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OTish Murder

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The Citroen DS did slowly lumber up, one wheel at a time, as the system pressurised. Very odd when you were inside.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar
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Don't forget this is harry we are talking about. Who doesn't know his arse from a hole in the ground.

Reply to
Tim Streater

they'd obviously got it right 30+ years later.

Reply to
charles

But not immediately - over quite a few hours, assuming all is in good condition. A worn brake valve, particularly, will cause the back to drop down in an hour or two, especially combined with a flat accumulator sphere.

A lot longer than that - b'sides being nearly 40yrs since the D was discontinued, it's 58 years since it was launched - and some Tractions used hydraulic suspension on the back a couple of years earlier.

All but the earliest Xantias and XMs included an extra pressure reservoir sphere to slow the sinking right down, largely due to the pump being down- specced at the same time, causing the pump-up from flat to be MUCH slower.

C5s and C6s change the engine-driven pump to an electric one, which is triggered as soon as the car's unlocked, to pressurise the suspension even before the engine's started.

Reply to
Adrian

I take it the similar noise I hear on my dizzle C4 is the fuel pump?

Reply to
Tim Streater

Certainly, to me, the idea that the steering would go hard right made it much more believable. It is exactly the sort of unnecessary embellishment I would expect from a group of engineering apprentices.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

Not an urban myth, actually happened, reported in the papers as I have said. Whether those reports were accurate is another matter. You could probably find some reference to the incident if you were to rummage through newspaper cuttings libraries.

Reply to
Onetap

Probably. C4s use springs. As, it should be said, do pikey-spec current- shape C5s. Only the old shape and Exclusive-spec current shape C5s use hydraulics.

Reply to
Adrian

There was also hydragas or hydrolastic suspension fitted on many BL cars, Princess etc., ISTR. I've no idea how that system worked.

Reply to
Onetap

Front-to-rear interlinking, but no pressure generated, purely captive - hence so many sitting on the bumpstops, because they'd not met the man in the brown coat's bike pump for a while.

Reply to
Adrian

I don't believe a word of it.

Whether they existed outside your imagination another.

Off you go then. Until you do what you say is purest bullshit.

Reply to
Steve Firth

No that's cobblers. It takes time for Cit to sink on its suspension. My Cits were all still at normal ride height after being parked overnight. A Citroen less than ten years old will (probably) have Hydractive 3 suspension and will not settle on its suspension.

Which tends to confirm an element of the tale.

Again cobblers. There was enough reserve of pressure in the system to allow the brakes to work.

Cobblers.

I think the OP's story is bollocks. But then so is yours.

Reply to
Steve Firth

So how would the steering wheel be turned whilst the motor was unenergised/

Reply to
harryagain

I'm not sure I believe it's ever _happened_, as in some attempted assassin really _did_ meet his maker this way.

But it's certainly feasible enough. Just chop the main rear suspension feed, and that back end's coming down at a rate of knots in a cloud of pressurised green fluid. Or into the engine bay and take the main pipe from accumulator to distribution block. Or from distribution block to front height corrector.

You're rolling around under there in the dark with a torch in your mouth and a pair of side cutters in one hand, just take your pick of any of the several bits of "brake pipe" that'd have exactly the same effect. They all look pretty much the same.

Or even, ffs, the metal rod from the height selector lever to the front and rear height correctors.

Back when I was running my ol' CX GTi, a mate borrowed it whilst I was away. Parked outside his house one night, the alarm went off. Except it had no alarm. He jumped in, fired it up, it rose - and a very f***ed-off cat shot out from where it was not just trapped but getting gently more squished as the car sank. True. I promise you.

Reply to
Adrian

How many CXs have you had, Steve? The handbrake's a once-a-year MOT high point thing.

All hydraulic Cits have the handbrake on the front discs. No drum-in- disc. Not on the rear drums. They've all got rear trailing arms, so as they sink, the wheelbase lengthens. Not great if you've left it in gear. And we all know how shit disc handbrakes can be at the best of times - especially if they're on the front, with allowance having to be made for the steering angles.

Reply to
Adrian

The hancbrake was crap. It worked on the front discs which were located immediately in frontof the dashboard. Four little pads the size of old pennies. There was a weird system of levers and pulleys.

I once put my foot on the footbrake of mine (engine not ruinning) and let the handbrake off. It ran away though the pedal was as hard as a rock.

As an ex owner, I know you are full of shit.

Reply to
harryagain

So you're thinking of a GS. Handbrake on the G was actually quite decent, because the inboard discs meant that the cable compromises on the CX etc weren't a problem.

But shit adjustment, as ever, could be.

No, not really. The spade handle out the dash just pulled a lever pivoted on the bulkhead, which then operated the cable balancer then the cables directly on towards the calipers. Pretty much exactly as any other handbrake, but a lot less cable and/or rod. Just much more visible.

Reply to
Adrian

The drive would be disconnected under normal conditions and engaged with a dog clutch when required. However, bearing in mind this was something thought up by engineering apprentices, it would probably have ended up being something far more complex.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

Yes. Worst suspension on any car I've owned since I had a TR6.

Reply to
Tim Streater

Ah, Firth has pitched in.

Sorry Stevie, you're wrong. Chav bloke was found pinned under a car with a sharp instrument.

You're the main bullshit merchant and it usually involves your fables about how awesome Steve Firth is.

I can distinctly recall the press reports and have no reason to lie about it. That's all there is to it.

Reply to
Onetap

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