Citroen Hydraulics

[xud]

I have just replaced the accumulator sphere on my 1997 Xantia 2.1td. I believe you ave to bleed the system if any parts have been replaced. Any ideas how to do this?

Also, I decided to bleed the brakes at the same time. The rear brakes do not bleed very well. I open the bleed dcrew but there is just a trickle of fluid coming out. Is this normal, or should it spurt out under high pressure. I need to know the correct procedure
Thanks in advance

[mr rusty]

Hello again...you really,really,really, need to buy a manual!!

The main system self bleeds, you just run the engine and close the pressure relase valve, i.e. just do up the nut and rev it a bit, the car will come up and it'll soon be normal...although in rare cases you may need to prime the system by sucking some LHM up the main pipe to the tank, but this is only really neccesary on a 300,000 miler with a tired pump-rare on a Xantia as the pumps are rebuildable, unlike the earlier type on the BX, etc.

With regard to bleeding the brakes, there is a set procedure.

You have to have the rear of the car on axle stands, the engine running, and the suspension on the highest setting ....this is because the rear brakes take their pressure from the back suspension circuit, so if there's no load on the system no fluid is diverted to the rear brakes via the Dozeur valve (what passes for a master cylinder on a Citroen...) and this is why you are just getting a trickle from them-I bet you havn't set the suspension to high.