Front end wont rise

Xantiaman · Post by **Xantiaman** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 6:07 pm

Hi guys,

My normally reliable Xantia has started playing up.

I got in the car tonight after work, started up, waited for the stop light to go out, then drove off, but i noticed the ride was a little bit choppier than normal, when i got home i found the front end had not risen above its normal slightly sunken look after 9 hours.

Putting the suspension to maximum height it goes up fine, back to normal position and the front end stays in the air. Down to lowest position and it lowers evenly but wont go back up when normal is selected.

I am looking at a simple siezed height corrector or broken dog leg? Or something more sinister? Is it ok to drive it a couple of miles to work and back without any damage?

Gareth

CitroXim · Post by **CitroXim** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 6:50 pm

Hi Gareth,

Nice easy one this one

Either the front height corrector has seized or the little white plastic link between the rollbar and the height corrector has popped off.

If it has popped off then suspect that the height corrector may be seized or partially so.

If the link is in place, give the height corrector a good clean-up and douse heavily in WD-40 or similar to free it off. Then, once free and working normally, spray it with a good spray grease for ongong protection and lubrication. I like Comma Spray Grease for this job.

I had the same on my Activa and it took a few days to free off the height corrector. It was very dry of lubricant. The problem with them is they are hard to get to. You need the car up on stands to get at it and even then, access is not easy.

Lubing height correctors is a regular routine job. Do it every few weeks int he winter.

Please support the car exceedingly well before venturing underneath for safety reasons. Hydraulic Citroes can kill.

CitroXim · Post by **CitroXim** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 6:53 pm

Sorry Gareth, forgot to answer your second

Yep, it is OK to drive very carefully a few miles, especially if you can fiddle the height so you have some suspension movement. You'll find the ride terrible though. It is amazing how much a good height corrector contributes to ride comfort and suspension performance.

Xantiaman · Post by **Xantiaman** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:12 pm

Spot on. Took a quick look with a torch tonight and was lucky enough to see it had popped out, i pushed it back on with a screwdriver for now and will do a more semi-temporary repair tomorrow using works ramp, will grease up the linkage and use a cable tie until i can source a new linkage bit.

Gareth