HELP - Citreon Hydraulic Failure

Pennysmakepounds

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help with a Problem i have with my Citreon C5. I drove to work yesterday morning (A trip of about 45 miles) and when i got there i noticed the car was sitting very low.

I thought nothing of it and went into work. When i came back it seemsed like it was sitting rather low but again i just ignored it bcause it normally just sorts it self out.

Anyway, When i got home at night (Another 45 Miles). It seems to be sitting really low. So i tried to manually raise it using the hight button.

NOTHING happned, the display showed it was rising and lowering as it normally dose but the car didn't actually rise or lower. NO WARNING MESSAGES to suggest a fault either.

It seems to be sat at the lowest point and will not rise at all even when driving.

Everything else seems fine Steering/Brakes.

it is s 2003 VTR model with 170K ish on the clock.

I have never had this problem. Has anyone else had this issue.

I've had a look under the car and cannot see any oil on the floor so dosn't seem to be leaking.

What could it be???

Any help would be greatlly appriciated.

Paradigm

If it's the same suspension used in earlier Citroens it's a combination of oil/gas & the gas "spheres" (don't know the correct name) may need looking at.

I had to have mine refilled on a BX gti some (long) time ago, from memory it wasn't overly expensive.

Pennysmakepounds

Thanks for your input.

Do you remember what symtoms you had.

Mine has sat down as far as it can go and will not lift at all but no error messages on the dash.

Thanks

Paradigm

Pennysmakepounds wrote: »

Thanks for your input.

Do you remember what symtoms you had.

Mine has sat down as far as it can go and will not lift at all but no error messages on the dash.

Thanks

It's going back a few years now but I think it was low on one corner. When I took it in they re-gassed all the four spheres (or whatever they're called). It was fine after that.

Yours could be something totally different as it's down on all four it could be the suspension pump???

I can't remember if the same pump ran the power steering etc & the suspension on mine, sorry it's been a long time

Quietmanc

Might it be a linkage come adrift,causing the raise/lower valve to decide for itself where your car should sit?Thinking of Xantias here-a C5 may well be electrically controlled,but the principle would be the same. Just seen Paradigm's post above.I think it's the same pump for suspension,brakes and steering.

Paradigm

Quietmanc wrote: »

Might it be a linkage come adrift,causing the raise/lower valve to decide for itself where your car should sit?Thinking of Xantias here-a C5 may well be electrically controlled,but the principle would be the same.

Yep that's possible & I think that in this day & age we can safely assume that there is a "black box" controlling things somewhere

Basically it's all guess work until a mech has a look.

Thomas_Crown

Paradigm wrote: »

If it's the same suspension used in earlier Citroens it's a combination of oil/gas & the gas "spheres" (don't know the correct name)...

The fancy sounding name ''Oleo Pneumatic'' springs to mind.

Pennysmakepounds

Thanks for that.

Steering and Brakes are fine though.

No issues what so ever.

Paradigm

Thomas_Crown wrote: »

''Oleo Pneumatic''.

That's easy for you to say

Paradigm

Pennysmakepounds wrote: »

Thanks for that.

Steering and Brakes are fine though.

No issues what so ever.

It's possible it's a sensor but it needs to be looked at properly.

Quietmanc

Paradigm wrote: »

It's possible it's a sensor but it needs to be looked at properly.

After having a look on a couple of Citroen forums,I couldn't agree more.This system has a scary amount of sensors and,yes,a suspension ECU :eek:.My opinion has now changed dramatically-you can't just mess about like you could on a Xantia-please note that when working under any Citroen with this kind of suspension you must ensure that the car is adequately supported.If it lowers and you are underneath-it will kill you.Take it to a Citroen garage or a good independent who has a Citroen diagnostic computer or you will be changing bits forever.