Citroen C5 2003 dripping fluid from passenger rear suspension ram boot

[spiff]

Good afternoon,

I have ordered a bump stop on eBay which should arrive in a couple of days : )

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253334002754

£13 with post for one, it was the best I could do in the short term : (

If you do not mind waiting a couple of weeks two can be had from Latvia for a similar price.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2X-Rear-Susp ... xy3HJTH0tH

While the car was standing on its wheels this was before I jacked it up, it lost about a litre of fluid and dropped right down at the back.

Nothing came out when I opened the nipple in the centre as it had lost all the pressure.

The front is still up.

I have more fluid to replace the amount lost.

Now that the seals and boot have been replaced ,do I just fill the reservoir, reconnect the battery and if the pump runs will it re pressurise the rear ?

How does the air get out of the system.

Or in these circumstances as it has lost so much fluid, do I have to bleed the system ?

God Bless Spiff

[GiveMeABreak]

The hydraulic system is self bleeding Spiff.
Once everything is attached and back to normal, follow the procedure here - from the Section on Bleeding:
C5 Hydraulic System Bleeding

It also includes checking the fluid level.

[411514]

If you do not mind waiting a couple of weeks two can be had from Latvia for a similar price.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2X-Rear-Susp ... xy3HJTH0tH

Those Latvian bump stops are the ones I ordered. I can confirm they are the correct size/shape - indeed they look to be out of the same mould as the OE Citroen product.

[spiff]

Thank you Marc,

I may wait for the bump stop as mentioned before so that there is less chance of the rusted part of the piston getting near the first seal.

Or perhaps put a temporary chunk of rubber there and try the car tomorrow.

If I had known about the rust I would have purchased a new unit from Eurocarcare, £110 or £120, not a bad price compared with others at £200 +

Thank you for all your help again.

Next job is a headlamp bulb passenger side, neither I nor Alanna have small hands, so will go with the bumper removal in case we drop the spring clip.

Yes Sam they look the same as the one I have ordered as well, the prices from places like that and China are amazing.

I buy lots of electronic parts from China, about a month normaly, though often received in two weeks.

God Bless Spiff

[wurlycorner]

Congrats getting the job finished.
That boot has obviously been split for a long time, to have caused corrosion on the piston like that.

Hope all works ok when you fire it back up

[spiff]

Good evening Gentlemen, will it ever stop raining : )

Today I made up a cap to pressurise the suspension hydraulic system.

The ready made device is over £200 if I remember correctly.

I tried a lot of lids from various containers around the house, workshop and garage.

The best I could find was the top from Tesco Omega 3 Fish Oil.

It is very tight and not ideal at all, but the best we had.

I cut the flange down a bit so as to better see what was going on.

Some bicycle inner tube valves do not have a long thread, the type I used do.

They are the smaller of the two in diameter, that is as far as the part that the pump clips on not the main stem.

Please see image.

The rubber washers are from the bolts that fit low level tanks to toilets.

Perhaps tap washers would do as well ?

The holes are a lot smaller, I opened them out a bit with a soldering iron and round file, but still left them small so as to be a tight fit on the valve thread.

The washers were from the type of bolts used to hold Dexcion racking together.

The ones I used were Aluminium, they were easy to file the hole out to fit the diameter of the valve.

Alanna's bike pump has a gauge on it so is ideal, it will also fit both size of valve.

It is very very tight and difficult to screw on, you would do beter to find a better cap somewhere.

I tested it by mouth blowing into it to see how much it leaked, it should be good enough if we keep pumping.

The original cap has a pressure release valve in it so using that is out, as cutting a hole for the new valve would destroy it.

Tesco Omega 3 Fish Oil can then be consumed afterwards, then like me you will be able to run three miles a day at 72 : )

God Bless Spiff

[GiveMeABreak]

Very ingenious Spiff!

[wurlycorner]

Indeed. Very ingenious!

[spiff]

Good evening Gentlemen, thank you kindly : )

The car is now back on its wheels, but unfortunately the intermittent fault with the pump not running means the rear stays down.

Sometimes if left over night the pump will run when the doors are unlocked, but no such luck at the moment.

I have a second hand height sensor, the seller could not guarantee that it was a working one only that it came from a working car.

So before I try the sensors again I took it apart to solder the three connections inside which apparently can become intermittent.

This is not my original idea, it was first suggested by ( landyman ) but unfortunately the images with the original post are missing.

The attached pictures should explain the process.

Tomorrow I shall try plugging it in to the front and rear.

It is not as far as I can tell a variable resistor, as the resistance did not change when moving the spindle, nor is it a variable capacitor as I tested it on a capacitance bridge.

The fixed resistance readings varied depending which was round the meter was connected on the pins, which could sugest that there are transistors inside ?

The printed coil is an inductor, may be it has some kind of oscillator inside ?

I should be interested if any one knows : )

When re-assenbling the sensor, fit the original cover as it has a raised section to hold the printed board down, then glue a new cover on the top.

