Roller Coaster Ride

[seanbrazendale]

Hi all. I have bought a 1999 Xantia h/b 1.9 td with fsh and 42000 on the clock. I would appreciate views on a suspension problem before I splash out on a new set of spheres. On a good road surface no problems but hit a bump and you certainly feel it. On a bumpy road, the car oscillates quite violently front to rear and vice versa. The car had not been driven for about 6 months. Suspension goes up and down as it should and accumulator clicks at acceptable rate.
Having read related posts I expect that some or all 4 spheres need changing.
Is there a way of checking spheres while on the car to see which need changing or is it wise to change them all? Has anyone experience of the sphere wrench seen on ebay ( tubular bar, band the diameter of the spheres and bolt that screws in to clamp onto sphere?).
Otherwise it is a brilliant car and at 61 years my first diesel.
Best wishes to all and I welcome your wisdom.
Sean

[noz]

Hi Sean,

Good to have you back in the fold. We haven't heard form you in a while.

I think your first instict is correct. It sounds like flat spheres to me. Flat spheres wouls still rise and fall normally with the adjuster but there will be no spring left at each of the struts.

If you want to find out how much gas (or lack thereof) is left in the spheres you could make yourself a home made sphere pressure tester:
http://club-xm.com/forum/index.php?showtop...l=sphere+tester

cheers

noz

[Andmcit]

It does depend on the spheres the car has fitted; ie. is it a hydractive model or a 'normal'
hydropneumatic set up as the Xm derived system has the middle 'soft' spheres which are
the ones that make all the difference. Forgive me if you know all this but just in case...

As yours is a late model Xantia, if it's NOT an Activa/Exclusive spec, the suspension set up
will be the hydropneumatic 'Bx type' where what you see is what you get with just the corner
spheres. If it's a hydractive model it will have 6 spheres like an Xm and things get more
complicated. (3 each axle - x2 per corner and one centre on the axle).

I've seen an Xm have lovely ride at idle and comfortably pass an MOT and as soon as it got
hustled around, when the ECU firmed up into sport (corner spheres only with the centre axle
sphere shut out) there was a tremendous firming up of the 'give' and ride quality so the middle
sphere was effectively the only thing giving any ride and must've been pretty good! Just to
illustrate how things here require further diagnosis!

The way to check with hydractive? The sport switch beside the height adjustment lever will
isolate just the corner spheres and this alters the general running parameters of the system
cutting between 3 or 2 spheres open, although it will spend more time in the tauter 2 spheres
when in sport. If this is noticeably choppy you're looking at corner spheres as the middle could
be OK. If it's still not discenrnably different, the soft ride is predominantly provided by the
middle sphere so it could be money well spent just trying that replacement first!

The sphere wrench on ebay will do the job but will struggle in some applications as the access
isn't brilliant, especially with the adjust grip bolt sticking out prominently. There are better and
IIRC GSF seels one for around £30 which is far better.

Andrew

[seanbrazendale]

Many thanks Andew

[seanbrazendale]

Thank you Noz. Good to know your expertise is still available.
ean

[Peter.N.]

To check the condition of the spheres bounce each corner of the car with the engine running, you should get 3" - 6" of movement, any less and you need a sphere on that corner.

Peter