A 'wtf' clunk......updated.

[milleplod]

....nearly gave me a heart attack yesterday!

My X7 Exclusive is off to have its steering rack sorted tomorrow, its been parked up for almost 2 weeks as the leak was so bad I couldn't afford to keep buying the LDS! Anyway, I thought I'd get my mate to replace the rather-worn front tyres - winters that I've not got round to binning. I checked the LDS level in the proper manner prior to driving the mile or so to his place, it was fine as I'd topped it up prior to leaving it on the drive. He was only doing a wheel at a time, so a simple jack-up, wheel off, tyre swap etc etc. When it came to letting the car back down - and he'd only lifted it so the tyre was an inch clear of the ground - there was a horrible clunk/groan noise that sounded as if something seriously expensive had just happened....gulp! Then the car settled too low for him to remove his trolley jack, meaning I had to raise the car up to get some clearance.

All seems ok though (other than the LDS on his drive, of course..... ), the suspension goes up and down fine, ride is normal, fluid down a bit again, as expected......so I'm assuming I've not broken anything. Having said that, I assumed a while ago that my rack wasn't leaking, and look how that ended up!

Pete

[GiveMeABreak]

I'm getting my High / Low Power Steering to Rack seals done later this week Pete - and praying that that will cure the leak (as you probably have read I already have #had a new Citroen rack) so was gutted that it has developed the leak from the low pressure pipe seal (we think).

As for your clunk - always ensure that the car us raised to the HIGH level before jacking up to remove the tyre (even only one corner). The system will be trying to compensate for what the ECU determines to be the incorrect level - and as you know the Hydroelectric pump also operates without the car being running. It probably reacted and over compensated to the change when the wheel was lowered back to the ground.

[milleplod]

Bugger!....I'd got it into my head that raising to 'high' was only necessary if all 4 wheels were going to be off the floor. I'll remember that for next time!

I've noticed occasionally that the car doesn't want to go all the way to high....or, at least, the 'high' symbol doesn't come up on the dash, the car definitely lifts a noticeable amount past 'mid-high'. Quick question! As the car is actually lifting well past mid-high, do you reckon it'll be safe to have all 4 wheels off the floor at once when they do the rack tomorrow? They seem to know about the X7's 'quirks', and I'll tell them anyway about raising it and taking the lid off the LDS tank.

What's likely to be the issue with the car either not quite making it high enough for the 'high' message to show, or if it is actually high enough, the message doesn't show anyway?

Pete

[MikeT]

That happened to mine when I replaced the droplink. I raised to HIGH then slid jack and axle stands under to do the work.
When it came to lowering the car after, the left side must have stuck and only after an almighty crack did it suddenly descend. Nothing seems to be amiss

[EDC5]

I've noticed occasionally that the car doesn't want to go all the way to high....or, at least, the 'high' symbol doesn't come up on the dash, the car definitely lifts a noticeable amount past 'mid-high'. Quick question! As the car is actually lifting well past mid-high, do you reckon it'll be safe to have all 4 wheels off the floor at once when they do the rack tomorrow? They seem to know about the X7's 'quirks', and I'll tell them anyway about raising it and taking the lid off the LDS tank.

What's likely to be the issue with the car either not quite making it high enough for the 'high' message to show, or if it is actually high enough, the message doesn't show anyway?

Pete

I've had this problem. It's where your vehicle height needs resetting. Basically the car body is higher than what the suspension ecu thinks.

The suspension actually is at full extension before the sensor tells the ecu thst it is so. With mine, when I set it to 'high' from 'med-high' it would start to lift then I would hear the pump straining as the LDS was passing through the relief valve as the suspension couldn't extend any further. I tried adjusting it in Lexia but in the end I had to adjust the suspension sensor clamps to get it to ride at a reasonable height.

[milleplod]

Thanks for the info. Is there a procedure anywhere that I can follow re the sensor clamps? The height looks fine at the 'normal' setting btw.

Pete

[EDC5]

There is an official procedure, it involves measuring various underbody heights relative to ground.

Out of interest what is the height of the top of your wheelarch off the ground with the engine running?

[milleplod]

There is an official procedure, it involves measuring various underbody heights relative to ground.

Out of interest what is the height of the top of your wheelarch off the ground with the engine running?

I'll report back on that tomorrow.

Pete

[milleplod]

There is an official procedure, it involves measuring various underbody heights relative to ground.

Out of interest what is the height of the top of your wheelarch off the ground with the engine running?

Just back from the steering rack rebuild! The measurement at the front is 29", rear is 27.75" (73.66cm/70.5cm).

Pete

[GiveMeABreak]

Incidentally did theybtake the rack off completely or did they manage to do the seals in situ from underneath?

[milleplod]

Hi Marc.

I didn't specifically ask that, but they did call me yesterday a couple of hours after I dropped the car off and the guy definitely said "so-and-so's got your rack off now, is it ok if you pick it up tomorrow rather than this afternoon". So it sounds as if they took it off.

Pete

[GiveMeABreak]

Righto, just waiting for the call to take mine in, but there would be no point taking mine off to do the LP HP seals as the pipes are all in place and just need the o rings replacing I hope.

[EDC5]

There is an official procedure, it involves measuring various underbody heights relative to ground.

Out of interest what is the height of the top of your wheelarch off the ground with the engine running?

Just back from the steering rack rebuild! The measurement at the front is 29", rear is 27.75" (73.66cm/70.5cm).

Pete

Personally I'd say that's a bit high, is you ride particularly harsh at the moment?

I've adjusted the front of my car down to 70cm (ground to wheelarch top) in lexia (the max I could do electronically) but I had to manually turn the clamp on the rear height sensor after it decided 75cm plus was the correct height to drive with !

[milleplod]

Tbh, its seemed a bit on the firm side for ages, although it always used to go up to max height without any bother. The usual heavy weight in the boot does soften it up though! Do you think mine could do with adjustment then? I looked for a procedure - I've no access to Lexia - but didn't manage to find anything.

Pete

[EDC5]

I would say so. Plus it should be level and not have the front up in the air compared to the back. I've seen so many X7's on the road which are clearly running far too high, shame really as they’re missing out on any of the hydractive goodness.

Mine was intolerable at anything higher than 71 (I think I must be quite sensitive to this). We can't directly compare between cars as it depends on what tyres our respective cars have; but if the front is higher than the back I'd want it lowered. I would say doing it the lexia method is recommended, but for me I didn’t have the exotic measuring tools and you can only adjust a couple of cm it seems. So I prefer the method of turning the clamp.

If you have access to an inspection pit or a car lift that might be best as you could adjust the ride height whilst being safe at all times. Other than that I'm not sure how much a Citroen garage would charge for the procedure.