew the sphere carefully untill the seal gives then collect the draining fluid, or as the car will be on a poster ramp undo the regulator screw to release the excess pressure..

Remember to crack the OUTER rear sheres with the car on HIGH... undo them 3/4 of a turn only...

then lower the car...

Paul

Post by **CitroJim** » 10 Jun 2011, 22:28

citroenxm wrote:Hmmmmmm Jim, I ve tried this, and HAVE to report this method doesn't work.

It does for me

Must be a peculiarity of the XM...

I did say that this will help dissipate MOST of the pressure....

citroenxm · Post by **citroenxm** » 10 Jun 2011, 22:31

Of course jim, but by the looks of the amount I got out of the XM I think all of it was still there.... LOL...

Paul

Post by **CitroJim** » 10 Jun 2011, 22:39

What was odd in your case Paul, was that it was a sinking XM too so no anti-sink valves to get in on the act and cause the corners to hold pressure.

Were any of them ruptured?

Because it's so hard to get at I forget the V6 has a bleed valve. I even swapped the pump today on mine without touching the bleed valve...

Honestly gov, last time I used the method I described every sphere almost came off in my hand...

citroenxm · Post by **citroenxm** » 10 Jun 2011, 22:43

Ah Ive changed pumps on anti sink cars on that side of the regulator... thats NO problem...

No the spheres were not ruptured, however, the rear spheres were a bit over springy in the "No Nitrogen, or low pressure" side of things...

They were also larger Estate/BX long travel spheres on the rear... Ive put a pair of "Normal" Spheres on the rear.. used, but not as bad as previous...

Paul

Post by **DHallworth** » 11 Jun 2011, 12:24

Right...

I've got all the spheres changed apart from the bloody front centre one... It just won't budge...

I've got the Plaedies sphere removal tool round it, have tried bashing the tool with a copper lump hammer etc but the sphere is absolutely rock solid.

I've just checked with the Lexia...

There's a permanent fault stored for the front electrovalve.

If that's not working, would that explain why I can't move the sphere?

If so, what electrovalves are compatible with the HDi's? Would an Activa or V6 one fit?

Thanks

David.

addo · Post by **addo** » 11 Jun 2011, 13:06

Warning - cowboy suggestions for action only if the electrovalve has stuck shut with 60+ bar of stored pressure!

1. Crack the nitrogen filler cap to release gas pressure - hopefully it will drop the stored fluid pressure enough to allow removal of the sphere. Wear hearing protection.

2. Drill the fluid side of the sphere for similar reason - take extreme care to avoid the fluid jet.

Post by **xantia_v6** » 11 Jun 2011, 14:08

I would not immediately trust the ECU (Lexia) when it reports a permanent fault on an electrovalve. Was the hydroactive working in soft mode before you decided to change the spheres? if so, the hydroactive valve is not so faulty.

It could just be that the sphere was put on too tight. It appears that you did not try to loosen the sphere with the suspension pressurised at high setting, this seems to make them easier to move (maybe it forces LHM into the threads).

In the worst case, remove the electrovalve, and mount in a solid vice, and the sphere should be easy to shock off.

There are a few different variants of xantia electrovalves, depending on build date.

Post by **DHallworth** » 11 Jun 2011, 20:03

I couldn't for the life of me get the centre sphere to budge so I swapped the front electrovalve with the one from our Activa.

The difference it's made to the car is noticeable.

Also, the fault code cleared from the HDi and jumped straight tp the Activa.

Even after swapping though that bloody sphere wouldn't budge so I took the nipple off the sphere and let the gas out as per Addo's cowboy guide and the sphere came off nice and easily.

What a difference it's made to the car though.

On the lookout for an electrovalve now if anyone knows of one!

Thanks again guys,

David.

addo · Post by **addo** » 12 Jun 2011, 00:14

Glad it worked!

robert_e_smart · Post by **robert_e_smart** » 12 Jun 2011, 08:04

David,

If its the electronic coil part of the electrovalve you need, I have a couple here you can have. I can't guarantee if they work though...

I was removing the spheres from a xm breaker yesterday, and the hydractives as ever were a pig to get off!!

Post by **CitroJim** » 12 Jun 2011, 08:21

Check them with an ohmmeter. A good 'un shows about 5.5 ohms.

Just occasionally, the back emf diode goes short circuit rather than the rather more normal open-circuit and this renders the coil useless.

Lexia will simply indicate 'electrovalve fault' in the case of either an open-circuit or short circuit coil.

I found this on Toby's Activa the other weekend.