BX Club Forum

MULLEY wrote:How about trying Hydraflush before you start worrying about the hydraulic pump etc?

It's an option, but it's pretty bad. On my last BX, which was cured by hydraflush, it was just a bit notchy when cold (car and ambient temperature). This keeps doing it even when it's warm, and it's also very slow to rise.

It's the cheapest option.

I reckon with old cars that haven't been looked after very well, sludge builds up in the entire system which can cause an accumalative effect on everything, so running hydraflush at the very worst won't make a blind bit of difference, but at least its only cost you about £20+ notes rather than changing hydraulic parts.

Nothing to loose tbh

As an aside, i had stiffish steering on a pump that was eventually replaced as it was knackered but whilst running it on hydraflush for approx over 2k the steering was lovely with no issues. Only on changing back to lhm did it start to get worse again over-time.

There has also been a bit on some of the forums where bods permanently use hydraflush rather than lhm with supposed no ill affects. Just quoting what i've read, not endorsing this approach.

I know you're not endorsing permanently using hydraflush, so all I'd say is at what point are people able to say that it causes no harm? After 10k miles? Or after the design lifetime of the pump, say 100-150k miles? If that was the best fluid to use I'm sure Citroen would have specified it in the first place...

Where do you get hyraflush from? I havnt been able to locate any except from the US?

Andy

No idea mate, just our foreign friends seem to have tried using the stuff more regularly instead of lhm, might possibly be cheaper to buy?? It's a cleaning agent but must have decent lubrication, otherwise it wouldn't be recommended to use. I suspect in all honesty, that if you ran the stuff full time & changed it at regular intervals, there'd probably be no harm whatsover. I think i ran mine for nearer 3k than the 2 & it seemed great. Only when changing back to lhm, did the stiff steering start to become an issue again....

I believe that citroen recommends using it for 2k, probably as it does its best cleaning upto that point, but i bet lubrication wise its probably exactly the same as lhm....

Just an idea though & i won't be held responsible for anyone trying to use it for a long period & it does cause some side affects, but when you've got nothing to lose on a very tired car

Resting.


Doh!


With the belt gone. Rather well polished!

Your first picture isn't even straight - if I didn't know you better I'd suspect you'd had a drink...

MULLEY wrote:I believe that Citroën recommends using it for 2k, probably as it does its best cleaning upto that point, but i bet lubrication wise its probably exactly the same as lhm....

My guess/suspicion is that it's less lubricative than LHM, and I seem to remember it's thinner too (haven't got any left ATM) which would go along with working better with a weak pump.
So it may be that the mileage limit is simply to minimise the time spent with a less suitable fluid in the system, and hence minimise the extra wear caused by this. Or, I may be talking a load of crap as this is all just speculation

What we do know is two things about Hydraflush:

1) It cleans the system of crap
2) It's a different colour to lhm, infact its a yellowey piss colour, the same that really old lhm turns into.

Aside from the above, who knows

Mate, if your piss is that colour I would really go and see a doctor ASAP. Mine is never that bad, even after a heavy night!

Mothman wrote:Where do you get hyraflush from? I havnt been able to locate any except from the US?

Andy

GSF sell it at 30 quid for 5 litres. Mulley and I (well Mulley actually!) changed the LHM in my Hurricane recently (it was as black as the ace of spades). I ran it on Hydraflush for a couple of thousand miles and since swapping back to LHM the car feels all the better for it - I'd definitely recommend it. If you go along to any of the CCC meets there's a guy there punting it out at 20 quid for 5 litres. I meant to buy some more but ran out of money - what's new!?

Annoyingly though, you don't need 5 litres for a flush. I've got some left over from the last flush I did, but I guess it's not enough to be worth putting in. Or is it? It'd mix ok with the LHM I presume as the chances of you getting all of the LHM out must be pretty slim.

I've got Hydraflush in mine at the moment, about another 500 to go. Rob advised that it was fine to top up with LHM if needed, so can't imagine why it wouldn't work the other way around.

The suspension seems a bit harder with full hydraflush in system, but that's not surprising with it being thinner.

mat_fenwick wrote:Mate, if your piss is that colour I would really go and see a doctor ASAP. Mine is never that bad, even after a heavy night!

Brilliant.

Have just fitted the new alternator. What a hateful job! Dreadful access and barely enough space to get the old one out and the new one in. There was a lot of swearing.

It started fine, which was nice, as suspension-high makes life mildly easier. Still awaiting a new fan belt so haven't had chance to check it yet.

Seeing as I had a couple of litres of Hydraflush knocking around, and that the LHM was low, I chucked it in. It's made quite a difference! The steering is now behaving, though still a touch notchy when going from lock to lock. It's ceased changing assistance level dramatically mid-corner though, which was getting to be a bit of a problem! I'll give it plenty of miles and do another drain, filter change and refill.

Sadly, there are knocking issues. One sounds like a plasticky rattle, so I wonder if it's ARB drop links. There's still the odd clunk from the front end too, so I need to get on with changing the slightly-duff track rod end (fitting new steering rack gaiters as I go) and replacing the engine mountings. Crap. THAT'S what I forgot to order from Lockwoods! Just ordered a load of stuff for the other BX. Gah.