Xm Rear Suspension, Rear suspension sinking

Hi there,

Thought you might be interested in a recent fault I had on my V6 (1999).

Car is of course fitted with hydractive 2 and anti sink valves and would normally hold its pressure for days without the engine running.

One day we returned to Tesco's car park after a shopping trip to find the car fully down at the back and looking like a praying mantis. The good side of this is that it makes it easier to load the shopping!

On the way home, sitting in traffic and comparing the bottom of the rear window against the bonnet of the car behind, I noticed that the back of my car would fall a few inches, then rise, and then continue cyclically.

First thought was that it was the anti sink valve but the more I thought about it, the more obvious it was that there had to be a major internal leak somewhere else, but why didn't the anti sink compensate for that? I thought about checking for return flows at the reservoir but didn't want to disturb the maker's clips on the return lines.

After a couple of trips under the car (not to be undertaken lightly as I'm 72) I gave up and took the car to Pleaides. They correctly diagnosed that the leak had to be inside the part of the circuit shut off by the anti sink valve.

It turned out to be a biggish leak past the ram in the left hand rear wheel suspension cylinder. Disappointing on a car that has only done 61000 miles.

Best wishes to all.

Thanks for the info Derek. I thought at nearly 66 I was getting on a bit for crawling under cars, although I do have a sort of ramp consisting of two 40 gallon drums and two large planks of wood onto which I can drive due to my garden being on a steep slope, this gets the car to just the right hieght for working on brakes and suspension and allows me to sit on a low stool and work underneath. This doesn't help me with my present problem though, replacing the head gasket on a 2.1 TD and it's cold out there!

Peter.N.

Wow, 72 beats all records! I am 68 and 10/12 and beginning to find it hard to get up from under my XM estate. I have a number of tips for all old fogeys who insist (like me) on working on their own cars as far as possible:
1. get it up in the air for bottom work - the car that is!
2. make trebly sure that it is safe to get under - use ramps AND jacks AND props AND...
3. get good light - the eyes aint wot they used to be
4. wear gloves/skins - the skin on the hands aint wot it used to be, and you need a good hand cream afterwards (Atrixo, Neutrogena if you can afford it)
5. use levers for tough-to-shift fixings
6. get grown-up kids to do it while you supervise.

Trouble with age is that you don't feel it until it creeps up and bites you. Inside every 72 year old is a 22 year old screaming "Where's my life gone?".