Xantia fluid change

Chevron Terry · Post by **Chevron Terry** » 01 Oct 2009, 17:36

Hi ,
I have just been quoted £250 , to drain and replace the hyraulic fluid in my Xantia .
As Iam a bit green mechanically , should I be tempted to tackle this myself ? and save my money .
many thanks
Terry .
ps lhn fluid .

Post by **myglaren** » 01 Oct 2009, 18:03

Chevron Terry wrote:Hi ,
I have just been quoted £250 , to drain and replace the hyraulic fluid in my Xantia .
As Iam a bit green mechanically , should I be tempted to tackle this myself ? and save my money .
many thanks
Terry .
ps lhn fluid .

Daylight robbery!

Yes, do it yourself, it is simple enough and you will have the satisfaction of knowing that it has been done correctly.

Flush with hydroflush first.
LHM and Hydroflush available from GSF.

Pretty much all you need to know is here but feel free to ask any questions where you are not sure about anything.

You may turn green physically though, Jim always manages to have a shower in it

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 01 Oct 2009, 20:08

Handy tip, when you're ready to remove the resevoir, don't try and pull it out, it has a peg underneath that fits tightly into a hole and you'll risk splashing LHM everywhere.
Instead, remove the airbox and stick a pry bar or large flat screwdriver down under the resevoir and pop it out of the hole, then it can be lifted out easily.

HDI · Post by **HDI** » 01 Oct 2009, 20:17

Chevron Terry wrote:Hi ,
I have just been quoted £250 , to drain and replace the hyraulic fluid in my Xantia .
As Iam a bit green mechanically , should I be tempted to tackle this myself ? and save my money .
many thanks
Terry .
ps lhn fluid .

I see your in Dymock , not too far from me. If you want to pop over to the workshop I use in Kidderminster I'll give you a hand to do it.

Pleiades · Post by **Pleiades** » 01 Oct 2009, 23:25

Nice work if you can get it, if I could get away with that my life would be so much easier!!!!!

You should be paying a garage about an hours labour charge and the price of 5 liters of LHM, for this they should, depressurise the system, remove the reservior and filters then wash the reservoir out and wash the filters, then replace the filters and reservoir, fill the reservoir and get the car up to full pressure, then remove all wheels and bleed through each caliper untill you have clean fluid at all 4 bleed nipples.

Peronally we charge an hour to to do this but a little less if the car is already on the ramp for other work.

£250???? Tell them to poke it......

Regards.
Martin.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 02 Oct 2009, 08:43

they have obviously got the decimal point in the wrong place,

regards malcolm

Xantidote · Post by **Xantidote** » 02 Oct 2009, 15:25

CitroJim's procedure for LHM change is great, but as is often the case, there's an option as to how you deal with the reservoir, which you may have come across if you've searched the forum. This basically involves leaving the pipes connected to the reservoir top, rather than disconnect them, though maybe there's then a bit more bending of the "flexible" pipes.

The hydraulics pipes are held in a clip on the side of the reservoir, & to remove, their holding clip is slid towards rear of car. Can be a bit fiddly to get off, and I prised some pipes out of the clip. Rather than disconnect the pipes at the top of reservoir, leave them attached & manouver the top & filters out of the reservoir at a bit of an angle. Having already followed Xac's suggestion of prising the bottom of reservoir up with large screwdriver, you can hold pipework/reservoir top in one hand, whilst lifting the reservoir out with the other, placing it on old newspapers/rags which you've carefully provided near the battery so that it doesn't tip up. Then you can place the filters etc into bottom half of a 4 pint milk carton to drain, placed somewhere on top of the gearbox, where again, you've had the foresight to place newspapers and rags, as there's is bit of spillage. The one thing I'd recomend if you go down this route is to syphon as much LHM out of the reservoir as possible before removing it.

Good luck either way - Martin

Chevron Terry · Post by **Chevron Terry** » 02 Oct 2009, 16:57

Hi , HDI ,
Thanks for the offer .
Whereabouts are you in the Worc"s area ?
When would suit you ?
What do I need to bring with me , apart from the L.H.M. Fluid ?
Many thanks
Terry .

Post by **CitroJim** » 02 Oct 2009, 20:35

Never worry about spilling a bit of LHM on yourself, as said, it's a wonderful hair conditioner and does not seem to affect skin at all. Good stuff

It must be me but the only Xantia I've ever managed to lift the filter head out of the LHM reservoir was my old 1.9TD and it seemed then to put an awful strain on the pipery. Personally, I'm a lot happier to disconnect teh pipes, carefully unpopping the clips and lifting the reservoir out complete. This also saves spilling LHM.

The pipe clips can be reused with care.

Once I siphoned the LHM out of the reservoir but be warned, if you do this, don't suck on the pipe to start the siphon. LHM tastes truly revolting

HDI · Post by **HDI** » 02 Oct 2009, 21:46

Chevron Terry wrote:Hi , HDI ,
Thanks for the offer .
Whereabouts are you in the Worc"s area ?
When would suit you ?
What do I need to bring with me , apart from the L.H.M. Fluid ?
Many thanks
Terry .

I'm between Malvern and Worcester , not far from the Bank House Hotel if you know that. The workshop is in Kidderminster though.
Next Saturday would be ok for me ?
I have tools at the workshop so just you , the car and LHM

Chevron Terry · Post by **Chevron Terry** » 02 Oct 2009, 22:12

Hi , HDI ,
Next saturday is great for me ,October 10 .
What sort of time ?
Cheers
Terry .

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