hydraulic fluid leak - need advice ASAP

[3ps]

Hi,

My W124 300TD is leaking hydraulic fluid. I haven't found out where yet. I need to top it up ASAP and live beside a Citroen dealer. Does anybody know what I need to order from them or if the part numbers are the same????

The fluid in the tank appears to be blue.

Also, I had started to try to trace the leak btu have now got what seems to be an oil leak being sprayed around the inside of the engine bay

The hyrdraulic tank has a pipe at the bottom.... the leads up behind the radiator and into the front of the engine into a circular device. Where does it go from there??? I think the oil leak is happening down below there, roughly where the fan is attached in.

Could the hydraulic fluid be finding it's way down there and getting out???
Could it be changing to a darkish colour (like oil) or do I just now have an oil leak too...??


Thanks for any help and sorry if I'm being a bit vague.

 

[Richard Moakes]

Citroen fluid and Mercedes fluid are very different, the fluid to use is ZH-M and is available from Mercedes dealers or gsfcarparts.com

 

[3ps]

OK so I topped up 1.2 litres of green hydraulic fluid from GSF. The fluid in there was the same, it just looked blue through the container.

My coolant is steady is that's not dripping on the fan belt and getting sprayed.

The oil level seems fine.

Is there any way for the hydraulic fluid and oil to mix? Any seals etc?

I wonder if my hydraulic fluid was seeping out over time... and then when it got so low as to go below the level of the pipe at the bottom of the tank... that somehow oil was getting sucked out instead.... as I have been fettling with the engine a bit and there has never been stuff spraying around it.

 

[Myros]

If we are talking about the reservoir for the

self-levelling suspension, as I think we are, then it shares a pressure pump with the power steering system, but the two fluids are separate. The pump is a tandem pump.
I suggest you do two things fairly promptly.
First, check the power steering fluid level. You do that by undoing the black rubber nut (in the middle of what looks like a steel cylinder about 10 cm in diameter to the left of the hydraulic reservoir as you look from the front of the car into the engine bay, with the fan belt passing right in front of it on a pulley). The fluid is reddish golden and should be up to the top mark in the reservoir, or near to it. If not, top it up as well. It takes the standard auto trans fluid ( Dexron II )as you would use for the transmission.
I would then load the back of the car up with family and friends and sacks of spuds etc, as many as you can muster, and see if the suspension levels up. It should rise when stationary, especially if you raise the revs over 1500 ish. Mine picks up from idle when i fill the back with 20 sacks of coal.
With the system under load, it would be a good time to check for the leak you suspect is occurring. Have someone else run the car for you, while you shufti about the engine bay and underneath, looking for leaks.
It doesn't take much of a one to lose your fluid, as it comes at some pressure. I lost abot half a litre in 20 miles, and it was only a tiny leak from a punctured pipe.

 

[3ps]

thanks. will do.

funny you should mention power steering as it gave a whine/squeek this A.M.

I used have a W115 and I couldn't see the top level in the reservoir. I did look at the W124 reservoir when I bought it and it was about 2/3 full. Where is the top mark in relation to the lid?

 

[Myros]

it's on the hypoteneuse

I knew paying attention in maths would come in useful. The suspension reservoir slopes from the vertical upwards back to the filler, there are a couple of marks for low and full. There should also be a dipstick, just aft of the the filler cap/pipe return. That has the same marks on it.
The power steering level mark is a white plastic piece which sits in the ps reservoir. There is a low mark underneath it, which you probably can't see owing to fluid opacity. You should just be up to the top mark at 20 centigrade with a cold engine ( it is always more complex than a simple check, isn't it). Probably 3 or 4 cm from the top of the reservoir, if memory serves.

 

[3ps]

I clean the engine bay of all spray and ran the engine.. I could see splatters flying everywhere but couldn't identify the exact spot they originated. The fact the fan belt is spraying it everywhere doesn't help. But it is loosing a good amount of hydraulic.

I checked the power steering reservoir and i coudl indeed see the white plastic marker..... I couldn't see it last time I looked about 1-2 weeks ago so it's either dropped too or the leves were slightly different. The engine was warm enough when i checked it just now.... can't remember what it was last time but I would suspect it should have been at a lower level if cold.... which means I may have lost a small amout of power steering fluid.

So what could turn my green hyrdraulic fluid golden brown/black??? mixing with a small bit of power steering fluid?

If I'm losing both fluids does that indicate that I need a whole new "tandem" pump? or could it just be some seals?

 

[television]

Its nearly always a hose pipe that leaks, I cant re call a faulty pump

 

[3ps]

OK so I found a leak in the hose and I have fixed it by using 4-5 layers heat shrink wrap.

The reservoir had run out. I just re attached the hose and filled it up. I ran it for a bit and the level dropped... I guess by the length of the hose and I topped up. It is stable now.

Do I need to worry about airlocks/bleeding of this?

Thanks.