LHM Change due??? and what on earth is this from....

[mezuk04]

Ok just got home and tried to check the colour of the lhm fluid, sadly my finger isnt long enough, yes i realize my problem in life now.

Well used a clean screwdriver and put the contents on to some tissue, its yellow, now originally its supposed to be green and brown means time to change, so does that mean yellow is half way there???

Also this cover was loose ontop of the battery and the lhm tank, not exactly sure where its from.

Hopefully these pics work...(camera phone)

[np]

The cover looks like its from the fuse & relay box,sandwiched between the battery & LHM tank.Just a case of pushing & cliping back on. Not sure about the LHM.The last time i did mine when i got the car it was brown/black!

[mezuk04]

You clever bloody bugger hehehe.....its just come to me, it seemed sodding strange why all the fuses were on display i thought there was something over them.....oh leave it!!!!! ..... i had a stressful day of music, downloading, msn and frenchcarforum today.....slightly embarassed now

[citronut]

maybe the fluid is hydroflush
regards malcolm

[np]

No need to feel embarassed!We all have these little moments Thats why we have this excellent forum.

[Mandrake]

Ok just got home and tried to check the colour of the lhm fluid, sadly my finger isnt long enough, yes i realize my problem in life now.

Well used a clean screwdriver and put the contents on to some tissue, its yellow, now originally its supposed to be green and brown means time to change, so does that mean yellow is half way there???

Looks like you have the same problem my car had - someone has put the wrong oil in the tank, so you have a mixture of two different oils. LHM does not go yellow under any circumstances, it goes from bright green to dark green, to dirty brown to black. (The latter two only in cases of extreme neglect)

Most likely it is a mixture of ATF and LHM. On my car if I dipped my finger in the tank and wiped it on paper as you have done it also looked yellow.

However after draining the system to put new LHM in and pouring some of the old oil into a glass jar and holding it up to the light I could see that there was about 3mm of green oil floating at the top, and the rest was dark red.

Whatever the red oil is, it does not mix with LHM, the LHM floats on the top, so when you look in the tank you will most likely see the green oil that is floating on the top, but dipping your finger in gives you a mixture of the two, thus the yellow colour.

I would suggest that you syphon about 100ml out of the tank into a glass jar and hold it up to the light to find out what colour it REALLY is, as I found looking down into a tank (and also into the bucket that I drained the old oil into) did not show me what colours were really there.

Assuming its not proper green LHM then I would advise you change it ASAP, as there are a number of different oils that are red, some of them potentially damaging to the system, and none of them will behave exactly like LHM for the functioning of the system...

One change I notice on my car since the change is that it lifts much more quickly in the morning now.

Also this cover was loose ontop of the battery and the lhm tank, not exactly sure where its from.

That looks like the cover for the fuse box ?

Regards,
Simon

[Kowalski]

LHM does not go yellow under any circumstances, it goes from bright green to dark green, to dirty brown to black. (The latter two only in cases of extreme neglect)

I've seen LHM go yellow, a dirty yellow at that. I suspect it goes brown when it gets mud in it, and yellow when its got rust in it i.e. a sign that there has been condensation/water in the system. It all probably depends on the colour of your dirt! Some of the cheaper LHM you can get (not naming any names here) isn't bright neon green when it's new, I think they makers skimp on the dye a bit, further confusing the issue.

Your LHM looks too much of a clean bright orange yellow colour to be down to rust or dirt, I'd suspect that it has had something that isn't LHM in the system, ATF, hydraulic or engine oil, something like that.

[mezuk04]

Well we have replaced the LHM, rather easy actually, just got a tad stuck on taking the LHM tank off...but when Ug is needed Ug responds...isnt that right Wilkobob hehehe.

We came to the conclusion that something has been added or used, power steering fluid was number 1 and C5 fluid was number 2, the filters were very dirty so all is well again, and for £40 job a good-en!!!

[Mandrake]

LHM does not go yellow under any circumstances, it goes from bright green to dark green, to dirty brown to black. (The latter two only in cases of extreme neglect)

I've seen LHM go yellow, a dirty yellow at that. I suspect it goes brown when it gets mud in it, and yellow when its got rust in it i.e. a sign that there has been condensation/water in the system. It all probably depends on the colour of your dirt! Some of the cheaper LHM you can get (not naming any names here) isn't bright neon green when it's new, I think they makers skimp on the dye a bit, further confusing the issue.

The ones that went yellow though, can you be sure that they weren't topped up with the wrong type of oil at some stage ?

As for the colour of peoples "dirt" I don't see how dirt can get into the system in any large quantities, the only entry points being the filler cap on the tank, and during sphere changes etc.

The "dirt" that accumulates in the oil is just deposits from the insides of the hydraulic system like tiny metal particles from wear of pistons, slide valves etc...

Regards,
Simon

[Kowalski]

The ones that went yellow though, can you be sure that they weren't topped up with the wrong type of oil at some stage ?

I'd agree that I couldn't guarantee the history of the LHM in question, but the cars in question had been serviced and stamped by main dealers and Citroen specialists, and had owners who seemed to understand what LHM was, so I could hope...

As for the colour of peoples "dirt" I don't see how dirt can get into the system in any large quantities, the only entry points being the filler cap on the tank, and during sphere changes etc.

The "dirt" that accumulates in the oil is just deposits from the insides of the hydraulic system like tiny metal particles from wear of pistons, slide valves etc...

The other hydraulic systems I've had experience of are agricultural and construction systems, i.e. JCBs and Tractors. The JCB hydraulic system is a closed system aside from tank vents (as is the Xantia, i.e. nothing is plugged in / unplugged from the system regularly) and it has a massive filter on it (about 8 inches diameter, 18 inches long) to keep the dirt at bay. A JCB digger or a tractor is an extreme case for dirt getting into the system but it finds its way in, where you've got a hydraulic ram that is the tiniest bit oily, dust sticks then gets forced past the rams. The Xantia rams have gaitors to keep the dust out, but dirt has a way of finding its way into the best sealed system.

If you've run a diesel engine, you'd realise how little soot it takes to make your engine oil go black, and the same is probably true of LHM, I'm pretty sure there aren't vast quantites of seal material being worn away or the system would be gushing LHM!