I got into the habit with my last car of parking in gear but I am now worried doing this in the xantia doesnt allow the hydraulic suspension to lower while parked. Is this likely to cause damage to the hydraulic system?
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You will have no problem. The handbrake operates on the front wheels anyway.
I've been parking ours in gear for over 4 years with no problems.
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Always park a Xantia in gear - they have a habit of running away otherwise.....
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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Like Richard says. Parked Xantia and 2*BX in gear since 1989 with no problem. Suspension seems to settle equally effectively in or out of gear!!
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Because the rear suspension settles and it is trailing arm design, the wheelbase of the car changes slightly. If the handbrake was working the rear wheels and the car was left in gear then the change in wheelbase would result in the transmition being "wound up" slightly. This makes it difficult to knock the gear lever into neutral without dipping the clutch.
Citroen were supposed to have cured Xantias from making their own bid for freedom by making the handbrake pull on harder before it hits the rachet. I'm not totally convinced and always park in gear anyway!
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Thanks mjm, but as the Xant's park brake works on the front wheels I assume we agree thre is no transmission wind up.
Our other car is a Berlingo, it's capacity to try and roll back over the trailing arm is occasionally alarming!!!
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Yes, we agree.
I have found, however, that the the cure for early models, which was carried over into standard production, of moving the start of the ratchet on the lever up so that it had to be applied harder is not foolproof.
Several times I have found that the car has crept forward (parked on a slope) enough overnight to wind up the transmition.
My BXs did the same. I forgot to leave one of them in gear one night and it ended up with about a fag papers clearance away from the garage door!
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I always left my Xantia in gear - a habit I got into in previous years as a Saab driver (and still use to this day), since with a Saab you had no option but to put it in reverse to take out the ignition key.
I've never trusted a handbrake on any car that as disc brakes and especialy front handbrake, since disk surfaces contract so much when they get cold and consequently leave room for the pads to "slip".
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Even if the transmission was being wound up during the suspension's descent, the maximum torque you will see in the transmission is that from the engine's static friction, and maybe a bit of compression from one cylinder - compared with the torque available from a running engine, this isn't great, and unless the car were being jostled about on a ferry or on a train and scuffing the contact lines between the gear teeth, I can't see it causing a problem.
Number_Cruncher
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N_C,
It doesn't cause a problem, really.
I have found that when the car does creep as above, I get in it and find that the gear lever won't just pull back into neutral. It needs the clutch depressed. (well, mechanical sympathy says that it does!) If the clutch is depressed then the car rolls forward slowly. Without the engine running the brakes are heavy. First thing in the morning the brain gets overloaded remembering to pull the handbrake on a bit more before dipping the clutch.
It adds to the mental load of lighting a fag, adjusting the radio, setting the heater, opening the window, turning on the seat heater etc.
Oh, its all too much for me -------
:)
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Because the rear suspension settles and it is trailing arm design the wheelbase of the car changes slightly. If the handbrake was working the rear wheels and the car was left in gear then the change in wheelbase would result in the transmition being "wound up" slightly...
I used to use this method on CXs, BXs and GSs to establish whether the rear brakes were working or siezed. With the engine running, drain the suspension by selecting low height, then stand on the footbrake and select max height. The brakes should stop the rear of the car rising, except, as once happened, when the rear wheels were stood in a pool of hydraulic fluid; then they slurped along the floor. My mentor in the garage could also use this method to determine whether the swing arm bearings were OK or shot.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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I got a knock on the door one day from a passer by who wondered why my Xantia had just rolled out of the driveway into the middle of the road, with no driver. The handbrake was fully on, since then I've always left it in gear.
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