Rear LHM leak

[RichardW]

Harumph....

I had a nagging doubt that the hatch and estates were not the same - and indeed this is the case - the bearing OD and thickness is greater on the estate. All the kits it seems are for hatch only, so it would need to be dealer. And the bits come to £127 Let's hope he doesn't decide it needs doing!! Otherwise I could get my colleague to machine an insert for the arm to convert it back to hatch spec - after all the C5 estate makes do with the saloon size parts.

[c.morewood]

I'm really confused...From Docbackup the rear cylinder should be


5272 22

01 SUSPENSION CYL
LEFT
- WITHOUT HYDRACTIVE SUSPENSION UNTIL RPO No. 08208

My Xantia is RPO 8290 yet the cylinder the breaker supplied has a smaller bore and supply pipe fitting.
Does that mean the the smaller bore cylinder came later than 08208? I was under the impression it was the other way round?


Chris

[citronut]

no it suggests the one supplied was for a slandered system were your's must be hypa-active

[RichardW]

Looking back at the original pic Malc, it's a std car not a hydractive.

Oddly there was a period in 99 / 2000 where a different strut was fitted - and a different pipe as well (neither of which is still available). It shows the pipe size as 3.5mm, I wonder if they had a different end for a while? Note that the same strut was used in Mk1 estate, and Citroen reverted back to this from 1 March 2000.

[c.morewood]

Yes definately standard suspension... And I though this was going to be so easy once I'd got that cup off.

I've been looking round for cylinders from 2000 Xantias Both Estates and Saloons in the belief that those cylinders would fit. Will the saloon cylinder not fit?
I figure that the part I got was 5272 22 and that I should have got 5272 55. But now I notice that from RPO 8208 to 8518 i.e. 30 April 99 to 5 Mar 2000 they went with the -55 version and outside those dates they were the -22 version.



Thanks again.
Chris

[NewcastleFalcon]

Chris

When I was replacing my rear strut, an engineer I know was confident that he could refurbish my old strut.

As it turned out I didn't need his services on this occasion because the replacement strut from my old car sealed up fine.

It should be possible for people with more skill and knowledge than myself to build up the metal of the rim and re-machine the recess for the seal.

May cost more than a second hand replacement strut. but in theory it should be a possibility.

regards

Neil

[Mandrake]

Sort of related to this, so thought I'd tack it on here....

I may have to do a rear arm bearing for MOT. BOL says removal of the strut compeletly required - is this the case? I can see from this thread that the front end clip needs to be removed and the strut freed from the arm, but does the other end need to come out? What about the ABS sensor, presumably best to leave it in place and struggle with the plug and cable instead?

If its any help when I'm visiting Richard, I did the rear suspension arm bearings on my previous Xantia, so although I don't remember every little detail off the top of my head (it was 6 years ago!) if I see it in front of me I'll remember how to do the job... Mind you mine was a hatchback and almost rust free!

As already suggested, don't do battle with the ABS sensor - even on my virtually rust free NZ Xantia the ABS sensor was well and truly stuck, so I hate to think how rusted in they get here...the plug is fiddly to get to and requires dropping the back box down off its mounts to get to the left one but its far preferable to breaking a sensor...

[c.morewood]

Neil... Exactly what I was lying in bed thinking!!! If these cylinders are as rare as hens teeth:
1. would it be possible to have the rim built up and re machined or
2. would I be able to use cylinders of differing sizes or maybe a pair of smaller ones by changing the pipe size.
This begs the question what size is the fitting on the other end of the supply pipe?

Chris

Copied from the wanted section

"until this thread i was unaware there were so many variations/complications to the theme"
You and me both!!!



Notice both feed pipe as well as the piston is different





I'm currently researching the repair option .. looking round for TIG welders locally as its only a couple of small bits missing from the edge of the cylinder.



Chris

[c.morewood]

Another quick question or two...
With all this time on my hands.. on holiday .. can't garden due to the snow on the ground.. can't go anywhere due to the car...etc...
I have all the bits ready for her 256K service. If I put the rear wheels back on and lowered the rear. Would i get a load of LHM out of the free feed pipe or is there something that would stop this?....the LHM reservoir is empty and cleaned ready for the Hyreaflush...
If I were to start the engine to get the oil warmed up, ready for draining, would I mess up the Hydraulic pump i.e. does it rely on LHM for lubrication or is it safe to run the engine with no LHM?
That would give me something to do for the next couple of days .. well couple of hours at least!!

Chris

[RichardW]

Pump would probably be OK, but I suspect a reasonable amount of LHM will drip out of the pipe! None will come through under pressure as you will not be able to build any pressure and open the security valve.

I'm interested to see what the pipe end on the car looks like - can you post a pic?

[Hell Razor5543]

LHM does have lubrication properties, more than Hydraflush, which is one of the reasons why a Hydraflush cycle is limited to 3,000 miles. As you have just completed such a cycle, I would be careful running the pump for too long.

EDIT; Oops, I just thought you had done a cycle, not that you were about to. My bad!

[Mandrake]

Neil... Exactly what I was lying in bed thinking!!! If these cylinders are as rare as hens teeth:
1. would it be possible to have the rim built up and re machined or
2. would I be able to use cylinders of differing sizes or maybe a pair of smaller ones by changing the pipe size.
This begs the question what size is the fitting on the other end of the supply pipe?

Chris

Copied from the wanted section

"until this thread i was unaware there were so many variations/complications to the theme"
You and me both!!!



Notice both feed pipe as well as the piston is different

The different sized pistons are for hatchback and estate. The hatchback uses a 35mm diameter piston while the estate uses 40mm to increase the load carrying capacity, and the two are not compatible because they require different spheres with different gas pressure and damper valves to match the different mechanical advantage of the pistons...

In theory you might be able to get away with replacing the cylinders on both sides of a hatchback with estate cylinders if you also fitted estate spheres, (although I've not heard of anyone trying it) but not fit hatchback cylinders to an estate as you would reduce load carrying capacity.

[citronut]

i would not deliberately run the pump with no LHM running through it as it is lubricated by the citro blood

[c.morewood]

Pic tomorrow Richard.
I'm going to try to get the front end up so that I can at least do an oil and gear oil change.. but I'll use the jack and forget about running the engine.
Thanks Simon.. I've put feelers out for a welder to repair the end of the cylinder.. If that doesn't work I'll replace the pipework and cylinders on both sides with estate ones from just before the change.

Chris

[Mandrake]

i would not deliberately run the pump with no LHM running through it as it is lubricated by the citro blood

Agreed. Definately don't run a Xantia hydraulic pump without oil flowing through it - it has no roller bearings, the bearings are all simple bushes with the cam that drives the pistons having a simple bronze sleeve. It relies completely on the film of oil to support the bearings.

Running it for more than a few seconds without oil is likely to do serious damage, and if you try you'll notice that it makes a not very nice noise...

Here's the inside of a Xantia HP pump, notice the bronze sleeve near the ginger beer bottle It slips over the eccentric cam.

http://homepages.igrin.co.nz/simon/imag ... ppump1.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can also faintly see at the bottom of the hole a bronze sleeve for the end of the main shaft - that's all that supports that end...