2009 c5 2.0Hdi

[shoogiesco]

Hi
after finding my steering getting heavy i booked car into citroen and they tell me the wrong fluid has been put in power steering/suspension system and quoted me 12.5k to fix
They were not interested in flushing system and replacing fluid so im just wondering if this is worth doing or is it too late?

thanks

[Paul-R]

What fluid has been put in? Also, as you say steering/suspension, I presume that you do indeed have a wet suspended car? There is a technical difference in the fluids between wet and dry cars for the steering.

[shoogiesco]

Hi i have hydractive suspension and Citroen told me someone has put some 'normal'power steering fluid in but it does look like it has been added to LDS fluid

[bobins]

There is a technical difference in the fluids between wet and dry cars for the steering.

When I looked into it, the Total Fluide DA and Total LDS were to identical standards - the 'DA' bit merely refers to 'power steering'. The pumps and steering racks can use both DA and LDS. And yes - I realise this doesn't help the OP with his enquiry !

[Paul-R]

That's why I said technical. If they were going to claim that LDS had been used instead of DA, or vice-versa, then I was going to say it didn't matter. But it seems that PSF of some kind has been used.

I'm not entirely sure how miscible the two fluids are, I suspect completely as they are both oils, but this begs the question of how they knew. Maybe the PSF was some ghastly colour and turned everything muddy brown. I really can't understand otherwise.

In the hope that the seals haven't been damaged I would suggest completely draining the system and then refilling. If there's some improvement then drain and refill again with a few miles (100-ish?) under its belt. All that LDS won't come cheap though.

Does anyone know for sure the effect of PSF on the system?

[bobins]

I have a strong suspicion that any rubber 'O' rings in the system are just HNBR seals. When I tested some HNBR 'O' rings in LDS - absolutely nothing happened to them !

[Paul-R]

Have you tested them in ordinary PSF?

[GiveMeABreak]

I feel a law suit coming up against whoever did that! I expect this is virgin territory. You could flush it out as best you can and drive it until you suspect things are going south. I suspect a rapid deteriation of the components if you have the hydraulic suspension sadly.

It does make me very angry when I hear this sort of thing, because somebody didn’t care enough to take the trouble to do their homework before replacing the oil.

I feel the pain, but I’d tou are considering keeping her, Inwould definitely get that stuff out as soon as you can. Maybe an indie specialist with a caring attitude will be bit more supportive with the work.

[bobins]

Have you tested them in ordinary PSF?

No, 'fraid not. At the time I was checking what seals would work to replace the two seals in the power steering pipes where they enter the steering rack - a known failure point when C5 X7 racks are replaced.

[shoogiesco]

Citroen sent me a video of the black stuff they took out my car and the orange stuff it should be. I'm hoping a good couple of flushes would help. I can't find an indie Citroen near me but the garage I would usually use said they would do it but weren't sure if they needed lexia when doing it. How difficult would it be to flush it and fill with lds?

[shoogiesco]

Meant to add, suspension all works fine and no leaks anywhere. Was thinking I might need to replace steering pump? Any ideas how much a new pump is?

[demag]

My son owned a Pug 306 and someone put water in the pas reservoir! We only noticed when the steering started acting up. The fluid had turned fluorescent pink! We syphoned out what we could and replaced with correct fluid. We repeated over a few weeks and everything was fine so definitely worth a go.

[Paul-R]

Trouble is that PS fluid is considerably cheaper than LDS. You could end up £70 odd in flushing the old stuff out. But still worth a go!