Massive hydraulic Oil leakage

[OZN]

Good day to everyone,

I am new here but I need urgent help from you guys, as I saw many of you have already encountered different problems and you managed to solved them with information found here or shared from other places.

I have used the search function, but I did not find someone which had the same issue as mine and a step by step of how to proceed.

I have a Citroen C5, 2.0 HDI, 163 HP (with soft to 196 HP), Diesel, Manufacturing year : 2010 and I love it, but now I am a bit afraid that I am stuck with this problem for a while.

First, I would like to explain how all this happened :

I took the car to service to change my two hydraulic cylinders in the front. They did the job and I was happy. I did not drive the car for a while because there were Christmas holidays and we drove to my girfriend family with her car. I came back and prepared to drive to work, the battery was drained out and I could not drive the car - suspension (car level) seemed to be fine. I connected the battery charger and leave it like this overnight.

I drove to work second day and one week was all good. In that weekend I have used the charger once again, just to be sure on Monday I don't need to walk (30km). I drove on Monday to work and when to leave, the car was on it's belly! Rear end was up but the front was down. I did not drive it that day and asked a company car. I ordered 2L of LDS and was waiting for weekend to come to fill up the tank, as my first think to thiink of was that at the service they lost oil and didn't top up after.

Yesterday one colleague called me and told me that my car is losing oil. When I went there I was shocked! A masive leak which I suppose is hydraulic oil (because of the abnormal position of the front end of the car). The oil puddle seems to be in the front right side of the car. As I have mentioned, the rear side is up and no Oil under it.

What do you guys recommend doing in this situation? I could try repairing it at my work place, as we have a 10t forklift and I could put some wood under the frame to protect it when lifting (did it before) but because the car in this condition, I would like to ask for your advices on how to lift it, where to look, can be that the pump burned out? And other issues that I rather don't think of.
My best guess is that a hose or pipe burst and all the oil is now out.

Thanks to anyone who will contribute in finding a solution an repair my car asap, as I need it to go to work with it. Now I am using my girfriend's car as she is not home for a few days.

[GiveMeABreak]

Hi

There could be several causes and it will be hard to advise without further investigation, but here are some pointers:

1) Do not get under the car! Make sure you have it independently supported before attempting to go underneath as the vehicle in this condition can drop suddenly without notice and crush you.
2) The reason for the battery being discharged is very likely because the suspension pump is trying to maintain height and causing the pump to engage randomly to correct the height. This is causing a battery drain. Note that the C5 X7 can adjust suspension height without the engine running....
3) Once you have the car in a safe place and independently supported you need to locate the general area of the leak - and then clean up the area to see where it is originating from.

• Suspect areas on the right side will of course be the hydraulic reservoir - a split in the tank as mentioned below
• The BHI (this contains the suspension computer and all the electrovalves and is the brain of the suspension system)
• The Steering rack (check around the pinion for leaks)
• The right suspension Strut (these have no rubber return pipes like earlier models) - these are rubber bonded to the strut and when they leak, the whole strut needs replacing.
• Of course any of the hydraulic pipes on this side.

Things to consider as this issue happened after work was done:

Did the garage know how to raise and lower the car correctly when working on it? ... and by that I mean, the LDS suspension cap should of been removed before lifting and lowering the vehicle to the ground. If the wheels were left hanging freely and the vehicle was slammed to the ground, it could of cause the reservoir tank to burst due to the pressure of the fluid returning to the reservoir in an uncontrolled manner: See our post here: Attention C5 and C6 Owners.

The other issue may be the front Height corrector. If this has been moved and not replaced correctly in the same position then the heights will be incorrectly reported to the BHI and it will keep trying to adjust the height, and may eventually blow the fuse if the pump overheats.

I assume your garage correctly depressurised the suspension circuit when replacing the spheres (or at least the front circuit)?

So once you have it in a position where you can add some LDS fluid and see where it's leaking from, we may be able to offer some more help. Remember, do not overfill the LDS tank. It must be topped up only while the vehicle is on the lowest suspension setting and between the a abd b marks shown here:

[Hell Razor5543]

Hi, and to the Forum.

The possibility is that the reservoir has developed a pinhole leak (probably at a seam). This happens over time, as people are not aware that, when the tyres are changed, the suspension should be raised to full height and the reservoir cap should be loosened. Finding a replacement reservoir (if that IS the problem) might be a problem.

