2006 C5 leaking hydraulics at spheres.

[boristhespie]

Had the spheres on my 2006 2ltr Citroen C5 changed after one of them broke and caused the car to collapse. The garage clearly had no experience in dealing with these cars. However I had to get the car dropped off by the AA somewhere and it was here. Anyway they said they had to sand the spere attachment point and then said they would no guarantee they wont leak, well they are leaking, Both of them where they were c=screwed in. Any advice on how to approach this would be appreciated. IF there any way to stop the sphere’s leaking when they are joined to the car?

[mickthemaverick]

Two of our experts on sphere's are out of touch at the moment, one on holiday, back at the weekend and the other travelling until Thursday. However there are a fair number of sphere knowledgeable members and hopefully one of them will see your post and help you out. My own knowledge is pretty limited because I was fortunate in never having sphere problems on any of the cars I owned with them. The one thing I do remember is that replacing the square profile sphere seals, item 6 in the diagram, with a round profile 'O' ring type does not work. Almost guaranteed to leak and that may be your issue.

C5 II - 0601 03 434708A - REAR SUSPENSION CYLINDER SPHERE.pdf

C5 II rear sphere

(146.92 KiB) Downloaded 136 times

[Stickyfinger]

Anyway they said they had to sand the sphere attachment point

IF they have removed the lip that retains the seal then the only way to (maybe) get away with that is fitting a Dowdy seal....it depends on what unit the sphere is fitted to.

Spheres tend not to "break"....they may fail internally but that does not normally cause the car to "collapse".

What sphere, where ?..... front or back....MORE info is needed really.

[boristhespie]

Rears. The sphere corroded and ended up with a muckle hole in it. It lost all hydraulic liquid and as a result the suspension collapsed.

They mentioned they sanded the connection point of surface rust.

If they sanded the lip away then that would be them buggered, no?

[citroenguy]

I don't know if there are any suppliers in the UK, but you can sand down the lip for the gasket and replace it with a steel ring.
I'm assuming it is the rear cylinder support lip that has corroder away

ex:https://autofrance.dk/vare/rep-saet-affj-cyl-tt-05-799/

[KennyW]

I had a corroded rear cylinder lip which caused a leak and this was cured with a Dowdy seal.

Worth a try at little cost.

Remember the cylinders are made with aluminium alloy, mixing metal types causes additional problems.

Kenny

[Stickyfinger]

Rears. The sphere corroded and ended up with a muckle hole in it. It lost all hydraulic liquid and as a result the suspension collapsed.

They mentioned they sanded the connection point of surface rust.

If they sanded the lip away then that would be them buggered, no?

WOW, never seen a sphere with a rust hoe in it !!

the part sanded will be aluminium if it was the rear suspension cylinder

buggered, no always...., see the two posts above

[xantia_v6]

This post describes the modification to the rear hydraulic ram to fit a Dowty seal. It was for a Xantia, but I believe that the same procedure would apply for a C5: viewtopic.php?p=570522#p570522