C5 X7 suspension.....

[milleplod]

Whilst sitting in the car this morning waiting (and waiting...... ) for my daughter to drag herself out of the house, I thought I'd give the suspension a workout. It moved nice and quickly between normal/low/mid.....but didn't wan't to move all the way to high. It did move up from the mid position, but the info screen didn't tell me it was all the way up. Tried it a few times, but just the same. Its -4 deg here this morning - something frozen up?.....fluid level?.....

Pete

[Stickyfinger]

Sticking dog bone ? , they rust on a C5.

Remember, always support the car if you go under it

[milleplod]

Malcolm at Savoy Garage only did them back in December, but I'll pop round to my lift-equipped mate and have a look later.

Pete

[Stickyfinger]

Also, try it on the button in the boot, see if it lowers/raises on that

[GiveMeABreak]

Fluid level may also be a reason - to be sure you really need to depressurise the system with Diagbox to check the levels properly. I have just done this on mine as my pump sounded a little odd last week - and it was a little slow in responding to raising. Now I may be having some battery issues at present that I am aware of, but nonetheless I got it home, got the diagnostic weapons on it and depressurised the hydraulic system. I removed the LDS cap and I could hear the fluid flowing back - but was yet to see any fluid at the bottom of the tank!

Diagbox says wait at least 3 minutes minimum, which I did. Knowing I was going to be checking this I ordered a couple of litres of LDS from Nielsen for a cracking price (using the forum discount code too). I topped it up slowly, constantly looking for the fluid to settle - but it took 700ml of fluid before it finally surfaced!

Completed the operation with Diagbox, exited and then started her up - then the waiting game. The pump sounded a lot healthier to be honest and she started to rise after a few seconds. She seemed to get to normal height and have a breather, then we went to highest setting and she started to comply fine, then lowered and did the steering lock to lock, then back to normal. She has been behaving perfectly normal now.

I had both my height correctors replaced last year for height problems (refusing to raise occasionally), and also had a rear suspension pipe replaced too - so I'm wondering if the garage actually topped her up fully. I've seen no leaks in the system, so will keep an eye out.

All that aside, there are a myriad of back-up modes for the suspension that can prevent height correction depending on faults or other data - not least the relay / short circuits, electrovalves sticking and the like - but without a diagnostic it will be guessing. I'd check the fluid level first Pete (flat ground and using Diagbox if you have one) as this might be a simple solution. Also - given the arctic conditions affecting the country now - it may just be temporary due to the cold affecting a component - I have managed to release the bonnet lock 5 minutes ago - but the plastic 'lever pull' under the bonnet will move, but will not release the bonnet lock, so I can't open it! Plus all the padlocks on the garden sheds are frozen solid DESPITE having just lubricated them all last week! So I would factor the cold in too. I just filled up the bird baths in the garden and they have now frozen solid in less than 20 minutes!

I've got my MOT tomorrow - so fingers crossed my washer fluid is topped up, but as I can't get the bonnet open I can't check it!

[EDC5]

Whilst sitting in the car this morning waiting (and waiting...... ) for my daughter to drag herself out of the house, I thought I'd give the suspension a workout. It moved nice and quickly between normal/low/mid.....but didn't wan't to move all the way to high. It did move up from the mid position, but the info screen didn't tell me it was all the way up. Tried it a few times, but just the same. Its -4 deg here this morning - something frozen up?.....fluid level?.....

Pete

This sounds exactly like the issue mine has.

Mid-High position is fine but when i tell it to go all the way up it lifts a bit but never says so on the dash. After a while i hear the pump straining like mad as the fluid is obviously leaking past the pressure relief valve as the struts are already at full extension.

I confirmed the same with Diagbox, the target height is never achieved by the sensor when set to the highest setting for some reason.

Marc provided me with the procedure for recalibrating the vehicle height, but that didn't seem to sort it either. I suspect the fault lies with the height sensor itself not registering the height properly causing the BHI to continue trying to lift the already fully extended struts.

I'm just living with it at the moment, occasionally cycling between low and med-high as the replacement height sensors aren't cheap enough to change speculatively.

[milleplod]

Thanks for the replies chaps.

Its only 3 or 4 days since I last cycled through the suspension settings, everything was working fine then. Fluid level is fine. I'm going to leave it till relatively warmer weather to see if its any different then.

Pete

[milleplod]

Thought I'd report back on this just in case anyone else has the same issue.

Ambient temps are obviously well up now compared to last week, so I gave the suspension a workout this morning - its working perfectly through the whole range of settings....hurrah! I'll put it down to the 'Beast from the East'!

Pete

[Hell Razor5543]

That is something else Russia has to accept responsibility for!