hydraflush and very bumpy ride

maxgreenwood · Post by **maxgreenwood** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:02 am

At a recent BX mini meet up in Northern Ireland - well there were only 2 of us, my BX was treated to a new ball joint, brake discs and pads, 2 front calipers, and LHM drain and replacement with hydraflush. A big thankyou and hats off to Citroen7 for his invaluable help with said jobs. The ball joint was a test of perseverance to say the least, but we got there with a bit of improvisation!

The LHM was VERY black, and when we'd changed for hydraflush, bled the brakes, primed the system etc, the ride was truly transformed.

Now though, about 200 miles later, the ride is very bumpy. Citaerobics helps but only for the first short part of any journey. Today i put in low and undid and did the pressure release screw a good few times and this helped alot more for about 5 miles.

I'm thinking it must be air in the system, am i right? and what can i do to ensure its all out? i was just reading about steering lock to lock, never did that.

the Hydraflush is already pretty dirty, i'm wondering if i might need to filter whats in the tank and put it back in, or change to LHM sooner than 1000 miles? i'm on about 350 at the mo.

i'm very despondant at the moment as my beloved citroen ride has vanished

but i'm sure this must be an easy fix?

i hope theres not air getting into the system on the pump feed hose, i guess that could be a possibilty.

Any help would be much appreciated

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:56 am

What is its ride height?

The height correctors can go sticky after a time and their linkages need lubricating. The front one is more fun to do than the back one and you'll need something like greasy hands, spray oil and grease, brushes or whatever to get it nicely lubricated. In particular I've found that the front one needs lubrication where the mechanism goes into the corrector.

What happens is that while you drive the car it gradually drops as the corrector gets pushed one way and does not return fully - a sort of ratchet action. Operating the mechanism manually raises it and it stays there for a bit.

maxgreenwood · Post by **maxgreenwood** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:08 am

the ride height seems ok, maybe a tad high i've thought, as doesn't do the dropping thing you describe.
however the car is not sinking overnight like it used to and when i tested the front for travel/softness last night, it was really stiff like the spheres were knackered, although they were brand new in december.
the ride does return after a period in low but only for a short while.

i'll look at the linkages/h corrector though also, worth greasing anyway i guess.

could the hydraflush have collected so much gunk now its affecting the operation of the struts/shperes etc? thats my worry!

DavidRutherford · Post by **DavidRutherford** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:44 am

This is a very odd one indeed. If the ride is poor, and then deteriorates while driving there can only be one of two things happening: Either the height is changing and you're beginning to hit the top or bottom stops, or something is going a bit odd with the spheres.

I wonder if this is large lumps of something unsavory jamming in the damping holes. That said, I'd be extremely surprised if this could happen sufficiently badly to make the whole car go hard.

I'd be inclined to remove the hydraflush, put it through a coffee filter paper in a funnel, and shove it back in. Can't hurt, and might well remove a large amount of goop.

maxgreenwood · Post by **maxgreenwood** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:50 am

yeah thats what i was thinking i reckon its gloopsville in there.
paper filter - nice idea, right off to the local shop!

maxgreenwood · Post by **maxgreenwood** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:36 pm

i've got a feeling jeremy is right, if the front corrector is sticking, does it prevent the struts from travelling freely when driving? i just tried to push down on the bonnet now its parked and theres no spring! rock solid - then with a bit more pressure and it gives, feels like something is sticking to me. The struts didn't seem sticky or groany and were smooth before this. i'll get under and grease it up!

DavidRutherford · Post by **DavidRutherford** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:59 pm

Sounds like you might have a lot of goop stuck in the struts which is causing them to jam. If you've got the time/space/tools to do so, I'd be inclined to remove the front struts, dip the end in LHM/Hydraflush and cycle them a number of times to flush out the yuck.

The amount of yuck that can accumulate in a Hydraulic system is quite amazing. When we pulled the Hydraflush out of a CX a while back I put it through a coffee filter paper to have a look and see how bad it was:

"Fairly" sludgy then.

citroen7 · Post by **citroen7** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:33 pm

david thats clean compared with what came out of maxs car! the jar i used to bleed the brakes has sat on the bench in the garage for over a week and is only now starting to turn green as for the bucket full of what came out of the resovoir it had the consistancy of piss and not a hint of green anywhere.
i would filter the hydroflush grease up both height correcters and keep doing the citarobics to pull the rest of the crap out i dont think you need to look too much further as your tick time was very good and your pump sounded ok.
Thanks for the kind words max it was nice to meet you and a pleasure to be able to help

demag · Post by **demag** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:07 pm

From what I can gather, if the system hasn't been cleaned for a long time this is quite normal. The crap that gathers in the system over the years is amazing. Once the Hydraflush starts to circulate it all gets loosened up and can actually cause the system to stiffen up. 200 miles is nothing, leave it in for 2000! There's a very comprehensive posts on the Club-XM forum about this very subject and the strange things that happen. Jorgy9 started the thread called "Hydraflush and Hydronet 2000" it is very enlightening. (I hope that is ok Admin don't want to break forum rules but it is related. Please delete if not appropriate)

I put Hydraflush in my Xm a while back and it has definitely stiffened up. However there was a lot of black muck in it. Some of the members on Planete Citroen are running Hydraflush full time. Citaerobics are good, Jorgy9 plans on doing at least 30 a day! This is ok on a non hydractive car, but on a hydractive car its not really feasible because the pump outlet is split between brakes/steering and suspension and the speed of movement is a lot less. Things will get better but its a long process.

maxgreenwood · Post by **maxgreenwood** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:24 pm

right ok i'm filtering that hydraflush + i'll grease the height correctors - any particular approach? i'll try with a brush. and lots of citaerobics. i can't bear the ride at the moment.

i'll let you know how i get on and i should post those pics of my old LHM up here too.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:52 pm

Remember to support the car so that should the suspension drop there is room for you. These cars can KILL.

demag · Post by **demag** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 5:44 pm

Just out of interest has anyone got any idea if there are many Bx's in Ireland?

citroen7 · Post by **citroen7** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:52 pm

well there is 4 at my house for a start

the last time i saw one for sale in the ads for free was about 8 months ago so they are few and far between
and i have never seen a 16v in the 10 years i have been here

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:08 am

Whats the best stuff to filter murcky lhm? i recently did a strut & must have used about 1.5 litres of nice new lhm & its gone like mud, i did manage to filter some of it back to new, but the rest is proving quite a bit more difficult.

I used an old work shirt

as the filter media....