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Mid Life Front Suspension Refresh	Please Register to enjoy additional Member Benefits

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gmerry United Kingdom

Wed May 29 2019, 04:05am

Member No: #11625

Joined: Nov 30 2009
Location: aberdeen

Hi all, this is just a bit of wander so excuse me.

The 2012 B7 C4 5door, with a DV6C 112 HP diesel engine, is coming up 7 years old. Been super reliable. It had an advisory concerning worn rubber bushes on the front wishbones, plus a bit of banging from the front when driving over cobbles. What could be the issue?

I started by looking at the top of the struts (remove wiper arms, plastic scuttle panel at base of the windscreen). Rubbers appear good, nuts etc tight no corrosion. Might not be the problem.

Then looked at the drop links and bushes for the antiroll bar. No movement, but sometimes hard to detect. Must be those wishbone bushes afterall, very hard to see rubber but certaintly some corrosion from the metal outer bush housing. So ordered new rubber bushes for both sides, front and back, SKF VKDS333010 and VKDS333011. Also ordered new droplinks, trackrod ends, ABS sensors, all the things which can get damaged when dismantling.

So taking the suspension apart, no huge drama except for corrosion on the droplink threads. (here is a tip on how to remove the droplinks, assuming you will replace anyhow - cut through the droplink at its midpoint, using the stubs, lever the ball joint apart and now get molegrips on the exposed ball. That will allow one to get the nut off over any corroded thread). A problem on the passenger, side as the drive shaft popped out of the gearbox, O dear a lot of oil spilled out, come back to that later.

Damage found, drive shaft CV joint outer boot clip snapped. A lot of corrosion on the ARB itself. Engine sump rather rusty on the bottom. Undershield fasteners in poor shape, cracks, rattles etc.

So refurbishment started:-

-clean up antiroll bar, repaint with primer and a tough topcoat. Run thread tap through captive threads in subframe from rear antiroll bar mount. The antiroll bar mounting rubbers are split/hinged so easy to get onto the bar.

-remove rust on the engine sump, a good thick coating of primer.

-pressout old wishbone bushes, remove rust, repaint, press in new SKF bushes

-replace drive shaft gaiter clip, adding a small amount of new grease.

REASSEMBLY.

I found it all went back together but drive shafts need to be lifted high to get the wishbone bolts back in. [b]Probably easier to remove brake caliper and brake disk to make this job easier
[/b]

Its a very good idea to have dienuts on hand to clean up threads on bottom balljoints and trackrod ends: otherwise one won't be able to get the nuts back on over any corrosion.

The manual gearbox oil ended up being a separate job on its own. No level plug so the only way to get the oil level correct is to drain the gearbox completely and fill with a fixed amount of oil. This required the battery and battery tray to be removed (yes there is a hidden screw into the battery tray coming from inside the passenger wheel arch, beneath the plastic liner). Then fill the gearbox through the plastic breather plug with a funnel and some hose.

The undertray was a bit of a mess. Lots of gravel trapped between plastic and fibreglass/aluminium heat shield. This was rotten so in the bin, new heat shield material on order from a well known website.

The captive nuts in the metal beam under the radiator and turbo intercooler were loose, missing. In the end I pulled out the beam (one large screw at each end), pressed in M8 rivnuts in place of the cagenuts and that allowed the undertray to be bolted up tight up front.

On road testing, a problem with one of the brand new TRISCAN ABS sensors, faulty as new so on that side the old one had to go back in.

Banging from front end much reduced, still a bit, maybe the plastic undertrays etc still banging on the bodywork on some big bumps.

Overall, not a job to rush, car was off the road for a week whilst I got the above jobs done (working on the car part time).

Hopefully the front end has now had its midlife refurb, good for another 7 years????

PS, thread corrosion pet hate and make any maintenance twice as hard as it should be. So for this climate with so much salt on the roads over long winters, all the exposed threads I disturbed are now safely tucked up with a good well squashed layer of Densotape.

-

iscom

Wed May 29 2019, 04:57am

Member No: #20936

Joined: Jul 21 2011
Location: Ireland Fermanagh & Galway

I guess you've save a great deal of money doing it yourself Plus satisfaction .
When I use to do my own service and repairs I always had to have three things. . Time, Weather, and the right tools

gmerry United Kingdom

Wed May 29 2019, 06:01am

Member No: #11625

Joined: Nov 30 2009
Location: aberdeen

Hi Iscom, where I live most garages return cars with more faults than originally presented. After they are about 3 years old, best to do the job properly (yourself).

Removing the battery tray revealed the substandard dealer wiring (for example) where they fitted official Citroen accessory.

Still not 100% convinced that shock absorbers don't have an internal rattle, only apparent on cobbled streets.

Might start a new post on which shocks are any good.


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