C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

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blizzard
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C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by blizzard »

Hello to everyone and thanx for letting me be part of this forum.
I bought a lovely C5 Exclusive 2.0 Hdi couple of months ago to replace a written off Mazda 6. I love the car and I am really impressed by the suspension. However I seems to have a bit of a problem with it. The problem might have been discussed already but I couldn't find the relevant topic so , please, excuse me if I opened a wrong one.
The issue is, basicaly, with the normal settings of the suspension: the back of the car stays lower than the front or the front stays higher than the back ( don't know ); car looks like the boot is fully loaded ... hope you know what I am trying to say. The current tyres on the car are 225/55/17 and I would like to ask someone who has the possibility to measure the distance between the ground level and wheel arches and post those figures. Hoping I'll get an answer soon and not a kick in my ... I would like to thank you in advance and to apologise for my broken english.
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Re: C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by vborovic »

blizzard wrote:car looks like the boot is fully loaded
Hi to you as a fellow X7 owner ... it would be great if you can upload the photo(s) of the car in the current state ... this what you just said should be an alarm, since the hydractive suspension, if working properly, won't give you a look of the car that's loaded ... no matter the weight in it, the car should always be level ... that's the magic that draws people to hydractive suspensions ... The pure measuring won't be of much help if it is obvious something is off ... since the car is loaded with electronics, your easiest way to check what is wrong is to have diagnostic session on the car, all the suspension errors (level sensors i.e.) will definitely be shown, pointing you in some direction of troubleshooting
Last edited by vborovic on 06 Feb 2016, 10:18, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by Stickyfinger »

Hi and welcome.
Does the car go up and down at both ends when selected on the buttons in the cabin ?

First thing....remember NEVER go UNDER a Citroen with Hydro-Active, it can drop to a few inches and KILL YOU. ALWAYS support it.

The first thing to do is check the rear height sensor/dog-bone connection to the rear roll bar is free to move...THE CAR WILL DROP so get it ON Drive-On RAMPS. Make SURE you cannot be crushed under it.
Never unbolt the part on the roll bar until you have checked for free movement in that connection/sensor.
Pop off the dog-bone if it is not broken. (you can see a short bar with press fit ball joints about 3 inches long.
Do not force it, lots of PlusGas (not WD40), and gentle movement to free it up as it is a electrical sensor and is not cheap.

As VB asked, a quick image would also help as would your VIN number so we can find the details on service box.
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Re: C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by bobins »

I've uploaded a PDF on how to check the suspension height / geometry to here:

http://www.filedropper.com/c5x7checking ... trieshydra

It's based on a 2.0hdi C5 X7 estsate, let me / us know if you want other details.

Coarse adjustment of the ride height is done by moving the clamps on the anti-roll bars (don't attempt this unless you really know what you're doing), fine height adjustment is done by hooking the car up to a Lexia / Diagbox.
Last edited by bobins on 06 Feb 2016, 10:26, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by Stickyfinger »

download not working (does not open in PDF) , for me
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Re: C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by bobins »

Stickyfinger wrote:download not working (does not open in PDF) , for me
I've re-upped it, it's working for me.

http://www.filedropper.com/c5x7checking ... trieshydra
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Re: C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by vborovic »

Both filedropper links working for me
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Re: C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by blizzard »

Right ... question from a "dumb" user : how can I upload some pictures 8-[
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Re: C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by vborovic »

I'd suggest using this: http://imgup.net/ ... select a picture from your PC (or more at a single go), and wait for the links to be generated ... just to be on the safe side, first click on the link of each picture to get a larger image of it and then right click -> view image to get just the raw image location (just the picture shown in the browser, nothing extra) ... then copy the link of the picture from the address bar, and in the post put it inside the image link[/ i m g ] (remove extra blank spaces in the img's parts) ...

Or, if you use full editor for post submission, you'll notice the Img button (Quote, Code, List ... Img ... etc are in the same location) ... pressing it will generate the "img" tags inside which you'll need to paste the image link ... simple? ... :D
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Re: C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by Stickyfinger »

1st question...does it raise and lower on the button ?

Downloaded new version works now....btw
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Re: C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Stickyfinger wrote:Hi and welcome.
First thing....remember NEVER go UNDER a Citroen with Hydro-Active, it can drop to a few inches and KILL YOU. ALWAYS support it.
The first thing to do is check the rear height sensor/dog-bone connection to the rear roll bar is free to move...THE CAR WILL DROP so get it ON Drive-On RAMPS. Make SURE you cannot be crushed under it..
Note: Drive on ramps are best - but if you take it where they lift it up at the jacking points with the wheels unsupported, make sure you undo the LDS fluid cap first, and replace once the car has been lowered.
It is a good possibility it is a stuck height corrector as suggested. I had the same happen on the rear; once it was lubricated it was perfect again. Prior to this couldn't raise or lower the rear at all. :-D
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Re: C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by blizzard »

Thanx for that info. Here are the images:
http://s64i.imgup.net/20160206_1c6fb.jpg side view
http://v30i.imgup.net/20160206_18d7b.jpg front height
http://d66i.imgup.net/20160206_1ecdc.jpg rear height
http://q16i.imgup.net/20160206_1beff.jpg rear height again
http://p53i.imgup.net/20160206_1ec11.jpg front height measure
http://j51i.imgup.net/20160206_16de0.jpg rear height mesure

Thank you for all your support.
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Re: C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by vborovic »

The height seems fine to me?

Image

Image
Last edited by vborovic on 06 Feb 2016, 11:57, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by bobins »

If you want to go in search of the rear height corrector, here's a picture of it in situ. Filth, muck and dead badgers removed to aid clarity :) It's the circular thing more or less in the centre of the picture, the blue thing is the anit-roll bar clamp, the bit that connects them is the 'dog bone'.

Image
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Re: C5 Mk3 58 plate Exclusive Hydractive Suspension height

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Ditto that, I thought it was just me! Doesn't seem out from the pictures.
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