The Citroën CX introduced in 1974 was the the replacement for the Citroën D Series. It was the last car that was designed by Citroën before Peugeot took them over. A wonderful riding and quite car, the CX was made through 1989 and was then replaced by the Citroën XM.

Over the years working on the Citroën CX  one thing we found that needed attention was the rear suspension trailing arm bearings.Where the D Series car was equipped with very large tapered roller bearings for this function, the CX had light weight, (by comparison) needle bearings.

What would happen over time is these bearings would start to wear and begin to freeze up. This would cause the rear axle not to move up and down freely, and in extreme cases the axle would start to dislocate and cause the alignment to change with extreme tire wear being the result.

That amounted to quite a problem. You see these axles when they are worn in this manner can be very hard to remove and replace the worn out bearing. So what we started to do when a Citroën CX would come into the shop that had rear axle bearings still in good shape was a bit of preventative maintenance in the form of greasing the bearings.

Now to you died-in-the-wool Citroën CX people out there this might sound a bit extreme, but it sure worked for us. This was to locate a spot that was accessible on the bottom of the axle housing where the bearing is housed. (see arrow on parts drawing) Here we would drill and tap a hole into the hollow portion of the housing to accommodate a grease fitting. (As a side note when doing something like this you want to apply some grease to both the drill bit and the tap so that the chips and the filings you make will stick to the grease and not go into the housing).

Once this is done and the grease fitting is threaded in you can apply some grease into your Citroën CX axle bearing housing with your grease gun. You will find that the housing will take a fair amount of grease to fill it up, but use your better judgment and do not pump too much grease into the bearing housing and blow out or damage the bearings .You will know when you start to get a bit of resistance to the grease gun.  After this a pump or two at each service should keep the bearing in good shape.

Another option is to try and get higher up on the housing and then get some gear oil into the housing. You will want to have a plug to plug up the hole after you do this. Either way will get some lubrication into the bearings and that is what you want to do.

Good luck and always remember to wear some eye protection when you are drilling into this material. The use of a variable speed drill will also give you much better control of what you are doing with this project. Stay safe.

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One of the most common questions people ask about their high pressure Citroëns hydraulic systems is… How do I release the pressure on the hydraulic system to remove a sphere?

The last time I tried I carefully loosened the bleed screw on the regulator, but still got a hydraulic bath when I tried to remove a sphere”

Well there can often be more to releasing all the pressure on the Citroën hydraulic system then just opening up the bleed screw on the regulator, because there will still be residual pressure in the system even after that is done.

Here is a method that you might want to try: First get yourself some eye protection in the form of some safety glasses or goggles. Next turn the engine off on the Citroën. Open the bleed screw on the regulator. (this can be located in various places depending on the particular model of Citroën) Check your owners manual if you have one.

If not look for the sphere in the engine compartment that is attached to a  metal bodied component with two steel lines and one rubber hose coming from the body of the component. That seems to be the easiest way to describe it if you don’t already know where it is located.

Once you have located the regulator, check for a bolt head on the side of it that should be 12mm in size. With the car turned off loosen this screw about a quarter of a turn. You will hear the pressure release in the system when you do this.  Now move into the interior of the car and grab hold of the height adjusting lever or switch . This is located down by your foot on a D series Citroën, and in the center console on GS, and early CX, and a sliding switch in the center console on later Hydraulic Citroëns.

What you want to do with that lever or switch is move it to the lowest position first and let the Citroën settle completely down. Now that it is in it’s lowest position and resting on it’s bump stops, move the lever or switch to the highest position. If the Citroën still has residual pressure in the system you will notice it attempt to lift up.  What you want to do at this point is move the lever or switch slowly back and forth between these two positions until you don’t get any more reaction out of the car and it just stays down in the lowest position.

At this point the hydraulic system of your Citroën should be completely depressurized. Now move around to the front of the car and grab hold of one of the two suspension spheres and try to move the sphere from side to side . You should be able to get some movement out of them showing you that the suspension no longer has any pressure in it. Now you should be able to remove any of the spheres without getting a hydraulic bath; but be sure to keep those safety glasses on for your own safety.

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