Pressure regulator rebuild or replace?

[juraj]

Hi all

The pressure reg on my BX is pressurising the octopus low pressure return, and every now and again the octopus pops one of its limbs off somewhere, today I finally got around to tracing the problem to the pressure reg, the low pressure overflow return emits a large squirt of fluid at quite high pressure after every 'click' of the pressure reg.

So the question is - is the pressure reg rebuildable? can this problem be fixed? or is it not?

bye

juraj

[jeremy]

I have sen posts from people claiming to have rebuilt them but they were trying to cure leaks.

The real question must be 'What is likely to have failed to cause the problems.?'

There is a good description (text and diagrams) in the technical guide - downloadable from the Citroen DIY site (follow link in top LH corner)

http://www.tramontana.co.hu/citroen/

Workshop manual is probably available on Bob Smith's site

http://www.rwbsmith.plus.com/citroen2/

[Pleiades]

The first thing as that the regulator is supposed to give out a spurt of fluid on the cut out click.

The next thing as how often does it click?

In my experience when running with a "flat" main accumulator sphere, the regulator will click away and overpressurise the return curcuit, this will usualy result in the small pipe at the regulator being blown off, the normal remedy is to put a tighter clip on it, then hey ho, the return curcuit just blows apart at the next weak joint.

So my suggestion would be to check the main accumulator, replace if in doubt and your troubles should be over.

The amount of people that used to come into me leaking fluid all over the ground only to have me replace the main accumulator then pop the pipe back in and job done, they were allways surprised and expecting to need a new regulator. On the other hand we do get a lot of people changing the regulator, then putting the old duff sphere back on and wondering why the new regulator dont work.

Regards
Martin.

[juraj]

thanks jeremy, and martin

yeh my accumulator here is probobly not very good, a it clicks quite often,

but i think the squirt it emitted at the click was really quite voluminous, the lhm was forced out wih enough force to hit the wheel arch with loud splash,

should it be that powerful though?

bye

[addo]

Seriously, get the accumulator sphere tested, then either reinstalled/regassed/replaced as appropriate. It's at the heart of safety in your car. If it's flat then no motor running=handbrake only. Not a good situation...

Regards, Adam.

[juraj]

oh the accumulatr was gone allright, knew that by the fact it clicked every 3-5 seconds, so i replumbed the return, byassed the ctous and directly to the lhm reservoir and put a good front suspension shere on,

bye all,

[deian]

The first thing as that the regulator is supposed to give out a spurt of fluid on the cut out click.

The next thing as how often does it click?

In my experience when running with a "flat" main accumulator sphere, the regulator will click away and overpressurise the return curcuit, this will usualy result in the small pipe at the regulator being blown off, the normal remedy is to put a tighter clip on it, then hey ho, the return curcuit just blows apart at the next weak joint.

So my suggestion would be to check the main accumulator, replace if in doubt and your troubles should be over.

The amount of people that used to come into me leaking fluid all over the ground only to have me replace the main accumulator then pop the pipe back in and job done, they were allways surprised and expecting to need a new regulator. On the other hand we do get a lot of people changing the regulator, then putting the old duff sphere back on and wondering why the new regulator dont work.

Regards
Martin.

It's nice to hear of a garage that do the honest thing and replace the basic item not something big and expensive that 'could' be the problem, and this after applying some technical knowledge to the problem, not some rules and procedures taught by manufacturer training. You could have replaced the regulator at a bigger cost to the customer and more profit to yourself. Well done! You are one of the good guys.

[juraj]

hi all

I am still having troubles with this, I replaced the accumulator with a known good sphere but the regulator still gives out way too much return fluid. Citroen only provided one of those dribble returns, just the the hard plastic hose that is simply inserted into its rubber counterpart hose. These are just designed to carry back a dribble, when it pops off I loose a liter of fluid very very quickly - 10km - or 15 minutes. I think the regulator is returning way too much fluid via this return. Anyway I have put a 8mm hose on and run it stright back up to the reservoir. Solved it for now.

bye

all