I have a mk1 Xantia 1.9td. The rear offside suspension is hard, the other three corners of the car are fine and the ride height is correct. I've replaced the three spheres at the rear and the rear height corrector valve all to no avail. I've also partly dismantled the rear offside suspension to check that the suspension leg itself is not seized, it's perfectly free. The suspension raises and lowers ok, I'm really at a loss as to how to fix or troubleshoot this further. Any help and advice would be gratefully received, thanks.

Phil, March 2010

Thanks Bob, I'll give it a go at the weekend.

Phil, March 2010

if your happy with the spheres then i'd be tempted to remove the offending suspension arm completly and check the bearing condition it may feel fairly free when jacked up but if the bearing races are breaking up it may make a difference when the suspension is under load had a simalar problem with a B X many years ago hope you sort it soon

bob k, March 2010

Thanks Bob for your reply. When the problem first materialised I replaced the offside rear sphere with a new one and it made no difference, so I swapped the nearside sphere with the offside and it still made no difference. The accumulator sphere is a new one and can't be mixed up with the others as it has a different mounting to it. What you say makes perfect sense, but I've checked it all out previously and just can't see a problem with the strut/leg either. If the car wasn't so good in every other respect (owned and serviced by me for 10 years) I'd consider scrapping it but I hate to give up!!
Thanks, Phil

Phil, March 2010

if the arm is free and the strut is working ok then the sphere must be faulty nothing else to go wrong on them try swapping the rear suspension spheres around and see if the problem changes around faulty ne, spheres are not unheard of ,have you put the correct spheres in the correct places the accumalator sphere has a much larger hole than the suspension sphere and has totally different characteristics

bob k, March 2010