The Hydractive pipe that runs across the front cross member under the radiator was as rotten as a pear - starting to weep LHM on the section between the O/S strut and the electrovalve, looking just as bad (but still dry) on the N/S section. Just a matter of (a short) time before it dumped the contents of the LHM reservoir on the road!
The reservoir to HP pump feed pipe had been repaired using a elbow of 'rubber' fuel line of slightly too large diameter (10mm) and an 'innovative' adaptor to match it to the ?original? (8mm) pipe. Said adaptor was a deep 6mm, 1/4" sq. drive, socket with a hole between square and hex of not much more than 4mm; by halving the diameter reducing cross sectional area a factor of 4. One (but perhaps not the only) reason why the Hydractive suspension would never work properly and why the steering would sometimes go stiff when driving off first thing (cold LHM).
Downstream of this 'restrictor', the feed to the HP pump wasn't a tight fit onto the pump inlet, so I'd be surprised if some air wasn't being sucked into the hydraulic system.
When I came to drain the fuel tank, the obvious and easy thing to do was to add a length of PVC pipe to the outlet of the priming bulb and let it syphon. Flow was very slow, I suspected the bulb valves but as I got lots of work to do I let it trickle. After I'd drained of something over 10L, I came to salvage the filler flap and unscrewed the filler cap - load hiss of inrushing air! So the breather is blocked, explaning for the occasional loss of power when accelerating hard.
