Hydraulic Suspension
 

I was told that every so often I need to replace the hydrolic fluid in the suspension. I extracted the fluid and replaced with new. Now my car will not raise. I have had times when I have jacked up car and it took longer for it to raise to normal level. This time I have had car running over 45 min and nothing. Do I need to prime the system? :confused:

need to bleed the system
 

You probably have air in the lines. To bleed the lines, there is a bleeder behind the rear end. You need to hook up a clear vinyl line to the bleeder and run it into a clear jar. Then, there is a lever which needs to be disconnected and brought down to the six o'clock position. Make sure the resevoir is full, crack open the bleeder, and let the fluids run into the jar and check for air. Make sure you don't run the resevoir empty and it helps to have someone keeps the eye on it so you don't run it down; it doesn't take long. You need to start the car for the fluids to pass through the lines. When you are getting clean fluid and no air, close the bleeder, shut off the car, and fill the resevoir to the proper fill mark. Hope this helps. If your system still doesn't work, you might have problems with the air cells. You can tell by pushing on the bumper, if you have a really soft or bouncy rear end, the air cells are shot.
-Shadetree

The system is self bleeding what you need to do is put about 250# in the trunk and run the engine about 2000 rpm`s . In a minute or 2 the car will rise to the normal level. Two small friends or 1 large one can be used for weight.

John

My 1984 500SEL which is euro has front and back hydraulic shocks. It is now sitting at the lowest possible position front and rear. I have found a bleeder screw like you would find on the brake system. I have attached a fluid extractor and tried pulling fluid with engine off and on. Nothing. The system was working before I extracted the fluid from the reservior. Maybe need to run engine longer :confused:

I was able to find the bleeder plug. I ran the fluid until clear and much longer. Continued @ 15 min. Did not move the lever. Is this critical?

Never try to fix what's NOT broken!
 

Lesson learned? :confused: