1996 Citroen Xantia Mistral review from UK and Ireland

Suspension Spheres, the rear were gone when I went for a test drive and changed by the dealer before handing over the money (bargin!). The front suspension, which over the past month, has been getting very hard and the steering very heavy.

This was going to cost me to get the dealer to fix it so reading around on the net I found all I needed to know.

If you endevour to do so here is some advice: Wait till the steerings hard and the suspensions heavy.

With the engine on, put the car on lowest setting leave for a minute or 2 then turn off the engine.

Find the centre sphere in engine bay. There is a hexagional bolt to the right, turn it one full turn only, this releases the pressure in the system.

If a belt or chain wrench (like for changing oil filters) will not open/loosen the spheres heres what to do: use a vice grips to open the nut at end of sphere (carefully cos it contains nitrogen gas, explosive) to release the gas. Use a stone chisel or blunted wood chisel and hammer to dig in to the sphere to turn it anti-clockwise should loosen and come off fairly easy.

Put in the new spheres then tighten the hex bolt, turn on the engine rise it to the highest then fully lower it again, turn off engine open the hex bolt to release the air (you will hear it) repeat until you hear fluid only. Done!

Lovely car for bumpy roads, like every road in Ireland... Like a ship over waves.

Pick-up in first, powerful, but slow to speed.

Comfortable, Spacious and loads of boot space.

Hydraulics are fun to play with.