Vauxhall Tigra - Help Cleaning Hydraulic Roof Pump Sludge

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Thu 8 Aug 2024 00:37
Vauxhall Tigra - Help Cleaning Hydraulic Roof Pump Sludge - Derseffect66

I have bought a pump from a junkyard which has black sludge in the fluid reservoir. It is metal clamped onto the pump unit itself, cannot be removed for cleaning. The hole for topping up oil is tiny and indented into the bottle making it difficult to empty properly.

I was thinking of using diesel to thin it out to aid in cleaning then washing out several times with fresh fluid, is this wise? I can't really find out much info about viscosity so not sure about using thinner oils to clean.

How do I clean the sludge out without damaging internal components or seals?

Oil used: www.eurocarparts.com/p/febi-02615-zhm-hydraulic-su...B

Picture of pump, the white part is the tank: postimg.cc/4HgkK5Hg

Edited by Derseffect66 on 08/08/2024 at 00:38

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Thu 8 Aug 2024 07:33
Vauxhall Tigra - Help Cleaning Hydraulic Roof Pump Sludge - elekie&a/c doctor
The plastic reservoir needs to be removed for cleaning . You may have to cut off the clip and if it can’t be re used , then find a suitable worm drive / jubilee clip as a replacement. I would use something like WD 40 to clean up the sludge and fluid galleries. That Zhm fluid looks correct .
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Thu 8 Aug 2024 09:19
Vauxhall Tigra - Help Cleaning Hydraulic Roof Pump Sludge - bathtub tom

Agricultural garages have been recommended for this sort of stuff in the past. They're familiar with hydraulics on farm implements.

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Sat 10 Aug 2024 06:56
Vauxhall Tigra - Help Cleaning Hydraulic Roof Pump Sludge - edlithgow

Hypodermic syringe. Enema syringe of around 60 mls (my go to brake flusher) might do. These have a conical nossle which can seal directly to small orifices, though for brake flushing I used a bit of vinyl or silicone rubber tubing

Something a bit smaller a might also work, but standard needles will be too fine (to suck, they will generate a pressure jet though) and will clog. In Taiwan they sell long wide needles with a 20 ml syringe for some unknown to me cosmetic purpose which are quite useful for stuff like carb cleaning.

Failing that an IV line "butterfly" with the needle bit cut off might help

Dunno what's readily available in The Yook.

Re cleaning solvents, safest is probably an excess of the recommended hydraulic oil. Diesel might be fine, but its a relatively crude and fairly complex mixture. WD40 has waxes and light solvents n it, which again might be fine, or possibly not, if, say, they interfere with valve operation

If its very dirty I might try ethanol to skoosh the old oil out, then a lot of (hot?) water under pressure, then more ethanol to drive out the water, then the oil, maybe changing it early in operation.

Edited by edlithgow on 10/08/2024 at 07:06

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Thu 15 Aug 2024 11:13
Vauxhall Tigra - Help Cleaning Hydraulic Roof Pump Sludge - edlithgow

Hypodermic syringe...

D...unno what's readily available in The Yook.

Not much apparently. Currently in Edinburgh and needing a large hypodermic syringe for a plumbing problem. Pharmacists I’ve asked have apparently never heard of hypodermic syringes, (though they look a bit shifty when saying so) despite being listed on the relevant websites as suppliers of gear to generations of junky gentry, a large customer base in Edinburgh.

The reaction was oddly reminiscent of (for example) that of Tainan Ford main dealer when asked about bearing grease, which they’d apparently never used and couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to. Syringes, OTOH, are readily available in Taiwan.

Perhaps its just me, not looking enough like a mechanic/ junkie. Should be able to mail order via the nyet once I re-activate my local bank cards though

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Fri 30 Aug 2024 07:48
Vauxhall Tigra - Help Cleaning Hydraulic Roof Pump Sludge - edlithgow

Got 3 100ml syringes a 3X1m lengths of tubing off Amazon for, IIRC, 6.99, Made in China. Syringes probably OK but the tubing is rather thin walled and semi-permanently kinked by folding, so that would probably need upgraded to be suitable for applying much negative pressure.

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