Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by momag46 »

There has always been problems with service places not understanding the Citroen hydraulic system.
In the late 90’s a well known quick fit place dropped my XM onto their trolley jacks and crushed the front of both the cills. I’d tried to tell the fitter what to do but he ignored me and it cost them a lot of money and a customer or two.

I’ve always stayed with my cars when it’s being put in a vulnerable position other than specialists.

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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Funny you should mention that Maurice - the exact same thing happened to my first XM - they had it on the lift and lowered it crushing the front driver sill - and guess where it was when it happened - yes a Citroen service centre!

Suffice it to say there were very embarrassed and had it repaired at the body shop.
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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by momag46 »

The main dealer should know how to service an XM.
That said, I did once go into a main dealer to look at a new model and the sales person asked me what car I had. When I replied I had a CX I was asked ‘who made that’!!!!!! I later had so many problem getting any work done correctly that I don’t go anywhere near that particular dealer.
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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by Michel »

I don't know why people bother with main dealer servicing and repairs. I've never had a good experience with them. There's no requirement to either. Long as OEM parts are used, I'd use a specialist every time even on a new motor.
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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by daviemck2006 »

Michel wrote: 22 Dec 2017, 00:06 I don't know why people bother with main dealer servicing and repairs. I've never had a good experience with them. There's no requirement to either. Long as OEM parts are used, I'd use a specialist every time even on a new motor.

Because they are thick/brainwashed/lazy/no interest in cars/etc etc
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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by momag46 »

My experience of main dealers has been very poor but that has been due to one in particular at
Peterborough. After years of rubbish service I now use one at Kings Lynn for new car purchase and service. I use Barry at Bourne Citroen Centre for the Xantia, there is more knowledge there than in all the main dealers put together🤗
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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by wurlycorner »

daviemck2006 wrote: 22 Dec 2017, 01:45
Michel wrote: 22 Dec 2017, 00:06 I don't know why people bother with main dealer servicing and repairs. I've never had a good experience with them. There's no requirement to either. Long as OEM parts are used, I'd use a specialist every time even on a new motor.

Because they are thick/brainwashed/lazy/no interest in cars/etc etc


Or because there are no local specialists or because car under warranty / fdsh is normally considered a good thing come resale or it's a company fleet car and would therefore always be main agent serviced only.
Just a few other reasons :wink:
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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by Michel »

wurlycorner wrote: 22 Dec 2017, 08:24
daviemck2006 wrote: 22 Dec 2017, 01:45
Michel wrote: 22 Dec 2017, 00:06 I don't know why people bother with main dealer servicing and repairs. I've never had a good experience with them. There's no requirement to either. Long as OEM parts are used, I'd use a specialist every time even on a new motor.

Because they are thick/brainwashed/lazy/no interest in cars/etc etc


fdsh is normally considered a good thing come resale


Why? Every car I've ever had that's had a main dealer history clearly hasn't been serviced properly.
My Picasso and ST being two examples recently bought. The C4 VTS was another!
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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by momag46 »

I agree Michel, bought a Picasso with 28k on the clock that had never been serviced. It was supposed to be fully serviced before I picked it up but it still hadn’t been done (I didn’t keek it long).
I’ve had a service on a one year old car at 12k where the ‘service engineer’😖 all of 18, said I needed new discs and pads - 3 services and 2 years on it still had the originals that were okay.
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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by wurlycorner »

Didn't say I agreed that they give a good quality service... Just that most people (who know nothing about cars) regard fdsh is a good thing and will always trust those cars as a second hand purchase, over others that don't have.
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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by andy5 »

momag46 wrote: 21 Dec 2017, 18:26 There has always been problems with service places not understanding the Citroen hydraulic system.
In the late 90’s a well known quick fit place dropped my XM onto their trolley jacks and crushed the front of both the cills. I’d tried to tell the fitter what to do but he ignored me and it cost them a lot of money and a customer or two.

