Replaced Front height corrector...no movement

[c.morewood]

As many of you know I've been working on suspension issues for the past month.
I was working on the final part of the jigsaw yesterday.. the front height corrector.
I had a problem with the pin which is attached to the HC and the to the dogleg. It had come free from the HC. I thought the easiest and quickest way to get back on the road would be to replace it with a secondhand unit.
I hadn't counted on having to disconnect the Anti Roll Bar adjuster by undoing the tension bolt.
I marked carefully the position of the ARB adjuster before removal so that I could put it back in exactly the same position.
However having reassembled everything I found that the car was stuck on high... I guessed that this might be due to a lack of Hydraflush in the system.. so I added 1.5lit of Hydraflush LHM mix which made no difference. I got another lit of LHM today and added most of that... that made a difference and the front of the car dropped from fully high to low and no matter what I do now I can't get the front to rise at all... I've adjusted the adjuster almost to its limits of rearward movement.. but to no avail. The rear is fine and I have no problems with it.
I realize I've been trying to do this in less than ideal conditions (on ramps with axle stands beneath to stop her dropping on to me) as the garage with the pit isn't available till tomorrow evening.. but I was just trying to get the car to rise even just a little and I can get no movement at all... the doglegs are still connected and haven't pinged off.. the rod is still connected.. I'm at a loss.
Could it be that the HC is duff? or could I have inadvertantly blocked a pipe?
Any suggestions please?

[Mandrake]

Most likely you've mixed up the inlet and return pipes! Those are the two pipes right beside each other.

If thats the case if the car is too low it will try to adjust lower, and too high it will try to adjust higher! Therefore it will always settle either at full height or minimum height.

What I would do is loosen the clamp on the roll bar, then try operating the manual height control lever on the centre console to both minimum and maximum height settings, (give it 3-4 minutes each way with the engine running) and if you find the height does the opposite of what the lever instructs, you've found your problem.

If its not reversed but it does respond to the manual height control lever while the clamp is loose, use the manual height control to tweak the ride height until its approximately correct before tightening the clamp - this will get you in the ball park, then just follow the normal height adjustment procedure.

[c.morewood]

That is entirely possible Simon.. I was so tired after trying to fit one of the pipes with my fingertips and nothing I could do would get it in....and working, as I discovered, at 6 inches from my face I'm almost blind!!! Varifocals don't work at that distance!!!
I eventually figured out that the last 1cm of the pipe had a slight bend on it and wouldn't allow it to center properly in the hole... Once straightened it went in easily.. but that took up a good couple of hours and my arms and neck were knackered!!
I'll give that a try tomorrow... If I do remove the pipes, how much LHM am I likely to loose? The contents of the whole pipe or just a few drops? The Fluid level was quite low when I did the change last time

[Mandrake]

If there's some pressure in the suspension you could have a veritable fountain in your face if you uncouple the pipe, potentially dangerous if it caught you in the eye, so be careful and wear safety glasses.

Try to figure out if it is connected backwards before disconnecting it - if you can prove that its responding back to front to the manual height lever with the roll bar clamp loose you could depressurise the front suspension by moving the manual height lever the "wrong" way, eg the way that makes it go down, then after a few minutes open the pressure regulator bleed screw to remove the supply pressure as well.

It doesn't matter that the rear suspension would still have pressure in it due to the back to front functioning between front and rear suspension as it can't back-feed into the main pressure supply past the anti-sink valve.

[Xantidote]

It's not going to help you sort the present problem, but I'm now finding a digital camera very useful, taking lots of piccies before I start a job where I think I might have problems on re-assembly.

And yes, I understand the eyesight problem. Either there's not enough light, or it's the wrong distance to be able to focus on the subject

[Mandrake]

It's not going to help you sort the present problem, but I'm now finding a digital camera very useful, taking lots of piccies before I start a job where I think I might have problems on re-assembly.

