Comfort Spheres - Where?

are the electrovalves working properly - that could be the cause - seems a common issue on the S2 setup... leaves the centre sphere out of circuit so like being in sport mode all the time

Could be, but I think this is an S1.5

I'll try the corner-jumping thing.

Hi Sam,

Yes they altered the car's handling for comfortable to boat like. The white XM was lovely to drive, I live on the edge of the Peak District which is full of winding roads with lovely views so I found that if I pressed on the car handled so well you'd have thought it was a sporty hatchback but when taking it easy it floated along. I decided that I like floating more than pressing on but as they say too much of a good thing. The car felt like it was 20 feet long like an american caddy.

All I can say is that if a XM owner 'needs' comfort spheres then maybe they have a problem with the hydractive system and that just how my Xantia was. My estate isn't nearly as comfortable as my white hatch was but I think that's how they are designed to be.

Hope that helps.

Steve.

Hi Steel City

Drop the rear tyre pressure on an estate from 33 psi to the 27 psi of a car and the ride improves to the original XM car design levels. This is fine if the estate is unloaded as the critical parts of the XM are common to both cars and estates.

Regards

XMexc

Ooh ta!

I'll try that when I've rebuild the engine!

Thanks.

Steve.

Just been checking things while I was mithering in the engine bay, and it seems to me that I've got no movement at all on the front suspension. I guess this means new spheres, but just the lefts and rights? Or the centre? Or all 3?

Do them all, the outer ones are dead easy, so get done even if the centre ones aren't. So if you need outer ones you definitely need centre ones.

If you ever go 'up north' (Manchester) then Westroen do all 7 for £200 fitted while you wait. This is an absolute bargain as the centre ones and the accumulator sphere can be a pig.

John

All 3 it is. I'm never that far north, really, and I think this is a job for me, as soon as my Haynes arrives......

Hi Sam

Yes, all 3 is the way to go, they'll prob be all bad if you can't get any movement at all.

BTW, your "S1.5" car is hydraulically the same as "S2"s in terms of the hydractive setup -i.e. you have 2 hydractive-block units, carrying a middle sphere and an electrovalve each; one for front and one for rear firming up- [the "S1" (till June 1992) still have a middle sphere for each axis but they are both controlled by just 1 hydractive unit and one electrovalve].

While the car is on the ramp, you might want to check if the front electrovalve is leaky -just unplug its rubber return pipe, engine running, it should not leak at all-. [The S1.5 and S2 e-valves have been known to develop a leak].

If you want to check for the difference between "soft" and "hard" on an S1.5 or S2, you can do it by removing one of the fuses in the fuse box in the car. Removing the fuse will instantly cut the current to the suspension ECU and will put the car to "hard" (engine running) -put it back and it will return to "soft"-. You should see a very perceivable difference when trying to push the car between the 2 states. If there's no difference, there's a problem -hydraulic or electronic-. Look for the "Hydractive ECU" fuse in the owner's handbook.

Normally, if all works well, with brand new spheres you will feel the difference just from the first metres as you drive out of the gagare -suspension will literally smoothen the road out-.

cheers
George

The back is very soft indeed, so I don't think there's an electrical fault. I might hydraflush at the same time, and I'm going to do the work myself. I guess I'm looking at about £80.

Is this not because you've got comfort spheres at the rear though? The rear will be soft anyway. But you'll be able to note the differences with the front.

Yeap, very good idea hydraflushing the car specially when you don't know how's has been treated -leave the thing in for several 1,000s miles-.

cheers
G

Interestingly, I just moved the car, and now it's got movement. Not loads, but not none. When I tested it before, I had fairly recently (2 mins before) taken it down from highest workshop height to normal ride height. Maybe that had something to do with it.

Hi Sam

FYI, that's how a good XM does it: that's a tidy 2.1TD on standards spheres, belongs to one of the admin of the planete-citroen forum, he weighs 11.8 stone. This has been hydraflushed not only with your standard flushing oil, but also another product going by the name "Hydronet 2000" -some people there swear it's magic, unfortunatelly you can only buy it in France-.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHay3uJSFdU

cheers
George