Time for a hydra- flush??

Chris Abbott · Post by **Chris Abbott** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:58 pm

The car has know done 63K, when i bought it, it had done 28k. It was flushed then and has been totally problem free till now, the steering has started to become pretty stiff, theres plenty of LHM in the resevoir, the car lifts quickly, pump belt is at the correct tension. Do you therefore think its time for another hydra- flush, then LHM fill up? Thanks in advance for your comments.
Chris

Dollywobbler · Post by **Dollywobbler** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:06 pm

Mine improved just by ditching the old LHM, clearing out the reservoir and filters and putting new fluid in. I have had good experiences with hydraflush, but now I wonder how much of the improvement was just from using fresh LHM. Perhaps the flush did nothing anyway!

Car is now much quicker to rise and the steering issues are almost entirely banished - might get a bit stiff around a car park but is now fine out on the road.

Post by **Defender110** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:31 pm

Again; I am keen to here as many views on hydraflushas possible. It is not something i have ever needed to do but had contenplated doing it as on-going basic maintainance to help prolong the life of my cars. I have heard negatives about it moving sh1t around the system but if it could be done where all the shit is brought out of the system it must surely be a benefit?

RobC · Post by **RobC** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:34 pm

I used it about 10 years ago with no problems. Since then just changed the LHM every couple of years and cleaned the filters every year. Not a single problem since (touch wood).

themildbunch · Post by **themildbunch** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 6:45 pm

I've used it for several 1000 miles with no problem although I did spring a leak from the return doseur connection but this was unrelated I think and would have happened with LHM too...

I did it as a precaution as the car had had minimal care and I've had no other hydraulic issues other than the common weeping FDV and return pipes perishing..

I'm about to fill up my newly acquired and abused TZD auto with hydraflush that has very intermittent PAS and hasn't had the fluid changed for years by the look of it....

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:53 pm

I've used it once about 50k miles ago, and kept it in for a couple of thousand miles. No ill effects, and no positive ones either (although I had no problems so wasn't expecting any improvement). I change the fluid and clean the filters every 30-40k miles, and when I did this shortly after purchasing the car, it did solve an intermittent loss of PAS.

I had no more hydraulic issues for another 80k or so, at which point I changed the pump as the steering was getting heavy when cold. No problems since in the last 30k miles, apart from a recently developed slight weep from one of the rear suspension cylinders. Good thing I have a few spare!

rmattila · Post by **rmattila** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:22 pm

I flush the hydraulic system with diesel fuel every few years, and have operation experience of systems that have gone through several such treatments up to 950 000+ km. Just don't forget the flushing agent into the system for more than 500 - 1000 km to prevent excessive wear.

Post by **Defender110** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:35 pm

rmattila wrote:I flush the hydraulic system with diesel fuel every few years, and have operation experience of systems that have gone through several such treatments up to 950 000+ km. Just don't forget the flushing agent into the system for more than 500 - 1000 km to prevent excessive wear.

/\ Now then

Kitch · Post by **Kitch** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:39 pm

Hydraflushing mine made my PAS die, as it picked up lots of crap and blocked the pinion up with it, which in turn kept making FDV's shit themselves. Took me too long to work out what was going wrong!

I think keeping the fluid fresh and regular cleaning of the filters will do more good TBH. Prevention over cure and all that.