VERY good advice its something I do all the time with the camera on my phone, anything I might be unsure about upon reassembly like routing of pipes, connectors etc I take pictures of before and during disassembly. Saves tons of time compared to making written notes as well as it only takes seconds, and if done on a phone you can immediately go back and refer to a picture on the spot at any time without the need of going to use a computer to upload and view the photos...

[c.morewood]

Thanks Simon,
I'll get onto that tomorrow..
Plenty of light.. headtorch...Not enough distance Martin... with the car just inches from my chest.. (with axle stands) I just can't focus... I'm going to have to invest in some new glasses or at least some extra ones or maybe a magnifying glass!!
I thought I'd identified them correctly using the bends in the pipe.. maybe I should've tagged one.

[CitroJim]

I just can't focus... I'm going to have to invest in some new glasses or at least some extra ones or maybe a magnifying glass!!

I know this problem exactly Chris Whatever pair of glasses I try I end up like you when working under a car - all is a blur

I'd be suspecting of reversed pipes too. As far as I recall it's opposite to what seems right... Been there myself!

[citronut]

Not enough distance Martin... with the car just inches from my chest.. (with axle stands) I just can't focus... I'm going to have to invest in some new glasses or at least some extra ones or maybe a magnifying glass!!

or maybe some taller axle stands

i also agree with Simon on the mixie me pipe's ies theory, as both of those pipe do have a similar curve/bend in them,

[c.morewood]

Well with the car on high on the ramps .. its much easier... yes it was reversed pipes.. Thanks Simon.. I must be getting old or something not to have figured that one out.. I think its the stress of having to get this on the road soon as there's 4 of us using one car all trying to get to work and 2 going in opposite directions!!! I've got the pit in a couple of hours so hopefully that'll be the front sorted out... now as for the back...I'll continue that on the other thread as it'll probably benefit someone in the end.

Thanks again

[Mandrake]

Excellent, glad it was as simple as swapping the pipes over.

[Xantidote]

That's good news Chris - always a relief when a problem's solved

[c.morewood]

And now she's sitting at the correct height... which feels awfully low after years of being 5 fingers.
I discovered it was easier when setting the height to release the clamp...set the car to low...let her settle then move the height lever to "normal"... then adjust the clamp.
If I tried to start the procedure from the high setting she wouldn't move.

Thanks again

[Mandrake]

I don't know how other people adjust the height, but here's how I do it:

If the roll bar clamp has been disconnected for any reason you have to get it into the ballpark first, I do this by leaving the clamp loose, then using the manual height lever to adjust the height approximately right - when the clamp is loose the high and low settings on the manual lever will still raise and lower the car, but when you put it back to the normal position it will just sit at whatever height it is at, rather than returning to a set height ride height, as there is no feedback with the clamp loose.

I then tighten the clamp and measure the height by inducing upwards and downwards corrections - I sit on the relevant end of the car to make it lift me then get off, wait for it to go down again and this gives me my "downwards" measurement. To get an upwards measurement I lift the end of the car at the bumper a few inches, wait until it starts getting heavy then let it go so it drops. It will then correct itself upwards again, this gives me my "upwards" measurement, I then take the half way point between the two as the actual measurement, and sometimes I'll repeat the tests more than once to see if the result is consistent.

Making small adjustments to the ride height can be tricky if the wrong technique is used - I find the best way by far is to loosen the bolt on the clamp, but not completely, enough so that it is still just gripping, then you can tap the clamp with a small hammer to turn it slightly (just a few degrees) on the roll bar then nip the bolt up tight again.

I then repeat the height measurement process and usually find I can get it spot on by the 2nd or 3rd iteration. If you loosen the clamp completely you'll loose your position and end up with the ride height out by a random amount of up to 20mm or more leading to a very hit and miss process where you only get it right by luck. Even just loosening the clamp (completely) and tightening it again without attempting to adjust it will cause the adjustment to change as its so sensitive.

As long as the bolt is kept tight enough for the clamp to grip and its only loosened enough to move with a hammer tap you can make very small precise adjustments and not loose your place.