Rear Suspension

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broders
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Rear Suspension

Post by broders »

Anybody able to help today whilst sitting at traffic lights with my foot on the brake the rear end suddenly went down to rubber stops.
Putting it into neutral and revving engine the rear came up.
This happened about 4 times today and now the rear suspension appears to be very hard intermittently switching between normal ride and hard ride.
The ticking from engine is now constant for about 20 seconds quite regulary.
Citroen xantia 1.8 petrol m reg.
Thanks in advance for any help and if you need more info dont hesitate to ask
WildWayz
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Post by WildWayz »

I'd be interested for an answer to this too...
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Kowalski
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Post by Kowalski »

Sounds like you've got a leak on your brake doseur valve so it is leaking away all of your rear suspension pressure. The fact that you had to rev your engine to get the back end to come back up again, suggests the valve leaks regardless of whether you have your foot on the brake peddle or not, maybe leaking more when you've got your foot on.
Something is definately leaking if your pressure regulator clicks at 20 second intervals, either that or you need a new accumulator sphere.
bxbodger
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Post by bxbodger »

If you have no pool of LHM under the car it does sound as if you have an internal leak somewhere, and the pump is struggling to keep up.You could try removing the return pipes to your LHM reservoir and looking to see if you have a constant stream of LHM returning under tickover conditions- depending which pipe it comes from you should be able to narrow down whats leaking.
tomsheppard
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Post by tomsheppard »

Broders; if the return pipes are a closed book to you then using the useful links section of this forum, look for BX Bible. This covers the topic in great detail with pictures and explanations.
Without going in too deeply, the return pipes are the small rubber lines going back to the reservoir. Each one carries the fluid returned from a group of components. Excessive leakage for a doseur valve is 3.5 cc/ minute (Normal height, engine idling). I use the body of a syringe pushed into the end of the pipe to measure it. 'Tis a right swine to change, alas. It is not cheap either which is why I keep an eye on it. If you have sudden faults which migrate around the car, try draining the LHM and using hydrorincage (See this forum,) which can work miracles. The fact that the accumulator ticks FOR 20 seconds and not at 20 second intervals is significant. This suggests a faulty ball valve on the pressure regulator might be a possibility.
Other checks: air leak between reservoir and pump, causing the pressure regulator to oscillate. Height corrector moving properly?
jeremy
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Post by jeremy »

I think its a bit simpler than that - I think you have ruptured one or both rear spheres and the rear suspension is full of gas. the doseur has no seals as such, relying on tight tolerances to seal for LHM but they don't seal gas well.
The rear wheels move slightly as the car rises and falls as they are on trailing arms. It is common experience that if you raise the car while applying the brakes the car will not rise properly but jumps when you release the brakes. I think the opposite is happening here- the pressure in the rear suspension is dropping, and the car is staying static as you have the brakes on. Eventually the rear wheels rotate either through you releasing the pedal or there being insufficient force to hold the wheel, and the car drops suddenly.
As you probably only have the 2 outlet pump, the LHM supply is small hence a while for the car to rise.
Does the back of the car sink when you sit in the boot with the engine running? If it doesnt or is lopsided then you have a dud sphere.
jeremy
broders
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Post by broders »

UPDATE Sorry for the delay
Anybody able to help today whilst sitting at traffic lights with my foot on the brake the rear end suddenly went down to rubber stops.
Putting it into neutral and revving engine the rear came up. I MEANT TAKING REVS ABOVE 1500 RPM
If you have no pool of LHM under the car it does sound as if you have an internal leak somewhere, and the pump is struggling to keep up. NO POOL OF LHM UNDERNEATH CAR
Does the back of the car sink when you sit in the boot with the engine running? If it doesnt or is lopsided then you have a dud sphere. BACK OF CAR SINKS WITH ENGINE RUNNING
On saturday decided to try citraerobics and found the ticking sound was getting worse only to discover lack of lhm fluid. Off to the shop in goes 2 litres and ticking sound much less noisy and car rises much quicker.
I have noticed that the car is ticking over below 800rpm and sometimes seems to surge as if missing on one cylinder probably seperate problem. The car occasionally sinks when turning ignition off and groans now and again whilst sinking. When starting car the rear end almost always sinks and is slow to rise. Also noticed recently that the ride from the rear is very hard and stiff when people in the rear, almost a hard clunk when when driving.
Gathering info from other similar posts it seems to be the accumalator no probs in doing that but would like to do any other work neccesary at same time.
A fortnight ago the car was in garage for new plugs (has helped power increase and slight improvement to eratic tickover), Oil and filter change and whilst in garage they also greased the linkages (seems to help raising and lowering whilst in citaerobics)
Any help greatly appreciated
Broders
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