V6 Xm Estate, Front suspension and dipping reverse mir

[combwork]

Hi people,

My `to do' list grows ever longer, mostly with things I hope I can put off until the Summer. Latest though concerns me. From a cold start, the car rises normally; takes about 1 minute. After a short drive then stopping the engine (school run) the front drops very quickly by 2 to 3 inches. Starting again then turning the engine off and it holds height normally. Any idea what could be causing this, and can it be safely left for a few months, or is something over-pressurising and about to blow? I've owned the car for less than a year; previous owner had receipts for 4 new suspension spheres, but there's no indication of the accumalator or center spheres having been renewed. The ride is quite hard at all times, reading the board makes me suspect the centre spheres may need renewing; does this make sense?

Norrie, I seem to recall you thought the auto dipping nearside mirror when reversing was more a pain than an asset. I could be wrong about this, but I think the `cure' is to select reverse, then use the mirror controls to set the mirror where you want it to be when reversing. Worth a try............

Regards, Jim AKA combwork.

[noz]

Jim,

When the car has been sitting for a while the pressure in the system slowly drops (ignoring the anti sink for a second). When you start the car in the morning the system pressure rises again. However, the centre hydractive spheres are isolated when you are in hard mode so these spheres don't fill up. The hydractive ecu should open the centre sphere periodically to allow the pressure to equalise. If the centre sphere is low on pressure when the hydractive valve opens, the fluid from the wheel spheres flows into the hydractive sphere and hence the pressure in the wheel spheres drops thus the body height drops.

If the symptoms are only the back or only the front then you have a problem with that particular electrovalve. If it happens to back and front then there's something wrong with the hard/soft switching by the ecu.

Sounds to me like you've got a 'slow' or intermittent front electrovalve. it should open during the rising stage to make sure all 3 spheres have the same pressure. It could be the valve itself or the electrical feed to it.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

noz

[combwork]

Thanks Noz,

I sent you a personal email, did you get it?

Jim. AKA Combwork.

[noz]

Jim,

I did but I'm working away from home at the moment and can't answer it. I get home tomorrow.

Cheers

noz