There is something else that you should look to do, and that is to remove the BHi pump assembly, clean the spilt LDS fluid from that area, and then open and clean the pump motor. The reason for doing this is because the pump motor has four brushes, which will generate carbon dust over time. If this mixes with the LDS fluid (from spillages) it will create a conductive sludge that will eventually cause the 40A Maxi fuse to fail. I had this happen on my facelift C5 a couple of years ago.

Good luck, and I hope that you get her running properly.

[OZN]

Thank you, @GiveMeABreak and @Hell Razor 5543 for your fast replies.

I have assumed that they have lifted it to the highest level before doin the operation, as I didn't have any problem driving few hundred km after changing the Struts.

After that, indeed I brought the car back to them to change the CV Joint (inner) from the left side and the tires. I drove one more week and then the car stayed in the garage for a while. I thought the battery drained because of very cold weather and not moving for a longer period.

The service did not change my spheres. I have recently purchased 7 spheres to change them myself, but after seeing this issue, I am not sure I have courage to start such a sensitive process by myself.

Will search though topics on how other people have done it.

Tomorrow hopefully I can have the car up (secured) and look under it to find the source of the leak!

[Kees]

Hai, also welcome.
About replace the sphere's, i see you also want to change the center sphere.
Citroen tells you to remove the subframe, this is not necessary.
I put here on the forum how to do this without remove the subframe.
Greetings,
Kees.

[OZN]

Thank you Kees,

I will search for that topic, but first I would like to see the car back to its normal level!

[Hell Razor5543]

There are guides here on how to remove, clean and refit the BHi pump assembly (I know, as I have had to do it).

[MattBLancs]

I have assumed that they have lifted it to the highest level before doin the operation.

Just to be clear, that's only half the battle - the other important bit is loosening the tank's cap before the car is lowered. My understanding is the rush of fluid back into reservoir (as weight is put back onto wheels = struts) when the car is dropped down again is what challenges the tank. A pressure wave basically.

[OZN]

Just to be clear, that's only half the battle - the other important bit is loosening the tank's cap before the car is lowered. My understanding is the rush of fluid back into reservoir (as weight is put back onto wheels = struts) when the car is dropped down again is what challenges the tank. A pressure wave basically.

Yes, I understand the logic behind it, even though I have changed the wheels many times myself and thought that setting it to the highest level its enough...

I guess tomorrow I will find out if the tank is faulty or something else.

By the way, I have tried to diagnose it with Diagbox and there is an error "Cannot communicate with the BHI" so the pump does send signal back. Will check the fuse also, hopefully that's burnt and not the pump.

[Hell Razor5543]

Well, not many people know about the need to loosen off the reservoir cap, so much so that this was done by the Forum;

https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/ ... hp?t=62058

[OZN]

Hi everyone!

I am coming with an update.

Today I have lifted the car and checked what has happened and it seems that the Strut is damaged and I will have to replace it.

As these (both Struts) were changed recently, I have asked the shop where I bought them (eBay) if it's normal that they break so fast!?

Can it be that the workshop that installed them did something wrong? But why the other one is still fine?

I have tried to look on some topics about the procedure of changing the spheres, but it says I don't have access to those. Maybe it is because I am too new to this forum?

Thank you for your eventually answers!

[PaulC5]

Supplying parts for a garage to fit is a problem for a warranty - the garage will say its the parts, the parts people will say its the garage. If you supplied new parts then you should have a warranty with the parts supplier (a year usually in the UK) but only to cover parts but you will need to pay labour charges again to remove them and fit replacement ones. You will be better getting the garage to supply and fit the parts then the garage warranty will cover everything.

You might need to upgrade your forum membership with a donation that lasts up to 3 years to be able to see the procedures as well as get help with things like parts numbers. donate

[Stickyfinger]

Yes, struts can be damaged by lifting the car off its wheels without raising the car to high before this is done (or fully depressurising)........good luck trying to prove it however !

[Kees]

I don't no, for what reason the struts will be damaged just by raising the car with the wheels hanging!!
The get a lot of force under working conditions and then with the suspension working on the road the struts will completely goes in and out.
But also in other post here on the forum are there some people with problems when they bought one from Ebay.
So i think this ones are poor quality.
Greetings,
Kees,

[MattBLancs]

Yes, struts can be damaged by lifting the car off its wheels without raising the car to high before this is done (or fully depressurising)........good luck trying to prove it however !

Never heard that, what happens if I pass over a hump back bridge with enthusiasm!?