Leaky '83 300TD shocks Help, Please.
 

Please take a look at the pictures in my album
Near as I can tell, I have the dreaded leaky rear shocks.
I still have fluid in the front reservoir, at the higher end of not quite full.
When I start the car, there is a steady drip of fluid coming out of where you see the obvious leak.
The accumulators are bone dry in appearance.

With a load in the rear of about 260 lbs (sound equipment, not me :D), it still rises after sagging over night.

The ride has been bouncy, but this obvious leak just happened.
The right is worse than the left, but not by much.

Any advice? Where does the leak usually happen with these? Is it at the top and it is trickling down to the bolts that you see in the pics?

Is this the likely cause of my woes, replacement of these?

Does anyone have any used ones they know are good, or (ha ha) new that they are not using and are willing to part with at a reasonable price for a really nice family guy who wants to take the 300TD family truckster camping because that's what we can afford?

Any help, as always is greatly appreciated.http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...pictureid=3405
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...pictureid=3404

Thanks.

drip
 

the accumulators, are what would give you the bouncy ride.if the struts still work,and you do not have to add fluid often,unless you want to spend a big hunk of change,use it the way it is.good luck:o

This appears to be a pretty big leak or set of leaks, though.
With the car running for a minute, it leaves a puddle of about a full ounce on the one side, and when I pull in or out of the driveway, it's a steady trail, not a trail of drips.
Earlier, I wrote that it is more on the right side than the left.
That was before I jacked it up and had it on jack stands.
Once I let it down, the left side is now worse, and the right side seems to have reduced itself to a minor drip in comparison to the left one, which is now creating the ounce after a minute.
With such big leaks, does it make sense that the bounce is still the accumulators?

Isn't the whole thing one big circuit of fluid?

The leaks are big enough that I don't want to risk any long drive for fear of running the pump dry and then having to replace that.

bounce
 

the accumulator sphears have gas in the top half this is isolated by I think some sort of membrane, such as is in citroens. the gas being compressed by verticle motion of the wheel compresses the gas, when the gas goes away in time there is nothing to dampen the movement,thus a choppy ride.the sphers are not expensive and easy to change,I have done it on my wagon.but with the leaks you have, your going to have to repair the struts.did you check for any hose leaks.do you know what fluid is in them, a wrong fluid could cause them to fail.I used shell aero 9, excuse my terrible spelling. one thing to do,is wash those things well with some soap and water, then throw talcuum power all over the area. start the car bounce it up and down some, get a flashlite, and try to pin point the leaks. good luck.miker

I got to the top of them after taking apart the internals of the back of the car. No leaks at all at the top that I can see through the holes. It really appears they are leaking at the bottom.
I can take care of the accumulators later to deal with any bouncy ride afterward if I need to, but these leaks are bad enough that I really have to take care of the main actuators first.

I've looked at all the writeups that I can find, but I can't seem to find any writeup or pictures on the actual replacement of the actuators/struts.

Is this something I can do with the car up on the jack stand one wheel at a time?
How easy is it to compress the strut into place?

I replaced the front struts fairly easily.