Any ideas on how to get a Citroen C6 to the the mechanic. It's booked 23kms away. It won't drive far as the wheels are touching the inside of the wheel arches and the bottom of the car is about 5mm off the ground. They turned up to tow it on a tow truck or to get it up to a flatbed without damaging it as its too low. Does anyone have experience with this issue. Comes up on the dash as a suspension fault. Will not raise up from the ground on the front only.
How do you move a citroen with front suspension fault?
- Thread starter pauliev
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if its just sitting on its bump stops, a decent flat tray operator will move it easily.
Sounds like you'll have to pay the mechanic's travel/call-out charges, but let's think about what we know (I have no experience with C6s, but am assuming that basic issues like height control have not changed significantly compared to XMs and Xantias) :
* you imply that the rear is rising correctly, and it's only the front that's affected. I believe this tells us that the pump is working correctly. Does anyone know if this also proves it has enough LDS? Is it possible that it could simply be low on fluid?
* have you tried shifting the height control to "High"? Have you experimented with setting it to low, waiting until the rear has settled and then shifting to high (ie Citrobics or Citaerobics)?
* did you try lowering the rear for the flat-bed guys? Doing so should raise the nose a little...
* assuming it has enough fluid, and Citrobics have no effect, the problem surely must lie with the front height corrector. The fault may be as simple as the clamp on the ARB having come loose and is now slipping, or the connecting rod (between ARB & height corrector) could be broken or popped off. Otherwise the height corrector may need an overhaul.
* to access will presumably need a low trolley jack - can anyone say if there's something solid under the front that could be used as a jacking point (setting it on low should improve front access slightly). My XM does have a solid cross piece at the front, while I have recently discovered that a Ford Territory (2015 model) has acres of plastic undertray, and nowhere to jack.
* how high are your kerbs? Can you pretend you are going to parallel park, but use your driveway to get the LHS up on kerb. This would give slightly better access under the front (but height corrector is going to be behind engine, so still wouldn't be visible).
* you imply that the rear is rising correctly, and it's only the front that's affected. I believe this tells us that the pump is working correctly. Does anyone know if this also proves it has enough LDS? Is it possible that it could simply be low on fluid?
* have you tried shifting the height control to "High"? Have you experimented with setting it to low, waiting until the rear has settled and then shifting to high (ie Citrobics or Citaerobics)?
* did you try lowering the rear for the flat-bed guys? Doing so should raise the nose a little...
* assuming it has enough fluid, and Citrobics have no effect, the problem surely must lie with the front height corrector. The fault may be as simple as the clamp on the ARB having come loose and is now slipping, or the connecting rod (between ARB & height corrector) could be broken or popped off. Otherwise the height corrector may need an overhaul.
* to access will presumably need a low trolley jack - can anyone say if there's something solid under the front that could be used as a jacking point (setting it on low should improve front access slightly). My XM does have a solid cross piece at the front, while I have recently discovered that a Ford Territory (2015 model) has acres of plastic undertray, and nowhere to jack.
* how high are your kerbs? Can you pretend you are going to parallel park, but use your driveway to get the LHS up on kerb. This would give slightly better access under the front (but height corrector is going to be behind engine, so still wouldn't be visible).
Ask around the local hot rod/street rod crowd and see who they use. I've had DS's with flat tyres loaded onto a flat try. Infact my car trailer can load DS's with flat tyres no problems.
Cheers everybody. The rear is not moving either but it's at the middle setting. It happened a month ago and tomorrow was the first booking I could get in at Citroen so booked the tow truck for this morning. The two guys who turned up both said the same thing. I have been trying to lift it lower it since it happened reading what everyone else suggested to no avail.
The pump has control valves for each end, so if one end only stopped working there may be a problem there. Usually one end not working is due to the height sensor, but the C6 has a height sensor at each corner, so it's different to the usual C5 problem. In the C6 they are colour coded as RHF=Red, LHF=Yellow, RHR=Green, LHR=Blue. If one is faulty, it will cause a fault warning. There are some C5s that have these also, where they are used for the headlamp control.
Does the suspension pump run? The pump and ECU are an integrated aka BHI. If not, have you checked the 'maxi' fuses?
Maxi fuse allocation on the lower portion of engine bay slave / fuse box:
The pump motor can need cleaning out. There is a thread on this somewhere.
Does the suspension pump run? The pump and ECU are an integrated aka BHI. If not, have you checked the 'maxi' fuses?
Maxi fuse allocation on the lower portion of engine bay slave / fuse box:
The pump motor can need cleaning out. There is a thread on this somewhere.
Another option is to call a mobile Pug/Cit friendly mechanic often mentioned in this forum John Brown at ReviveMyLion who'll use Lexia/Diagbox to identify the problem, or even be able to command front pumps to raise and lock at full travel.
I use the hydraulic wheel dollies and ratchet straps over the tires then the car can be pulled on the tilt tray on the dollies if you bare on a flat surface tail first I would do but that’s me even the cheap dollies would work just have to get them under the wheels
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I still don't get this .... a flat tray should load a DS no problems. So C6 should be simpel in comparison! I've had a flat tray move a DS with 4 flat tyres no problems
Agree. A price of wood at the start of the tilt tray and it goes up just fine
Is the overhang on the c6 more or less than a ds? Possibly 4 flats are higher up than the lowest setting. When he said the car would be damaged I assumed it would be from the front hitting the angled flat bed tray. What is the angle of a flat bed when it's picking a car up? 20 25 degrees?
Go figure. You die a thousand deaths begore you even get in trouble. I would have thought a cursory check of simple things like fuses would be easier than asking the internet for help. Maybe it's not only the genY who are internet dependent.
Easy
Apply 1.5 bar pressure to the suspension tank pump resovoir with a coolant pressure tester modified as I do daily for cars that have leaks or no fluid and wakes up pump and makes it prime to allow car to rise
Simple and it's outlined on service box how to do this too
Apply 1.5 bar pressure to the suspension tank pump resovoir with a coolant pressure tester modified as I do daily for cars that have leaks or no fluid and wakes up pump and makes it prime to allow car to rise
Simple and it's outlined on service box how to do this too