BX 1.9TXD Rear Suspension Cylinder Pit Corroded

TrikkyRikky · Post by **TrikkyRikky** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 12:08 am

Hi BXClub - I newly registered to this excellent site just yesterday in the hope that one of you could provide me with a replacement rear suspension cylinder for Cindy - my dearly beloved 1.9 TXD saloon of the last 12 years. Rescued from Tewkesbury car autions back in Jan'97 when sporting only 93K, she's been used and abused, but has now clocked over 201K miles and looking to do many more if only I could get her ar5e off the ground! So if anyone out there can help Cindy with this part and the associated hydraulic feed pipe (as I had to cut the old one free) she'd greatly appreciate a leg-up! So any help / advice would be greatly appreciated.

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 8:51 am

These are getting like hens teeth to get hold of now.

Another problem is, from my experiance, when one side fails, the other side won't be far behind.

Not sure if new ones are still available, the last ones I bought some time ago were £60 each.

djm666 · Post by **djm666** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:46 am

move to New Zealand and you wont have the problem of corrosion that does not help the stone catching rear subframe.lol.

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:56 am

A new old stock pair appeared on eBay the other day and sold for considerably less than £60 each. It might be worth trawling the internet for a while (not just eBay)?

TrikkyRikky · Post by **TrikkyRikky** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:10 am

Hi Ken - Appreciate your response. Clearly the BX is an 'old' model and not generically popular, except with BXClub of course! So I was guessing that this part could be difficult to obtain and have only just started looking - ideally for a cheap, s/hand replacement. Since posting this here, I've also just posted for this part with a couple of online breakers, so we'll see what that turns up over the next day or so.
If all else fails, I've read other threads here that an early Xantia cylinder / strut (with a bit of filing) will do the same job, so may have to go down that road too.

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 1:25 pm

I'd recommend going the xantia route, plenty available either 2nd hand or new & cheaper than proper bx one's. Just make sure you get the non hdyractive version(s).

TrikkyRikky · Post by **TrikkyRikky** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 12:32 pm

Thanks to all who've responded here. Now a dumb question relating to Mulley's advice "How do I tell a non-Hydractive suspension strut and / or sphere from a Hydractive version?"
May have jumped the gun here because I was at the breakers yesterday and removed myself a strut / sphere (95635424) assembly off a P-reg Xantia for the princely sum of £10, but am not now sure whether it's compatible with Cindy. Any pointers would be most welcome.

jonathan_dyane · Post by **jonathan_dyane** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 1:53 pm

I *think* only SX and VSX spec Xantia's had hydractive, but the definitive way to tell is to check for the presence of the sport/normal switch on the centre console. Also, if it were Hydractive a P reg Xantia would have 4 rear spheres, the two on the struts, a brake accumulator (often called the anti-sink sphere) and the centre (Hydractive) sphere, whereas non-hydractive would have only three.

TrikkyRikky · Post by **TrikkyRikky** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 11:24 am

Thanks Jonathan_Dyane I didn't bother to look inside, so no idea if it had the switch you described. However there were only 3 spheres under the rear of this one so I guess I'm ok with this strut. Will fit it as soon as the repacement hydraulic pipe (95595682) arrives that I bought on Ebay this weekend for £4.99 + £5.50 p&p (Ouch!) from Citroenservices, Glasgow. Will let you know how I fare with this shortly thereafter. Cheers.

Mike E (uk) · Post by **Mike E (uk)** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 11:41 pm

Hi,

I am quoting Anders here,

Non hydractive Xantia rear cylinders will fit the BX.
Hydractive versions have a pipe connection that is much to large internal diameter.

You have to swap the inner strut over fom the original BX part, and pgrind down the area around the pipe conector to get it to fit in the recess. The rubber gaiter must be swapped too, but these are still available from Citroen if you need a new one.

Xantia a struts are much cheaper then BX struts.

The connecting pipe will probably need replacing, but these are on ebay for £5

Mike

jonathan_dyane · Post by **jonathan_dyane** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 11:43 pm

Mike E (uk) wrote: You have to swap the inner strut over fom the original BX part, and pgrind down the area around the pipe conector to get it to fit in the recess. The rubber gaiter must be swapped too, but these are still available from Citroen if you need a new one.

That's handy information. Do you think 'inner strut' means the pushrod?

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