Hydraflush on hydractive xantia s2

[charentejohn]

Someone commented on this on another thread I posted and after reading other threads on the subject I have a question.

Is a hydraflush worth it on a hydropneumatic car ? Mine is a 2001 xantai sx s2 90 and non hydractive.
Car has done 120k miles and the fluid is light brown colour so needs changing, ite may have been done before but I doubt it.

I think the comments were generally referring to improving ride quality and ride height issues with hydractive cars.
So is a hydraflush worth it on a hydractive or should I just change the LHM ?

If hydraflush is worth doing I will but another question is how long should I leave it in as the advice was 500-50000km ? So what is normal, say 1,000km then a complete change of LHM inc brake bleeding etc.

[Hell Razor5543]

As Citroen themself recommend a hydraflush cycle every 110K miles, I would say yes. I have just this weekend started Gracie on a cycle. Remember, the pneumatic system doesn't just work the suspension, it drives the brakes and the steering. Clogged pipework could restrict these as well, which would not be useful. For distance, at this time Gracie is on 127K miles, and I intend to go back to LHM at 130K miles, which should be enough.

Do the hydraflush change in the same way as a normal LHM change, brake bleeding and all.

[charentejohn]

Thanks for the full info, thought it was worth a separate post .

Sounds worth doing as it lasts a while, 3k miles is about what I do in a year so works out well for me. Means I don't have to fit hydraflush now then do it all again a few days later.
I can do a full change now, inc brakes, and then replace with LHM next spring/summer whenever I hit about 3k miles. I can change the rear sphere then when new LHM is fitted. That's a plan I reckon.

[Xantidote]

I only did the first Hydroflush and new LHM on my TD at 150k miles, and I can't recall any super improvement in the suspension or elsewhere, but it can't be good having light brown LHM in the system. Flushing & new LHM means you get rid of all the miniscule bits of rubber & crap that accumulate in the system, and that's got to be good news. You should remove the reservoir to clean it properly, as well as the filters. Ultimately, if not done, something will become gunged up, and not work correctly.

I find it nice & satisfying when bleeding the system, to see nice green fluid, and not the dirty brown stuff.

As an aside, I found whilst doing the LHM, that a few gas bubbles had collected at the offside rear brake cylinder, and since then I give that nipple a quick bleed every 2-3 years, to remove bubbles. Never shows any signs that the brakes are noticeably then any better, but better out than in, and no doubt it would cause a problem if too much gas accumulated there.

[charentejohn]

True enough that if it needs doing it is best to do it, regardless of any improvement in suspension etc.
I always think these jobs are going to be worse than they turn out to be, once done they become easy and no problem to do again.
I have spent some time and effort doing engine flushes and oil changes so shoudl do this as well.

[charentejohn]

Just a last question, I read that the bottle the flush comes in is orange, is this it ? http://cgi.ebay.fr/HYDRAURINCAGE-de-mar ... 0401329183" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One of those things, I searched for Total Hydraurincage (I am in France and no motor discount type places here) and found one by Total th oil company.
Depends how you say it, Total as in the company or total as in absolutely.

I would buy a brand name but if the orange bottle stuff is the right one that will do.
The seller does a deal of 5L hydraflush + 5l LHM for 60 Euros + 15 postage (about £60+ in real money) so quite a good deal.
http://cgi.ebay.fr/1-hydraurincage-1-bi ... 5d35c29e66" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

On a general note check out his Ebay shop as he does a lot of Citroen DS parts, may be good prices I have no idea but may be of interest.

[Xaccers]

That's the stuff in the orange, although now it comes in silver bottles.

[Hell Razor5543]

I have ended the hydraflush cycle on Gracie this weekend. What came out was pretty clean (green towards brown, slight sediment) which suggests that she might have had a cycle sometime in the past, or properly maintained in the past.

Another reason I ended the cycle (slightly early) was I read on the forum that hydraflush does not have the same lubrication level as LHM, which is why the upper limit is 5000km. I haven't worked out what that is in miles, but as Gracie had done over 2000 miles, I felt it was worth putting her back on the green stuff.

[myglaren]

3,000 miles James.

[Hell Razor5543]

Thanks Steve

[Mandrake]

Terribly tricky those Kilometre things, what with needing to divide them by 1.6 and all...

[Hell Razor5543]

It took me a couple of hours to do the whole job, including brake bleeding.