Changing the DS Accumulator Sphere

Previously, I had removed all my suspension spheres to check their pressure.   Their pressure was checked at the Citroen Club tech day, and found to be acceptable.     Given I had the system de-pressurized, I also wanted to change the DS accumulator sphere.     The accumulator acts as a store of system pressure.   This means that the pump does not have to run all the time but only when system pressure drops below a threshold.     It is quite easy to hear the pump kick in, run for a few seconds then cut out again with a click.    A faulty accumulator will cause the pump to run very frequently, which is not ideal.

My pump was cutting in every 6-10 seconds, which is very frequent.     Given I was not sure how old the accumulator was, I had purchased a new sphere to put on the car, however I had delayed because despite this being a service item, it is extremely difficult to remove from the car.   (see this thread on Aussiefrogs).    It is a rather poor design on Citroen’s part, and to remove it took two hours and two people.  Ultimately, I had to use a breaker bar and strap wrench to unscrew the sphere, and then removal from the cavity where it lives is even more difficult.     The regulator is attached to the side of the engine (passengers side on a RHD car), and the DS accumulator sphere screws in to the bottom of the regulator.   The regulator and sphere can be removed as a unit, however you need to unscrew a number of hard lines and attaching points in a tiny space between the engine and wing.   Alternatively, you can jack the engine up a bit, then move the sphere up and to the front of the car slightly, then down in front of the cross member.

In the photo you can just see the green of the sphere and the blue is a hand coming from below the car to try and guide it past all the obstructions to release it.     Re-installation is just as fiddly as the removal!     After closing the bleed screw, and re-attaching all the suspension spheres, my cycle time had more than doubled to about 20 seconds.     Not perfect, but much better.

While the car was on the lift, I also cleaned the stainless steel sill protectors.   I found that sugar soap worked very well.

Before:

After: