Rear hydraulic suspension failure

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Homer62
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Rear hydraulic suspension failure

Unread post by Homer62 »

Tuesday morning the car started to bounce at the rear on checking the car it was right down at the back with hydraulic fluid on off side tyre and on the boot, my question is, if it’s just a pipe is the car worth fixing? Has anyone had similar and had to pay garage prices, to me it sounds costly, the car passed mot last month and did mention Offside Rear Suspension pipe damaged but not to excess Corroded. So I’m wondering if it’s just that or more, it’s a Citroen c5 2006 2.0 litre Deisel with genuine 80000 miles car is heading home today and we have hired car to finish our holiday thank goodness for breakdown cover. Any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
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GiveMeABreak
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Re: Rear hydraulic suspension failure

Unread post by GiveMeABreak »

Ok, so here are the diagrams for the Rear Supply and return suspension.

Rear Supply Pipes
C5 2006 Rear supply pipes.png
Rear Return Pipes
C5 2006 Rear Return pipes.png
None of these pipes is available from Citroen as you may well know, but may be worth contacting Chevronics (https://www.chevronics.co.uk/) to see if they can help depending on which pipe it is and assuming it's not a boot that's leaking.
Please Don't PM Me For Technical Help

Marc
wurlycorner
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Re: Rear hydraulic suspension failure

Unread post by wurlycorner »

Homer62 wrote: 30 Jan 2025, 11:45 question is, if it’s just a pipe is the car worth fixing?
Simple answer:
Pipe repairs are a simple, quick and cheap job to do - either if replacing a pipe completely with new, or if cutting in a section to existing, to replace a leak.
Access is normally the only consideration (easy if underneath the car, pain/time consuming if behind the engine etc.).

Longer answer:
The only real complication here is that (as Marc has checked) Citroen no longer sell the original replacement pipes, so if it's gone at or immediately near near a fitting, you're in trouble.
If it's gone in the main run of the pipe, you're definitely into making up a new pipe or cutting in a repair section, territory.

That's incredibly easy for LHM cars (DS/GS/CX/XM/Xantia) from aftermarket suppliers.
For LDS cars (C5 and C6) they use different fittings and unfortunately there aren't any perfect catch-all solutions out there right now (annoyingly/ridiculously!). Although there is a thread on here with people looking into it/some pipes available.

eurocarcare do a compression joint kit that can be used for slaving in 3.5mm pipe.
https://www.eurocarcare.net/lds-hydraulics.html
Not sure on others experience on here, but I have used that with some success - but it's not perfect.
You must have absolutely no burs on the ends of the new pipe pipe (need a good clean with emery cloth in order to get the olives in the joint to slide on) and then because the union is brass, it's a difficult balancing act doing it tight enough not to leak/not over-tightening and stripping the thread.
Ideally the compression union would be stainless IMO (and I spent ages looking for one that's suitable and tried some samples, but not found one yet).

Don't give up though - should be fixable.
--
Iain

'85 CX GTi Turbo s1 (met. blue)
2x '85 CX GTi Turbo s2 t1 (met. silver & grey)
'88 CX GTi Turbo s2 T2 (met. light blue)
CX DTR T2 Safari (silver)
2x '96 Xantia Activa (Black & met. green)
'01 C5 2.0 HDi LX Estate (Blue)
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MGmike
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Re: Rear hydraulic suspension failure

Unread post by MGmike »

If it's one of the rear supply pipes you may be in trouble but I might be able to help.

I have a 2005 spares car that still holds pressure and if the pipes come off intact (which is a big if) they could be made available. I'm also available to fit it/them if required. PM me and we can discuss.

Alternatively, sourcing and splicing in a repair may be possible and I've used a hydraulic hose supplier in Bathgate to make up short hoses to fix a PS leak on a couple of cars.
Homer62
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Re: Rear hydraulic suspension failure

Unread post by Homer62 »

Thanks very much for the info guys it’s very helpful.

MGmike I’ve clicked the contact button but don’t know if I’ve done it correctly? Doesn’t show up on sent messages.
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myglaren
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Re: Rear hydraulic suspension failure

Unread post by myglaren »

Homer62 wrote: 31 Jan 2025, 18:21 Thanks very much for the info guys it’s very helpful.

MGmike I’ve clicked the contact button but don’t know if I’ve done it correctly? Doesn’t show up on sent messages.
It stays in the outbox until read by the recipient, then transfers to the sent messages box.
Homer62
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Re: Rear hydraulic suspension failure

Unread post by Homer62 »

Mmm nothing in outbox either, don’t think I’m doing it right, thanks for the info.

Ahaa I didn’t do it correctly. It’s there now.
MGmike
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Re: Rear hydraulic suspension failure

Unread post by MGmike »

Homer62 wrote: 31 Jan 2025, 19:31 Ahaa I didn’t do it correctly. It’s there now.
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