hydractive 2 on xantia

[jacksun1987]

Prob bee asked this question many times. What is the difference between hydractive 2 and normal suspension?. Hw reliable are they? Is it the same as the activia one. How many Spheres are on the car. What Spheres should i get for the car.

Picking up the new car tomorrow. It does need some new Spheres on the front.
Exclusive Estate 99 2 liter hdi

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... =7&t=46872" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks

[Xaccers]

LX/SX/Forte/Desire have non-hydractive with 6 spheres. 2 accumulators (1 front, 1 back) and 4 corner spheres.

VSX/Exclusive have hydractive with 8 spheres. 2 accumulators (1 front, 1 back), 4 corner spheres that are harder than non-hydractive spheres, and 2 hydractive soft spheres (1 front, 1 back).
The hydractive spheres have electronically controlled valves which brings them into play or cuts them out. When they're in play, the suspension is lovely and soft. Throw the car around a bit and they are cut out so the suspension becomes firmer.
The diodes they use die and they get stuck in hard mode. The fix is easy though, you just solder in new diodes by the ECU, or fit an ecrofting box that contains the diodes and has snap fix connectors for the ECU wires.

[Peter.N.]

If it is hydractive the centre spheres have far more effect on the comfort than the outer ones, so as Xac says if its hard either the hydractive is not working or the centre spheres need replacing.

Peter

[isisalar]

Hi Jacksun
Glad to see you got the exclusive.
Re. the spheres, the anti sink sphere, which is important, is a different fitment to all other spheres. If you just unscrew it as per normal the feed pipe will twist and close up so beware. There's a mass of information on the forum re this.
Something else, from experience, that I would check is the screws in the sunroof for tightness, one was loose on mine when I got it, preventing it working properly and luckily none of the rods had bent yet and all is now fine. On the previous one the motor securing screws had come loose and this completely ruined it, not repairable.
Best of luck with it.
Cheers
Paul

[myglaren]

Hi Jacksun
Glad to see you got the exclusive.
Re. the spheres, the anti sink sphere, which is important, is a different fitment to all other spheres. If you just unscrew it as per normal the feed pipe will twist and close up so beware. There's a mass of information on the forum re this.
Something else, from experience, that I would check is the screws in the sunroof for tightness, one was loose on mine when I got it, preventing it working properly and luckily none of the rods had bent yet and all is now fine. On the previous one the motor securing screws had come loose and this completely ruined it, not repairable.
Best of luck with it.
Cheers
Paul

Link to Jim's guide on sphere replacement and more

[Citroenmad]

Unfortunately (I'd love one!) an Exclusive is not running an Activa suspension system, maybe fortunately for you as it does reduce maintenance.

As said already, the hydractive 2 Xantia has 8 spheres, four corners, two soft, accumulator and anti-sink. Reliability is good but of course you have two more spheres to replace and the dioides which can make the car stick into hard mode.

I really enjoy hydractive Xantias as they suit my driving style better.

I hope it proves a good car for you