I’ve always stayed with my cars when it’s being put in a vulnerable position other than specialists.

Maurice


On a trip to Scotland with my old BX, an exhaust silencer suddenly blew open.

The next morning, an exhaust place refitted a U bolt on a joint with the ends pointing downwards, and then this snagged the rear cross bar of the lift while the car was being reversed off before the suspension had risen. The damage included that on the front pipe the curve up towards the manifold was crushed half flat against a subframe or something.

The manager agreed bodge it for now so I could continue northwards, and special price for a complete system on the way home 3 or 4 days later. I even left a £5 tip for the lad who bent it, for his efforts at the temporary fix.
Last edited by andy5 on 09 Jan 2018, 00:05, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by Cupi34 »

The LDS Cap, I have found different opinions here on the forum, of when you should release and tighten the cap. I was going to check the LDS fluid, seemed to be the right level. I took off the LDS cap when car was set in low position. There was some pressure air in the tank going out of the tank when I removed the cap in low position.

So in what position should you put the LDS cap on again? Maybe not a good idea when the car is in low because of the pressure build up as the car raises itself from low to max position sucking fluid out of the tank creating a vacum. The same kind of vacum which makes LDS tanks and hoses blow up.

Does air gets sucked in to the LDS tank when LDS tanks burst and hoses come off when jacked up in a garage when all wheels are hanging free?

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Maybe nothing happens anyway when there isn't an air in the system problem from before. But its good to know when it is smart to remove and put on the LDS cap.

There is in fact a small hole on the top of the cap that I would guess lets air out. When I took the cap off, it didn't seemed to be open. I know there is a rubber seal on the inside that blocks the small hole on top of the LDS cap. But is it really blocked, or do you need to remove the rubber seal?
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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by GiveMeABreak »

To keep it as simple as possible on an C5 or a C6: you don't need to worry about removing / loosening the LDS cap when raising / lowering the suspension on the ground for normal operations (changing a wheel for example).

When the car will be lifted off the ground with all the wheels hanging freely (unsupported):
  • then the car should first be raised to the maximum position.
  • then loosen / remove the LDS cap
  • perform the operations required
  • when complete, lower the vehicle to the ground
  • replace the LDS cap & lower the car back to normal ride height
When the suspension is raised or lowered using the electronic suspension control switch it is a controlled operation and undertaken gradually.

If the car is raised up off the ground, wheels hanging unsupported and without increasing the suspension height and removing the cap, the weight of the wheels will pull fluid through the system in an uncontrolled manner, to the full travel limit of the rams. But more importantly, when the car is lowered again, the force of the weight of the car coming down can cause all that fluid under pressure to rush back through the system into the tank in an uncontrolled manner. That puts huge pressure on the system and the tank itself - that small venting hole in the LDS cap is not large enough to evacuate the air quickly enough and that is one reason why some owners have experienced bursting LDS tanks.

If the car is put onto maximum height setting first, the fluid is then held at that position, and prevents the uncontrolled rush back into the tank, until it is lowered to normal ride height using the suspension control.

If you just remember the routine you shouldn't have any problems and prevent undue strain on the system.
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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by Cupi34 »

Should there be a pressure inside the tank? (LDS cap seals all air getting in and out)

I ask because there are posts who claim there should be a pressure inside the tank. And it is best to put the car in raised position not low when putting on the LDS cap, not low position.
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Re: Citroen Hydraulic Lifting Procedure

Post by 411514 »

Cupi34 wrote: 06 Jan 2018, 19:43 Should there be a pressure inside the tank? (LDS cap seals all air getting in and out)

I ask because there are posts who claim there should be a pressure inside the tank. And it is best to put the car in raised position not low when putting on the LDS cap, not low position.
I wouldn’t lose sleep too much sleep over it. Whilst the suggestion may be best practice, I must have had mine up in the air dozens of times without ever having any issue.
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