lhm leak

[rodney68]

came back from shops this morning and noticed green oil on ground where bx parked upon looking under the car saw lhm dripping from left side of subframe/crossmember,looking down from engine bay,down side of battery asw fluid dripping from join of 3 plastic pipes,this is under roll bar?,just above front of crossmember any ideas what these are,pushed them all back in and leak cured i hope,must be the rough roads n snow knocked them loose hopefully

[Tim Leech]

Sounds like a loose return pipe, if its stopped leaking that should be ok but when the weather improves see what stae the pipes are in.

[citronut]

once that little rubber three way union starts letting go of the plastic trickle return pipes it is best to fit a new one, but sometimes i means there is a higher volume of citro blood LHM flowing through them than should be,

regards malcolm

[tim]

Sounds familiar - when I was reviving my BX19 this summer I had a persistent hydraulic leak which didn't go down too well with the MOT guy. Turned out I had about three separate ones, and the last one foxed me because the fluid was running along the top of the crossmember to the right hand side leading to thoughts of octopods and so on... however, it was that Y-junction that was pumping out fluid. I had already replugged it once and didn't realise that it had popped again. I couldn't understand why it kept doing it as I thought it was just a return pipe but not so. Martin at Pleiades recognised the symptoms straight away and said 'your accumulator sphere is knackered'. Back pressure from it was blowing off the pipe every time I hit the brakes. One change of sphere later, problem and leak solved. I replaced the y-piece with a new homemade one consisting of a 5mm nylon T-piece off the Halfords windscreen washer section, £1.59, and short lengths of 3mm hose(which Pleiades supplied). Reason is that the ones on the hydraulic fluid tank always seem to have bio-degraded and the above fix works for them too; the two I've seen down by the axle have looked in better condition but they are the same part so I don't trust 'em!

[rodney68]

what could cause excess return of lhm only jusy crasping the principles of citroen hydraulics if thats possible

[tim]

Well, like I said - knackered accumulator sphere (the one down in front of the engine) in my case. As to the exact mechanics of this, me still learning too, but I daresay the hydraulics experts will fill you in. There may be other causes for your Y-piece blowing off but that was definitely mine and one an expert picked up immediately. Certainly a change of sphere did the job and is a very easy and quick fix. (see tech FAQs for good info on how to do the job yourself (ten minutes approx).

[rodney68]

accumulater sphere was done sometime in the last 2 years,how long do they last?,done 15 mile trip in bx this afternoon and seems leakfree(touch wood),will have to get new 3 way rubber now i know where local specialist braggs of briston are now

[MULLEY]

I would have thought an accy sphere would last a least 3 years, however, if you have another issue somewhere like perhaps a worn hydraulic pump it could possibly run the accy sphere down quicker? Do you know anywhere where you could get the pressure in the accy sphere checked to rule it out?

[rodney68]

the ex-owner said he'd come and have a look he's had 3 before including this one and there are a couple of citroen specialist garages in the area,don't mind fixing it myself when i know whats up,have noticed when all up too temp there is a whoosing/shhhh noise quite regular i take it this is the pump maybe less than 30 seconds between them if that is the noise it makes

[MULLEY]

That'll be an accy sphere making a schpfissing sound, so it may need replacement?

[rodney68]

i see so many noises too listen out for and try to figure out which is which one,spoke to ex-owner he says could beacc sphere too,so after xmas will do it and he will check it over

[citronut]

the other thing that can cause this union to pop is the steering ram allowing to much leakage back into the trickle/wheepage return system,

the three way union on the tank and the one down the back of the battery are actualy diferent, one is a Y the other is a T, although the can both be swaped about,



regards malcolm

[rodney68]

left off work at 8 this morning and front rose up but back would not so slowly drove 1/2 mile to small peugeot/citroen garage,man hadn't seen a bx for 5 years but diagnosed a frozen height corrector?,just as we spoke up it popped,he will check everything over after xmas,but he checked the pipe was still on and looks ok

[citronut]

you did top the citro blood back up after the leak, low fluid levle can cause one end to be slow getting up,

if it happens again try moveing the hight lever to the highest setting, and once she starts to lift put it back to normal hight

regards malcolm

[rodney68]

yes topped it up forgot about citroebics man at garage said do it if it does it again and will copaslip all the linkages up when i get a chanceprobably when my brother brings my astra back and bx can have some attention