What do you do if your Citroen has a contaminated Hydraulic System?

I know that I have harped on this subject for several articles now, but it is more of a problem than you might think. I found when I worked on Citroens , the cars either caught fire and burned or were abandoned because the hydraulic system had become contaminated and the owner found out that it was going to be mighty expensive to repair the car.

Well, the shop manuals and the dealer bulletins would tell you to replace some of the major rubber components. Then, if the car was a brake fluid car you were supposed to flush the lines out with first alcohol , then (I love this) gasoline , then alcohol again. If the car was LHM you were to use: gasoline , then alcohol . The systems were then to have compressed air blown through them to dry things out.

Now here is my advice…

Most cars, unless you catch it right away, are far too gone with rubber deterioration to merely have a few things replaced and then blow things down with air. What you have to realize is, just like a dirty gas tank , you either deal with it completely or walk away from the car.

You have to weigh what the car is really worth to you and the market, because what I am going to tell you is the cheapest way to deal with this problem.

Find another Citroën of the same vintage with the same hydraulic items on it. What I mean here is, if it has a Citromatic or hydraulic assisted transmission , you want to find another car with that same option.

Now this Citroen should be one with all the proper hydraulic parts and systems intact, but find one that is either an accident casualty, or a car with a rusted out frame. If you find one that is both then you really did well, because that means you can probably buy this Citorën quite cheap and in this situation, that is the name of the game.

Next you want to put your Citroën next to it, remove all the body panels, put it up on jack stands or a lift and start removing all the hydraulic components , and I mean everything . This includes all rubber hoses and return lines , even the hydraulic tank . Once this is done you want to shoot carb cleaner and then compressed air through all the steel lines that are still on the car.

Repeat this process twice.

Now that is done, sit that rusted out car that you purchased with the same components on it next to your keeper and start removing the parts from it and putting them on yours. This will probably take you or your mechanic a good 40 hours worth of labor time, so be sure to weigh this into the final cost of things when you figure whether your car is worth performing this task on or just walking away from.

Be a realist and face up to the fact that unless your Citroën is a fine example with a fresh motor, a nice interior, sweet frame, and a good looking paint job, you might be better off trying to find another nice example of your car without a contaminated hydraulic system .

This problem will not just go away on it’s own.

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