Hydraulic Pump leak new seal or a new pump??

seany87 · Post by **seany87** » 07 Apr 2010, 19:07

On my late 2000 Hdi Xantia I have what appears to be a leak from the back of the pump. I am presuming a seal has gone. Leak has gone gradually worse and the other half is not happy about the large LHM stain on the drive ( which by the way is proving tricky to shift, even Gunk has little effect anyone have any better ideas of how to clean it??!!)

Can I pick up a new seal for it and get my mechanic mate to fit it, or is it a case of searching for a secondhand pump, which I am dreading as I cant find any around local breakers or eBay.

If it is the seal do any of you wise fellows know which one I require?

Thanks very much for any help!!!

Sid_the_Squid · Post by **Sid_the_Squid** » 07 Apr 2010, 20:12

You can get the pump seals from Citroen, part numbers below, I'd only trust to your mechanic mate if he has done this sort of thing before, it would be easy to break the pump. Many on here have changed the pump seals themselves, there might even be a guide (have a search).
Depending on your location in the country (I'm assuming UK) a lot of people recommend Pleiades, Citroen specialists info here http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=27692, who can recondition your pump.
I have had all my pump seals changed by B&L autos (Citroen specialists) info here http://www.blautos.co.uk/.

You need to have the correct seals to be LHM resistant, the part numbers you want are
0000402688
0000402687

Those are the two different type of seals you get in the pump, there is a third large seal which you only need if totally dismantling the pump (not necessary)

seany87 · Post by **seany87** » 07 Apr 2010, 20:43

Excellent...Im glad I can recondition it!

How much am I looking at for the seals (and how many of each do I need) from a dealer?

Sid_the_Squid · Post by **Sid_the_Squid** » 07 Apr 2010, 20:59

The seals are only sold in packs, each pack contains more than enough seals for 1 pump.
I've bought the seals myself, but chickened out when it came to actually doing the job, paid B&L to do it, so can't advise you no how to remove or how the job goes. Theres probably a guide somewhere here. Sorry I can't remember the price if you phone a Citroen parts dept quote those numbers, they will tell you.

Post by **CitroJim** » 07 Apr 2010, 21:29

LHM does fade away, especially on concrete. My concrete driveway gets plenty of spills on it one way and another and the stains disappear within a week or so. Same applies to block pavers and stone/gravel.

Tarmac might be a different proposition as LHM can be quite aggressive on some materials, particularly hydrocarbon based ones (which tarmac is) and here I'd expect it to have quite a detrimental effect. I can still see the after effects of when my Activa ram sprang a leak a couple of months back and put rather a large puddle on to tarmac.

LHM does not seem to cause too much grief to soil and plant life in my experience.

All in all, it's pretty benign stuff and a damm good hair conditioner as anyone who has received a good douche vert will testify...

One thing that a leaky pump will do is spill lots of LHM all over your alternator. The jury is still out on whether or not it kills alternators but it certainly does them no good. If the alternator is very wet it's not a bad idea to slip it off and soak it in an electronics-safe solvent and dry it with an air-line.

The alternator in my V6 was once swimming in LHM but it's still good, touch-wood, 10,000 miles after a good clean.

Gaskin · Post by **Gaskin** » 07 Apr 2010, 22:20

I've just changed the seal on my HP pump, but did it with the pump off as part of changing aux belt tensioner. Probably possible in situ, although getting enough movement in the metal pipes to get the union out of the pump may be hard. Had to buy 5 seals 0000402688. So if you want one I can post it.

Cheers

Duncan

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 07 Apr 2010, 22:42

If it's leaking from the back, it's probably coming from the blanking plate (19mm hex), although it depends on the orientation of the pump of course.
If it's from one of the 19mm hex with a pipe coming out of it, you'll need to remove sufficient P clamps from the pipe so that once you've removed the 13/15mm nut from the 19mm hex you can move the pipe out of the way to remove the leaking hex.
There's a spring under it, but not under much tension so it shouldn't come out.
Expect to lose a bit of LHM though, so a rag to mop this up is a good idea, stops it getting on the alternator and damaging that.
Slip off the old seal and ease on the new one.
It's dead easy.
The seals are somthing like 79p each, some dealers sell them individually, others seem to only do them in packs.
It's a good idea to replace both the pipe hex seal and the blank hex seal even if only one is leaking, saves you doing it again.

seany87 · Post by **seany87** » 08 Apr 2010, 17:53

Well, I went to my local dealer today and spoke to the parts manager, wasn't impressed with the service to be honest.

Left me waiting for 15 minutes after he looked at the leak and took my reg only to come out and say "er yeah mate we don't do them."

He then offered to get a guy out to have a look but 5 mins after going to get him the same parts manager came out and said the guy in the back said they didn't do them as well. At this point I was a bit cheesed off after the wait and produced a post it note on which I had wrote the part numbers and asked the parts manager to check again.

Came back and said "oh yeah the numbers are good but we haven't got them in, come back tomorrow Ill have ordered them in."

I'm sure he's just trying to fob me off, surely they wont have bothered ordering them??

Anyway, rant over, Duncan if you are still reading is there any chance you can post one or 2 over to me, if you have paypal I will cover the expense of course.

Going to ring the dealership tomorrow and see if they will have ordered them so I can pick up on Saturday. No idea where else I can source them!

Sid_the_Squid · Post by **Sid_the_Squid** » 08 Apr 2010, 19:54

I think their a dealer only part, I find its always best to go in with the part numbers first, generally if its not a brand new car the dealers don't know or care. Although saying that its not always true, Citroen Hatfield have been very helpful to me in the past.

Xantidote · Post by **Xantidote** » 08 Apr 2010, 23:37

Which dealership is it, so I know to avoid them for parts?

seany87 · Post by **seany87** » 08 Apr 2010, 23:44

The one on riverside drive/sefton street (by the dock road)