Problems of the pipelines

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ritmo
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Problems of the pipelines

Post by ritmo »

So I've been having a nightmare of the green kind for the last 6 months. Firstly one of my rear suspension cylinders corroded and failed, dumping almost all my LHM across the road 300 miles from home.

After sourcing and having the cylinder replaced, my octopus almost immediately packed up. Which eventually lead me to replace it with a home brew job. I replaced all the pipes from the Octopus and made a new manifold system up next to the LHM reservoir. As can be seen here:

Image

However, the rubber of the octopus didn't actually seem to be in that bad nick. It just wasn't holding on of the suspension breather pipes in.

Now after about 50miles, more LHM on pouring out on the deck. I assumed it must be one of my pipes failing. But in fact it wasn't, one of the original rubber breather pipes that comes off the right front suspension had blown off. The pipe that had come off can be seen in this photo:

Image

at the top of the photo. The Black dirty pipe that connects to the brass fittings going on down to my blue replacement pipe. I've fixed this with some spring clips.

So. Finally, my question is: Could there be something else going on here? I assumed that the OCTO had failed, but maybe there was actually just too much pressure building up in my return pipes? Could that cause the original return system to blow? I wonder if 50miles down the road (hopefully after the MOT that it should be getting tomorrow), another pipe is going to blow off.

Any suggestions or reassurances that I'm doing the right thing would be welcome.

Thanks!
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MULLEY
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Re: Problems of the pipelines

Post by MULLEY »

Perhaps the strut is knackered & its caused the pressure build up & blown the strut return pipe off? Or did you drive through any large puddles & it might have come off that way. Once you'd re-fitted it, has it come off again since?
2002 C5 2.0 HDI Estate - Jasmine - Now SORN
2011 Mini Cooper D Clubman - SOLD
2016 Mercedes A180D Sport - Auto refinement
1992 TZD Turbo - Bluebell - My daily
1991 Gti 16V - Blaze - crash damaged, will get repaired.
1990 Gti 8Valve SOLD - looks like it's been scrapped
2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
1992 TXD - Scrapped in March 2014
1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
1996 - AX Memphis 1.5D - Dream - SORN

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ritmo
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Re: Problems of the pipelines

Post by ritmo »

Well that would be a pain if that strut is knackered. It's not showing any signs that I know of that it's knackered. Seems to be working fine.

No puddles... It's possible I knocked it while replacing the octo... But I don't think I did..

Haven't driven it since I clamped it, MOT ran out on Friday. So fingers crossed...
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mat_fenwick
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Re: Problems of the pipelines

Post by mat_fenwick »

If you pop the return and vent pipes off the strut, you can see how much LHM is passing. A small amount is correct, as the seals need some fluid to leak past them in order to keep them lubricated. But there shouldn't be any pressure to it.
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toddao
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Re: Problems of the pipelines

Post by toddao »

Well done with that home made octopus - very resourceful - was the reference to home brew because you used home brewing items to construct it? A new octopus was still available from Citroen a year ago.
Todd


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2011 Mini Cooper D Clubman - SOLD
2016 Mercedes A180D Sport - Auto refinement
1992 TZD Turbo - Bluebell - SORN
1992 TZD Turbo Estate - SORN
1991 Gti 16V - Blaze - crash damaged, will get repaired - SORN
1990 Gti 8Valve SOLD - looks like it's been scrapped
2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
1992 TXD - Scrapped in March 2014
1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
1996 - AX Memphis 1.5D - Dream - SORN
x 8

Re: Problems of the pipelines

Post by MULLEY »

Do you have any pictures showing the full octopus that you built etc...it could prove invaluable for the club if you could let us know some more details please :)
2002 C5 2.0 HDI Estate - Jasmine - Now SORN
2011 Mini Cooper D Clubman - SOLD
2016 Mercedes A180D Sport - Auto refinement
1992 TZD Turbo - Bluebell - My daily
1991 Gti 16V - Blaze - crash damaged, will get repaired.
1990 Gti 8Valve SOLD - looks like it's been scrapped
2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
1992 TXD - Scrapped in March 2014
1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
1996 - AX Memphis 1.5D - Dream - SORN

I'm not just a username, i'm also called Matthew.
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