Self Leveling System oil type???
 

Noticed that my self leveling system hydraulic fluid reservoir looks to be low but got to thinking I'm not sure what I should use that would be compatible with existing. I'll assume it to be an OEM fluid as I had the system rebuilt a couple years ago by my Indy shop and was told how "...expensive this stuff is blah blah blah because it was from Mercedes..."!

I'm leaving in the morning for a day trip and won't be able to get to a dealer to buy MB branded product. A guy at Advance Auto spent some time looking for a compatible product and he said it appeared to him to be a Mercon III trans fluid, but I wanted to run it by some of you guys :)

I don't know that I would pour trans fluid in there. Pentosin makes hydraulic suspension oil. I have seen it at Napa.

Yeah, you're right. I'll need to confirm an alternative before I do any adding. :confused:

What makes you think it's low? Is it cavatating?
The filler on my 87 TD had a long neck, and the fluid had a ton of expansion room. I can't think of any reason for it to ever get low, as even a small leak, since its under pressure, would empty it pretty quickly.
If I recall on my 6.9, it too offers plenty of expansion room.

Chances seem pretty likely that you can drive it until you have time to get the correct fluid.

Do not put ATF in an SLS suspension.

The stuff is like $20/litre from Mercedes and you probably need one litre.

It is ZHM, Febi and Pentosin have it and you can get those at Napa, International Parts, etc.

Went to the dealership this morning as I was leaving out of town and picked up a liter for $11 and change. Feel relieved to have it back to where it needs be.

When checking the level via the dipstick, the tip didn't even touch the fluid. That's all I'm going by! There's a min/max mark. Simply looking at the opaque white plastic reservoir, it appears 'low'.

Thanks to all who responded!

I hope you got a new filter for the reservoir bottle too.

Actually I did not. The system was repaired about two, maybe three years ago - relacing the original spheres. At that time I will ASSUME they (my very reputable indy shop) replaced the filter when refilling system with oil. What is the replacement interval for the filter? All I needed was to level off the reservoir. My concern is to understand - where did this lost oil go?

Incidentally, I've noticed the distance between the tire and top of both rear wheel wells has increased by an 1-1/2" - 2". It's obvious I was not paying attention to this - kinda had the attitude that the system was fixed and so no worries! Wrong.

I did a complete restore of the SLS after it was removed by the previous owner, been running ISO 46 hydraulic oil from Tractor Supply in it for 2 years now with no issues. SLS gets a good workout since I pull my boat with it. I don't know if it'll mix well with whatever fluid was originally used since I started with a new, dry system.

The white mesh filters are so inexpensive, I'd probably refresh them annually or bi-annually when you do the coolant.