Suspension 66 Height correctors
94 Citroen XM Internet Reference Version 1.0
3/3/99
66 Height correctors
Maybe its binding struts
The problem you mention most probably lies elsewhere, provided the sphere seals are not leaking. Try
raising and lowering the car a number of times, it may clear the height correctors. Your problem may be
the front struts binding. I can send a gif. showing what happens to cause the BX strut to bind, I believe
the XM front suspension is similar.
Overhaul
Height correctors can’t be overhauled (in the sense I understand this word) by normal human beings.
They are machined with an accuracy in the range of 1 micrometer and that is pretty difficult to do !! Apart
from that they hardly wear out. What you can do is clean them internally (that is easy enough), after
removing them from the car (I don’t know how difficult that is on a XM).
Greasing up a height corrector
Instead of looking for a "sticking valve" I would search for a "sticking height corrector control rod". Just
crawl under your car (please use proper car stands !!) and try to find the height correctors and the
control arms that are connected to the anti-roll torsion bars. On a XM (in contrast to a DS) these control
rods have bearings mounted to chassis on one side.
On older XM’s these bearings are made of brass or copper (or so) but on newer XM’s these are made of
Teflon (or so) (I was told so by my Cit dealer). These older bearings (copper or brass) tend to get stuck,
or heavy going after some time because of corrosion. In that case the height control of the car doesn’t
work properly any more and you have a car that is driving in a suspension position that is too high (or too
lowtheoritically, but I didn’t notice that on my car). Now we all know that the suspension of a Citroen with
hydraulic suspension gets (much) harder when we put it in a higher position !
Moving the car from its lowest position the heighest and back a few times will loosen up the control rod
bearing for a while but not for long. But putting some grease on the bearing works !! I did that myself on
the front bearing of my 1989 XM. The bearings are hard to find and hard to reach however. Of course it
would be better to remove the bearings and grease them properly or exchange them with the newer
type. (My Cit dealer suggested the last option)
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