Rear struts : anybody ever opened one ?

[m_2975]

Anders,

I'll scan you a diagram if the cylinder today.


What I think your asking is why are there two middle seals, yes?

There is only one middle seal needed and it depends on which cylinder you have.
This is where the problem lies.

Citroën only list one size seal for the outer and one Teflon seal but they list two Middle seals; one for Estate (44.7mm) and one for Saloon (43.5).

From memory there isn't a seal under the Teflon ring.

Funnily the part numbers don't exist but when you request them they do!

Whether they are no longer supplying I don't know, that's why I'm offering a kit to anyone as I still have access to quite a few.

Michael

[Jaba]

Fraid not Anders. My copy, for petrol cars 1990 - 1994 has a creation date of 29/10/2000 and the rear suspension seals page was not scanned in. If it actually existed at all at that time.

[m_2975]

It's official, the parts are available from Citroen and at a reasonable price.
Check it out at your dealer. It won't come up on a parts search but will be in the price list.


Michael

[roscoe]

Hi Michael
Sorry to hijack this thread, but can you rebuild the front struts and are the seals still available for them?

[m_2975]

Hi Roscoe,

Not a problem. This thread is to be shared by all and we are still talking about suspension components here.

The FRONT suspension strut seals are still available and are packaged as a kit. I have access to them but have tried in the past only to find it a waste of utter time. Only because normally when front struts are stuffed the shaft is preety worn and it will leak regardless because of the worn shaft not making a tight seal.

That said, I haven't done thim in a long time and since new struts are a pipe dream this might get you out of trouble.

PM me if you need any further info re parts and price.

Michael

Now...Getting back to the REAR suspension cylinders.


I'd be interested to hear from a European correspondent on if these parts are available over there. If not, they are available here for saloon in plentiful supply and I can ship. They're not heavy meaning cheap to send.


Michael

[cauchoiskev]

Hi Michael
Sorry to hijack this thread, but can you rebuild the front struts and are the seals still available for them?

The front cylinder seal kit is part n° 95597221. Costs 6.66€ here, not too bad.

I have to disagree with Michael on this one, my car has 200000 miles, and the metal parts of the strut looked fine, but the teflon was worn to nothing and the o-ring was squashed and hardened, with a "catastophic strut failure" syndrome as the result. Changing the joints cured the problem, but beware, those cylinders are a swine to open.

If the bearing surfaces are worn you can still buy them as well, they are not cheap, but far cheaper than a new strut (over 500€).

[m_2975]

cauchoiskev,

I'm not going to argue about it because I too believe that it can fix it. You're right, now that I remember it they are a challenge to open.

Because it was such a long time ago that I did them I am open to doing them again, but only with another member here for the helping hand.

Sorry to sound so pessimistic about the seal kit but it's just I remember that I was really cheesed off afterwards. Maybe the seals that I had were no good. To be fair I can't even remember if they were Genuine or not and that could explain it.

The front struts AFAIK are no longer available from Citroën.

So, Roscoe, if you're willing to bring down your struts and make a weekend out of it, i'm happy to get you the parts and we can swear over it together

[m_2975]

cauchoiskev,

Had any luck with the rear cylinders?


Michael

[cauchoiskev]

No mate, no time at the moment I'm afraid.

As soon as I do, I will keep you posted, because I hate it when questions are asked and then the poster just disappears and you never know how the problem was/wasn't solved...

[m_2975]

Yeh.

Ok great mate. Let us know.

[DLM]

What's the original reason for wanting to re-seal?

Is there an excess of LHM in the boot, as shown by the return and vent pipes, or is it something else? While rear cylinders let more fluid past as they wear, sometimes an seeming excess of LHM is caused by misalignment of the boot so that the LHM drain channel from the cylinder is blocked.

I've taken apart a number of rear cylinders for various reasons, but my focus has been more on replacing perished boots or relocating the piston rods (e.g. when one dropped out of the boot during a rear arm job).

Incidentally, I'm sure you've found the bolt securing the boot-clip at the cylinder end self-destructs when you try to take it off. It can be reinstated with a new bolt, though it needs some fabrication to accomodate the specially-shaped washers/nuts at either end of the bolt.

[m_2975]

What's the original reason for wanting to re-seal?

Is there an excess of LHM in the boot, as shown by the return and vent pipes, or is it something else? While rear cylinders let more fluid past as they wear, sometimes an seeming excess of LHM is caused by misalignment of the boot so that the LHM drain channel from the cylinder is blocked.

I've taken apart a number of rear cylinders for various reasons, but my focus has been more on replacing perished boots or relocating the piston rods (e.g. when one dropped out of the boot during a rear arm job).

Incidentally, I'm sure you've found the bolt securing the boot-clip at the cylinder end self-destructs when you try to take it off. It can be reinstated with a new bolt, though it needs some fabrication to accomodate the specially-shaped washers/nuts at either end of the bolt.

DLM,
The original reason is to stop the rear of the car sinking so fast and also prevent it from leaking due to a perished boot or seeping through the end of the rod that attaches to the arm.

Normally if there is too much LHM in the boot it tends to leak out of the boot. The boot is technically a dust cover for the cylinder itself and has a return IN CASE the seals leak.

It's not normal for the LHM to fill the rubber boot, nor is it normal for there to be much oil in there at all.

We replace the seals which is a simple job to prevent the LHM seeping and is really not a big problem to fix.


Michael

[cauchoiskev]

What's the original reason for wanting to re-seal?

In my case, I had a front strut failure due to the state of the joints, so I can only assume that the rear ones are in a similar condition, although they are not leaking too badly at the moment.

In any case, it's a job that will have to be done at some point, along with the gaiters which are starting to look rough.

[DLM]

It's not normal for the LHM to fill the rubber boot, nor is it normal for there to be much oil in there at all.

I'm not suggesting that an lhm-filled boot is a desirable or usual thing... but Citroen did fit the leak-back returns on the same basis as the front struts, to cope with inevitable leakback over time. Also, an unperished boot allows "proper" pressure equalisation via the black air-vent tube. My experience is that most BXs "of a certain age" will suffer some rear-strut leakback - which then becomes rather more noticeable as the boots degrade with age. Most of them are getting pretty iffy now. Quite how bad a problem this constitutes is a personal call, to my mind, though the boots are definitely a pain to remove and refit, due to the fragility of the boot-clip assembly and its retaining bolt after being exposed to some serious road muck.

A 16v-owning garagiste of my acquaintance used to argue that rear struts would wear internally if a BX was used repeatedly on rough roads (e.g. a dirt track leading to a rural house) - and advocated rear cylinder replacement as the only cure. Your suggestion of rear seal replacement makes more sense to me as I've only known of major rear strut/cylinder problems occuring for one of two reasons:

(1) Corrosion ("white rust") from the exterior of the cylinder
(2) A displaced piston-rod due to rusted-through retaining pin.