The new cover was cut from a plastic box : )

The fluid reservoir already has a valve in the cap, it can be pressurised by fitting a piece of tube to the pump connector and pumping against the hole in the cap, please see images.

There is then a large hiss when the cap is removed, it is not possible using this method to tell what the pressure is though.

It may be possible to fit a bicycle valve to replace or as well as the original valve in the cap, as it should not affect the working if left in situ?

God Bless Spiff

[wurlycorner]

Impressive work - don't think anyone has previously tried to disassemble one of these height sensors.

I would strongly suggest the best way forward is to plug the car into Lexia and see what that tells you - even if no fault codes stored, you should be able or see whether or not the rear height sensor is correctly registering that the rear of the car is low or not.

[GiveMeABreak]

The official notes say that the height correctors should be configured if removed or replaced using Lexia, so whether your height settings are now out of kilter it’s hard to say...

[spiff]

Hallo Ian and Marc,

I am going to just plug the replacement height sensor in to both front and rear with out removing the original ones, so as not to disturb the settings.

Perhaps taping the dog and bone on the test one in approximately the normal height position.

My thoughts are that if one of them is faulty the pump should then fire up ?

I shall of course block the car up, so that it does not despatch me to the great scrap yard in the sky should the suspension spring into life : )

You are correct of course a Lexia is required.

If testing with the replacement ( refurbished as they say ) sensor does not solve the pump problem, I shall be left with no other option.

Our daughter Amalie has a Windows XP laptop for me as all our computers are 64 bit W7.

I read that there are some cheaper versions of the Lexia that do nor read all the codes ?

As we are looking for a low mileage Diesel automatic C5 of either M1 or M2 the Lexia I buy will have to be compatible with both models.

If you have a recommendation it would be much appreciated, otherwise there is a lot on the forum about them.

I don't think that any specific seller is mentioned, but I may have missed that as I only skimmed through it all in the past.

Out into the cold and wet : )

God Bless Spiff

[GiveMeABreak]

Spiff, the Lexia is something you should consider if sticking with PSA vehicles. In your current situation it will be able to provide the fault codes and aid troubleshooting.

Regarding your current suspension issues as an example, these are the 'Backup Modes' that can be triggered by a number of fault codes:

Resort to back-up mode	Function performed
Loss of electrical supply	The height corrections are deactivated
Malfunctioning of the suspension ECU	The height corrections are deactivated
Loss of the height information on one axle	The height corrections on this axle are deactivated
Pump motor malfunction	The raising corrections are deactivated
Malfunction of an electrovalve	The correction on the corresponding axle and in the corresponding direction is deactivated
Excessive frequency of opening of the doors and tailgate	Deactivation of the function

As you can see, a malfunctioning electrovalve is sufficient to prevent height correction on the appropriate axle as one example.

These are some of the faults that can be returned using a Lexia and there is other data provided - too much to replicate here - but I think you get the picture.

• Battery voltage low
• Battery voltage high
• Ignition+ input in the suspension ECU is absent
• Hydractive electrovalves 3+ defective
• Front raising electrovalve defective
• Front lowering electrovalve defective
• Rear raising electrovalve defective
• Rear lowering electrovalve defective
• Electropump motor defective
• Steering wheel angle sensor defective
• Absence of communication with the ABS ECU
• Invalid data from the ABS ECU
• Front body height sensor: low ground clearance (open circuit, short circuit to earth)
• Front body height sensor: high ground clearance (short circuit at 12 V)
• Rear body height sensor: low ground clearance (open circuit, short circuit to earth)
• Rear body height sensor: high ground clearance (short circuit at 12 V)
• Invalid data from the front body height sensor
• Invalid data from the rear body height sensor
• Absence of communication with the engine ECU
• Invalid data from the engine ECU
• Absence of communication with the built-in systems interface
• Height push-button defective
• Suspension ECU configuration not carried out
• Suspension ECU defective
• Defective communication on the CAN network

As for a recommended Lexia - It would have to be seen as an investment - there is a 15% discount for members from Easydiagnostics - link below:

https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/ ... 13&t=57990

These are UK based, provide support and supply full-chip kits that are compatible with just about all the PSA vehicles, except a few commercial / hybrid cars from Fiat that need an add-on module - but I wouldn't worry about that in your case. They are not affiliated to the forum in any way and there are other suppliers you may want to consider, but I have bought my kit from them and am very pleased with it.

[spiff]

Thank you for that Marc,

I have located the website and the item : )

I had been looking at Lexia's instead of playing with the car, the sea mist came in so it did not look very inviting out there.

They are an investment and well worth it given the cost of garage repairs, besides it is good to fix things : )

Having a Lexia is like having test equipment for my radio equipment, without them it would be just guess work.

God Bless Spiff

[GiveMeABreak]

No worries - if you do purchase one and eventually get the fault codes read - let us know and I can probably help you with some more detail.