Replacing Accumulators....

[tobybul]

.... this weekend on the TD. Crossing my fingers that this is the cause of the bouncing. Per PO, they are new within the last 3 years.

Will be replacing the hydraulic oil and filter also. Have not worked on SLS before so am hoping its pretty straight-forward. Not sure yet where to drain old fluid and if any adjustments need to be made. I'm guessing not since system is original.

Thanks for any advice.

[Chad300tdt]

Use the bleeder on the SLS valve to release the system pressure before you replace the accumulators. When flushing the fluid, it is easiest to catch the old fluid at the reservoir while refilling until it comes out clean. The filter is right there too.

[kerry]

Be careful when releasing pressure. You don't want to drop the car on your noggin.

[Chad300tdt]

Good point. I did mine with the rear wheels on ramps.

[Dee8go]

Do you just keep pouring in the new fluid until you have new fluid draining from the system?

[tobybul]

"Use the bleeder on the SLS valve to release the system pressure before you replace the accumulators. When flushing the fluid, it is easiest to catch the old fluid at the reservoir while refilling until it comes out clean. The filter is right there too."

Not quite sure what you mean by catching theold fluid at the reservoir. Shouldn't it be drained at a lowpoint?

Be careful when releasing pressure. You don't want to drop the car on your noggin

Would it be better to jack the rear up rather than on ramps?

[Chad300tdt]

Originally Posted by Dee8go

Do you just keep pouring in the new fluid until you have new fluid draining from the system?

Yes, or until it looks clean.

Also, I heard about methods to bleed the air out of the system using the pressure bleeder on the SLS valve, but you will just end up wasting fluid. I was informed that it is a self bleeding system. I verified this by jumping on the rear bumper until it stiffened up. The air burps out into the reservoir. The rest of the air I missed bled out while driving.

[Dee8go]

I was under the impression that removing the accumulators would allow almost all of the fluid to run out.

[Chad300tdt]

Originally Posted by tobybul

"Use the bleeder on the SLS valve to release the system pressure before you replace the accumulators. When flushing the fluid, it is easiest to catch the old fluid at the reservoir while refilling until it comes out clean. The filter is right there too."

Not quite sure what you mean by catching theold fluid at the reservoir. Shouldn't it be drained at a lowpoint?

Be careful when releasing pressure. You don't want to drop the car on your noggin

Would it be better to jack the rear up rather than on ramps?

Have the car running so the pump is operating and catch the oil as it recirculates to the reservoir.

It's best to have the wheels on ramps with the actuators compressed. Then you can also test the system and adjust the linkage if necessary. The SLS only extends the actuators with pressure, it doesn't pull the wheels back up when they hang.

[pizzachef]

Originally Posted by Chad300tdt

Good point. I did mine with the rear wheels on ramps.

I can't get my ramps under the back end of mine

[Chad300tdt]

I jack the rear up by the pumpkin and lower it onto the ramps.

When I had a smaller jack, I would raise in 2 stages. Jack the rear, rest on stands and then jack up each side to compress the springs and slide the ramp under.

[Bajaman]

Replacing the accumulators is really as easy as it sounds. If you want, you could remove the rubber hose on the bottom of the reservoir to drain the old fluid before adding new fluid. Other than that I would just bleed it until it looks clean like Chad said.