Xantia 2.0l H.d.i 110 bhp spheres

[stevestix8]

Hi All,

Has been a while since I last posted, all been going well with mine. I got another years m.o.t at Mr Clutch again (Oct) at £26 this time.

I have been doing more miles recently and on my way back from Cheltenham last night I noticed that the bouncing is back.

I changed all 3 front spheres some yrs back and it has been fine. Now the rear spheres seem to have gone.

My question is concerning the rear spheres. I have found 2 Lizarte spheres for either side but the one I need more info on is the central rear sphere (accumilator on front) is it the same as central front sphere?

Many thanks,

Steve

[Stewart(oily)]

No its completely different, it is fed by a pipe like the brake pipes with ISTR a 9MM gland nut, the large thread that seals regular spheres only holds it onto its bracket.

[Xaccers]

Steve, is your's a VSX/Exclusive with Hydractive suspension?

[stevestix8]

Hi Xac,

You keeping well?

Mine is the Sx I dont think mine is the hydractive.

How can I check exactly what rear spheres are needed.

Steve

[Peter.N.]

Bounce each corner of the car with the engine running, you should have at least 3" of up and down movement on each corner, probably more on the back, if one corner doesn't bounce, that will be the faulty one.

Peter

[Xaccers]

Hi Xac,

You keeping well?

Mine is the Sx I dont think mine is the hydractive.

How can I check exactly what rear spheres are needed.

Steve

I'm not doing too bad, hope things are good with you

SX is non-hydractive, so only 6 spheres in total and as Stewart said it's different to all the other spheres, it's like the front accumulator but the inner hole is threaded and takes a pipe.
Up behind the spare wheel cradle you'll see the rear accumulator which is known as the anti-sink sphere (as it's fitted to cars with anti-sink valves).
You'll need a 9mm flare spanner and before I go any further, you'll also want a 4.5mm pipe seal, which GSF should still do. You can sometimes carefully extract the old seal from the old sphere once removed.
Anyway, with the car up on axle stands at the rear and the system depressurised, slide under and you'll see the pipe going into the sphere. Hook the flare spanner onto the pipe nut, then unscrew the sphere. The bracket that the sphere is in will stop the spanner turning and so you'll spin the sphere out of the bracket and also off the pipe nut which is much easier than trying to screw the nut out through the small gap.
Fit the new seal (or recovered seal if it's in good condition. It's basically a short cut of 4.5mm nitrile) to the end of the pipe and screw the sphere into the bracket just enough to hold it in place. Wiggle the pipe and seal into the hole in the sphere (try to be inventive with your swear words at this point) and get the pipe nut started into the hole. Hook the flare spanner on and screw the sphere home, then nip up the pipe nut.

[stevestix8]

Great, thanks for the response.

I will have alook for the price of the rear anti sink sphere.

It had the 2 rear spheres done in 09, just before I got it, but not the anti sink, as far as I can tell that is original.

I Changed the 3 spheres on the front not so long back and havent had a problem on the front.

I will get myself a new anti sink sphere first and hoepfully that will fix the prob.

Many thanks for advice,

Steve

[stevestix8]

Hi again,

Have been looking everywhere for the rer anti sink sphere. Most places i looked only had thye others.

I did find this company selling them new with 12 month guarantee for the price of £24. see link

http://www.aepdirect.com/anti-sink-sphe ... ory_id=755" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Do you agree this is the right one. It does appear to be for my car, based on reg.

Steve

[aneesh84]

That's right XA50RU is the code for IFHS rear anti sink sphere for xantia.

You can check the full catalogue here

http://www.autersa.ch/downloads/katalog ... 0-2011.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[stevestix8]

Hi,

Ok, I have ordered the new rear anti sink sphere. £31 in the end with p&p. Europarts and many others just did not have them, every sphere but.

To confirm the symptoms I am getting are that when driving it is very bbbouncy on back end or stiff in lower setting. When parked the back is high.

I hope I will fix the prob with this new anti sink sphere. I have read somewhere that this only stops it sinking when parked? It certainly has not had a new anti sink sphere for over a decade, when the other 5 have all been replaced in the last few years.

Will post when done.

Thanks
Steve

[aneesh84]

I am sorry I had just read your last post. The anti sink will not solve these 2 problems. It has nothing to do with the softness of suspension. For a non-hydractive model like yours, only the two rear side spheres are responsible for the ride softness. It seems your old spheres are already 5 years old so it is time to change them. I would suggest you to order the other two spheres too.

What do you mean by lower setting? You are not supposed to drive on the lowest setting. The second lowest setting is the normal driving position. Do you mean that?

The Anti-sink sphere is basically a pressure regulator that provides reserve braking pressure in case of failure , and also keeps the pressure to not allow the car to sink down when parked. It is NOT a suspension sphere.

Is your back too high while driving too? Seems like faulty height corrector setting then. Changing Anti sink sphere wont solve this issue.

[stevestix8]

Hi,

Thanks for responses.

I know, the anti sink sphere turned up today, but it occured to me the other day that it may not solve the prob.

I think it must have been when, a few days ago, I carried a washing machine, tumble dryer back from Cheltenham. This appliance was very heavy and I might have popped one of the side rear spheres.

Is exactly the same symptoms as when the front started bbbouncing, except is on the rear. I replaced all 3 on the front and this solved the problem, nice smooth ride. I will order the other 2 rear spheres and replace all 3 on back aswell, at least all will be up to date.

Many thanks for advice,

Have a good Christmas all,

Steve

[aneesh84]

Good luck! I am not sure if it was the washing machine, but most likely the spheres were anyways on their way out. 5 years is almost the life of a sphere. 2 new side rear spheres will definitely fix your bounce problem. I would suggest that IFHS spheres from AEP direct are quite good. You can refer to the catalogue I sent, and make sure that you check, the rear spheres for non-hydractive estate and sedan are different.

[Northern_Mike]

Hi,

Thanks for responses.

I know, the anti sink sphere turned up today, but it occured to me the other day that it may not solve the prob.

I think it must have been when, a few days ago, I carried a washing machine, tumble dryer back from Cheltenham. This appliance was very heavy and I might have popped one of the side rear spheres.

I doubt it Steve. I weigh considerably more than a washer/dryer... I don't pop spheres



Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[stevestix8]

Hi All,

Have fixed my car today.

I went and had a chat with a local citroen specialist and he informed me that the cause for the suspension problems on the back was prob not the spheres because it still goes up and down.

He advised me that the reason it only goes all the way up or all the way down was probably because of the height adjuster. He had a look underneath and showed me the small (white) piece of plastic that had popped out of the ball joint.

He said it can happen if there is a heavy load (like washing machine / tumble dryer with concrete in the base) and it bounces then this can pop the height adjuster out of the ball joint.

Anyway I went to Stroud and worked on it on the drive and managed to pop the adjuster back into position. Now the car sits as it should on all height settings. I have just driven it back and it as smooth as it ever was. Problem solved.

I spent about £80 on the 2 rear spheres and the anti sink sphere, and I didnt even need them. I got a deal on them anyway so I will prob keep and fit in a year or so.

Thanks for any advise,

Steve