Front Height corrector...Major problems!

[ohms]

Hi all,

Need some help desperately with a front height corrector issue on my xantia. I know it's not the xantia forums, but you guys are well versed in everything that's citroen and full of the green stuff! so...

The front ride height on my xantia has been giving me serious grief. To begin with, it was sitting slightly too hogh and wouldn't go to full low when selected on the cabin selector. I assumed this was due to the clamp being out of alignment and not allowing the full range of adjustment. I spent 5 hours with the car on ramps to try and get the car to ride at the correct height, but finally when i thought I'd cracked it, it slowly dropped to full low and sat on the bump stops.

So, i purchased a brand new height corrector(gen cit) from GSF, a new ARB clmp and a new linkage rod clamp, fitted all of this and am still having exactly the same issues. If I select the normal ride height it goes slightly too low and if I select the height just up from it it goes to full high.

I am totally out of ideas and at the end of my tether with it. Any ideas what else it can be? No amount of messing about with the cabin selected height clamp on the linkage rod will get it right.

please help!

[Way2go]

Mmmh........ I would check that your front strut seals are OK and that you are not passing lots of LHM down the strut returns. I had odd ride height issues and not realising this problem as it was unseen, the strut return finally blew and I had to replace a strut at the roadside.

The strut returns should pass hardly any fluid at all when the strut seals are in good order so can be disconnected and observed for leakage when the suspension is normally pressurised.

[ohms]

I do have a fast tick time, about every 25 seconds or so, and I have just changed the accumulator sphere.

However, it was riding a little too high, probably at about what the level should be at just up from normal on the selector, hence why I have tried to lower it and it was holding this high level, without problem. Just won't stay in the normal ride height setting slowly drops and then won't come back up of it's own accord. Does this sound familiar to you?

Thanks for your help mate

[ohms]

Also, wanted to add that if the ride height gradually falls due to excessive leakage, shouldn't the accompanying twist on the ARB kick the pump back in to bring the height up again and essentially bring the height back up on the car? Same as leaning on the front?? When I lean on the front it doesn't react.

[Way2go]

Yes, sounds similar. My front ride height initially went up and was adjusted down and then needed to be adjusted up again some time before the catastrophic failure ocurred.
However in my case the height corrector was not suspect as it had been changed a year before only because it had lost its cap.

[Way2go]

Also, wanted to add that if the ride height gradually falls due to excessive leakage, shouldn't the accompanying twist on the ARB kick the pump back in to bring the height up again and essentially bring the height back up on the car? Same as leaning on the front?? When I lean on the front it doesn't react.

When mine failed LHM was hosing out of the popped off returns which had also split so the system was probably struggling. With this level of leakage through the piston on the nearside strut, the offside strut even struggled with raising the car.

[ken newbold]

Sell it and get a BX

[Way2go]

Sell it and get a BX

As you will remember my suspension/strut problems were on a BX.

[jeremy]

Xantia struts seem rather more robust than BX ones and serious leakage / wear issues are uncommon.

Wrong ride height is seldom an adjustment problem unless the linkage has been interfered with. The usual problems are the seizure of the height corrector (not your problem now) or the linkage. Is the linkage free?

Do the struts creak? - if so they could be stiff and some lubrication of the sliding bit may help. (few drops of machine oil - LHM is useless as it won't stay there) It may also help to try and draw some LHM up the return tube - which works for BX but may not for Xantias which have a different strut construction.

Finally are the wheels straight when you check? The Xantia anti-roll bar droplinks are attached to the strut I think (like ZX) rather than the wishbone (like BX) and the idea is that as the strut turns, the bar is pre-tensioned. This means that the bar is twisted as the front wheels are steered - so varying the position of the height adjuster mechanism a bit.

[ohms]

Problem sorted...After much effin and jeffin, played about with the adjuster rod and have got it exactly right again. Thank god my struts weren't the problem.... 150 quid a side! Ouch!!

Thanks for all the help chaps!

Would buy a BX, but I'm in the process of selling one.