Hydraflush And "hydronet 2000", ...and the happy ending of an Odyssey!

Spot on Derek: in the French definition "petrol" refers to the heavy raw thing as received from the earth.

This said, do u think that plastelicine smells anything like diesel? Or am I totally wrong?

G

Hi George,

It's a long time since I played with plasticine - my youngest son is now 44 - but I think it smelt more like kerosene, or maybe paraffin.

Now there's a thought, how about using kero or paraffin as a flushing liquid? Only problem I can think of is that they are hygroscopic.

Derek

Hi all,

What surprises me is the numbers of posters who will happily chuck arbitrary amounts of petrol/diesel/kerosene/othe stuff into their close tolerance hydraulic systems which they would not (I hope) dream of putting in their engine oil for the same purpose!
When I was a kid my grannie swore by castor oil for "flushing the system" as she put it. Any takers? .

Robert

Hi Derek

precisely paraffin was what I was thinking of. As I wrote, Hydronet 2000 is pretty much transparent -with a greyish shade-. As I read, kerosene and paraffin are the same thing, just UK/US alternatives for the same substance? I read paraffin is a good lubricant and also detergent.

G

As it's unlikely that Hydronet 2000 will be available to us (and in light of recent comments I'm a bit reluctant to try introducing petrol, diesel, parafin, etc into the hydraulic system), what other flushing agents are available on the market?

I found one on the internet called 'Total Hydraurincage'

http://www.citroenz.com/BX/flushfluid.html

Has anyone tried this, or know if it's even available in the UK?

Hi Robert

this goes to show how desperate they are to get a result! The truth is it'd be wiser to stick to Hydraflush for anyone not wanting the risk of experimenting. After all it was conceived for that exact purpose!

Now, what did u say about castor oil?

Seriously now, as far as I can think, the potential dangers are 3:

1. setting fire with using too much petrol, as Derek remarked;
2. the seals being chemically damaged;
3. the various valves being scratched.

1. what to not do is obvious,
2. I don't know, but easy to find out by leaving a seal in petrol or else for months, 3. the primary worry should be the mix used to maintain a good lubrication level, so any exaggeration for "quick results" could bring ugly results.

The most valuable info I read here comes from Techmanagain, about this indy in NZ that mixes half LHM with Diesel, in terms of it being a tested method -I just hope it's not an urban myth-; all else we say here is just hypotheses. At least Wirdy has now tried LHM+Petrol so we'll sooner or later know of how this works.

cheers
G

Hi Minijet

Total Hydraurincage is absolutely similar to what we call "hydraflush" in the UK; it is widely used in France, together with a few other local brands of "hydraflush". So you can buy safely, but it's not different. Like with LHM, many firms do "LHM", and they can be mixed with each other.

I have emailed the French firm re. the Hydronet, but have yet to get an answer from them, if they don't answer this week I'll just ring them -and give a test to my spoken French!-.

cheers
G

This post has been edited by jorgy9 on March 04, 2008 11:55 pm

Thanks George,

I'll see if I can get some hydraflush.

With regard to Hydranet 2000, I thought about contacting Citroen UK to see if they could get it, but looking at their website I realised they're only interested in selling new cars, there's no contact number for anything else.......I got the message.

Re. petrol in the LHM.........It's not unheard of for a strut top to pop up through the bonnet of an XM (I know about that).........I hope Wirdy isn't the first to experience the LHM reservoir popping up through the bonnet

Paul.

LOL,

If I hadn't given up smoking a month ago this would have been a distinct possibility

...or "flushing oil", as my indy knew it (just in case somebody thinks you are speaking chinese to them).

LOL,

If I hadn't given up smoking a month ago this would have been a distinct possibility

Hi all

Wirdy hows the no smoking going for you then? i gave up new years and bought a bike
Getting back to the point, I'm not sure hydranet does any better job than any other hydraulic system cleanser, maybe Georges experience, as he said, were just down to the hydraflush being in for so long and very little to do with hydranet, we dont really know without starting two cars on a different flushing agent at the same time.
Mine has been on hydraurincage for a while now and some days it is softer and other days it isn't, other days it does bloody strange stuff but this is probably the cleansing agent starting to break down the gunk in the system and it working its way through and out of various components.
I'm sure petrol would do this quicker, but the system would not lubricate itself so well with this thinned fluid in and so i would think should not be left in for too long, especially with concerns raised over damage to the rubber components and seals. Also when cleaning the system with some sort of flushing agent would it not be a good idea to clean ALL the filters in the system?? aren't there 2 in the distribution valve? surely if the flushing agent is picking up all the crud in the system and returning it in to the lhm tank to be trapped by settlement and the filters these two filters in the dis valve will be collecting the disturbed crud too???
As far as fire risk goes, with just a cup of petrol mixed with the oil it would be near impossible to get enough petrol vapour to mix with just the right amount of air and be unfortunate enough for something to ignite it, unless you were waving a match over the lhm tank of course

Hi all just a quick add.The FDV filters and sealing plug seals are available in the citroen parts listing.

Aaahhh, how refreshing to read the writings of a person with the correct Citroen-fan attitude: a perfectionist!

Yes indeed it would be on your primary list of jobs to open up an clean the FDV if your system has been neglected. These 2 tiny filters not only gunk up, but also develop holes so it's not uncommon to throw them away -that's why the refurb kit by Cit also includes them-. So even better, open up the FDV and do a full refurb and pressure reset -there's the relevant tutorial in the Self-Help files.

Also, I don't know if the steering circuit has any filters. I certainly know there's a tiny filter on Diravis.

Re. hydraflush vs. Hydronet, in my personal experience, if nothing else, there *is* a difference: you *should* have seen the daily improvement from the day I added it. The only alternative senario I can think of, is that the hydraflush having being for so long in use (summer 2007+1,000s of miles), had lost its lubricating properties, so just by adding 500ml of fresh liquid (any, hydraflush, LHM or Hydranet), was enough to reveal the real improvement that had been in reality achieved. That's plausible, but we will never know, as u say. However, don't forget there's plenty of evidence of other people over the Net that are very keen on Hydronet, some of which are clearly Citroen Pros, so I personally do not doubt their saying -this is what made me want to try it-.

You know what's in my mind this period? How the car will become when, in early May, I'll clean everything and put fresh LHM+ in it. I really wonder. Will it be even better? I cannot wait! I'll be at about 6,500 miles on hydraflush+Hydronet by then. For one thing, I'll have a happy Cit!

cheers
George

This post has been edited by jorgy9 on March 06, 2008 01:37 am

Not too bad. No lapses..... yet I'm now addicted to Niquitin patches though

Onto the main subject again......

Speaking from a theoretical point of view - if the flushing agent cleans and releases dirt from the cylinders and lines doesn't all this just flow back to the reservoir and into the inlet filter as you drop the car to the ground and the fluid rushes back?
This would maybe back-flush any crud in filters at the FDV as the accumulator dumps its fluid back to the reservoir also?

Just my rambling thoughts