Citroen C5 suspension.

[Retired]

Hi,

A couple of days ago Bron and I parked alongside a Citroen C5 on an 02 plate at Asda in Colne.

Nothing unusual in this? We sat and watched as the front of the Citroen raised and lowered about 4" about once every half minute. The Citroen was parked and had no occupants. At first we thought it was a practical joke or there was an hidden camera somewhere?

We did our brief shopping and returning to our car the Citroen was still going over road humps whilst parked.

This really did look most odd; is this a common fault on these cars?

Kind regards, Col.

[AlanBeckett]

A friend of ours has a C5 and I've never seen it do that.
Sounds like a good way to flatten the Battery.

Alan

[Tedzed1]

Hi Col, I had a C5 estate on a 51 plate, and the behaviour you describe is not normal.

Mine used to raise the car up to the driving position if left standing for a while, the suspension
is also self leveling, it had a switch in front of the handbrake to manually adjust the height, and then it
showed the recommended speed of travel on the dashboard readout.

One handy feature it had is that it also had a switch in the boot, so if you had a heavy or awkward load you could lower the back of the car down for ease of access.

[Retired]

Hi,

As you rightly say Big Al; a quick way to flatten the battery; I wonder how long the owner remained in the store?

Thanks Paul, Bron and I used to own a Citroen BX and it was the worst car we ever owned putting us of Citroens for good. Our BX used to lift on the suspension once the engine fired up then it would settle down when the engine was turned off.

Obviously the C5 Bron and I saw was faulty; I wouldn't want to drive a car with this fault as it could prove dangerous.

I thought it was Candid Camera?

Kind regards, Col.

[Refugee]

It looks like they have an electric pump so perhaps there was a short in the electrics.

http://www.google.co.uk/#q=citroen+c5+suspension+pump&revid=365756951&sa=X&ei=l3jgUYK0D7DY0QWxzoHIBA&ved=0CJYBENUCKAc&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&fp=9a6c61034e6bdf&biw=1264&bih=848

[Tedzed1]

Yes, the pump is electronic, the suspension levels out as soon as you turn the ignition on,
and you can raise and lower the rear end without the engine running.

[ed731pdh]

As I recall with these darn things, it's a pump powered hydro suspension system fitted with seven gas spheres at various points around the car. If your buying one the key is to pull a sample of the fluid in a clear test tube and hold against a newspaper. If you can read the text through the fluid then it's a good cert that the car has been looked after. The spheres can be trouble to obtain, they have a limited service life, and the pumps are prone to start making clicking noises more often than not prior to failure.