Johnnybarto, spheres

[johnnybarto]

Hi how can i tell if the spheres on my car[1995 2.1td saloon] is hydractive or non-hydrative regards Johnny

[Peter.N.]

I think most are hydractive, but to make sure, check to see if there is an extra sphere in between the main ones. The rear one is easier to see, the front one is on the right hand side behind the steering rack.

Peter.N.

[noz]

Johhny,

It's very easy to tell. Before Hydractive came along the pipes going to the spheres/struts were only 3.5mm diameter. This is because there wasn't a huge flow rate passing along them. All the fluid movement which took place when going over a bump happened inside the strut and the sphere.

When Hydractive came along they added another sphere. When in soft mode all three spheres are open. However, when you go over a bump the fluid ejected from the strut not only goes into the sphere on the wheel but some of the fluid travels back along the hydraulic pipe and goes into the centre sphere. Obvioulsy this is all taking place in fractions of a second.

To permit this level of flowrate they had to make the pipes bigger. The pipes are now closer to 10mm diameter rather than the 3.5mm. In addition they have rubber sections at the wheel ends.

So looking under the car, it's dead easy to tell. Big pipes = Hydractive, small pipes = non-hydractive.

In non-hydractive cars the diameter of the orifice on the spheres was relatively large. On hydractive cars the orifice size in the wheel spheres was made smaller so that if they were the only spheres in operation then the ride would be harder. The middle or hydractive sphere has no orifice just like an accumulator because the orifice is built into the electrovalve block.

I can't say what values each of the orifices should have but a check on the GSF website should help. The diameter of the orifice should be stamped right next to it on the sphere.

Hope that helps,

cheers

noz