Hydraulic Fluid Floaters !!!!

[John L]

Guys:

As mentioned, after breaking one of the locker levers, I decided to tackle the repair, the replacement of the elbows and T, and to then flush the lines. Last night I sucked out the hydraulic fluid in the reservoir and placed it in a clean plastic bottle. What was pulled out was pretty scary looking. I've attached photos. You can see the color of the fluid is almost coca-cola color and there are yellow floaters in it. Now this was from the reservoir at the top of the system.

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I then pulled off the tubes, elbows and T and took it to the work bench to work on it. After removing the elbows and the T I looked at the aluminum pipes/tubes connecting them to the lockers. Check out what I found.(Pics below as well). The tube appeared to have a yellow solid in the bottom of it. After taking a pick, you can see the solid piece that came out of one pipe and the pile of solids that came out of the other. I now have a major concern about what is on the lower end of the system and if this is why I had trouble engaging one of the pistons. I've only had the truck a year and haven't had an occassion to fool with the hydraulics until now. I have no idea when she was last cleaned. But, from the looks of it, maybe never.

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Additional Photos on post below.

Has anyone else ran into this situation? I'm curious what the solid is and whether a flush will make the lockers operational again. Another question I have is whether I need to engage the lockers to flush them? If so, what do I do about the ones that I can't get to engage?

By the way, I'm taking pics of the entire project and will post it to the Tech section when done. Thanks for the input.

John

[John L]

Here's pics of the rest of the solids taken out of the tubing.

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And here it is with the elbows and T replaced and re-installed.

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Thanks for the help guys.

John

[milesdzyn]

Yes I went through the same thing and that is what happens to brake fluide after sitting for a decade in a unused system. The entire piping system will have that solidified brake fluid in it, I flushed out my whole system, brake lines and hydraulic lines.

Miles

[John L]

Thanks Miles. I didn't know that. It almost looked like it had something else in it; but that didn't make sense. I plan to flush mine Thursday. I'll now do the brakes as well since I suspect something similar may be happening there.

Will the new fluid help break down the solidified fluid? Or do you merely live with the flow restriction in the pipes? Just curious. If the new fluid would help break it down then it would seem that a new flush about a month from now would do some good.

JL

[audiocontr]

I am not advising this, but i am curious - could you blow compressed air through it to clean it out or will that do more damage?

[John L]

Good question. The power bleeder will be pressured at 15 psi. But, hitting it with a stream of highly compressed air may do some good. But, I can foresee that creating leaks. The other thing is that this "gunk" was actually stuck to the pipe. With the short pipe I was able to hit it with a pick and the entire piece came out. But with the longer pipe it was stuck in there really good. Some was solid and some was a mushy substance. I actually had to use a small bolt and a pipe cleaner to get it cleaned out; which is why it's in pieces in a pile as opposed to one long piece like the one you see in my hand.

Anyone else with input is welcome.

JL

[CentAr712]

When I got my Pinz, my rear lockers didn't work and the levers were very stiff. I flushed the system extremely well and got all the same chunky stuff as you except not quite as bad. After a good flush it works fine. I think I would suggest flushing it as is and then seeing if you can get the system operational and then perhaps doing it again later with the lockers engaged. I am assuming that if there are that many solids in the lines, it may take a few tries over the course of months to get it all flushed out. I wouldn't use compressed air to blow the lines out, I can't tell you why, but I just feel some bad mojo about that idea.

[milesdzyn]

How I flushed out the pipes.

Step 1. I picked up some 1/16 wire cable from a hardware store and attached a .22 cal brass bore brush to the end. I cut the bore brush down to about 1/2" long so it wouldn't bind up in tight turns in the pipes.

Step 2. Feed the line thru the pipe and pull the bore brush thru the pipes several times.

Step 3. Same as step 2 but use a cleaning patch soaked in brake fluid wraped around the bore brush, run thru untill no more debris comes out.

Good luck.

Miles

[Roverchef]

Bleed the system out whether it be brakes or lockers in the normal procedure and then do it again in a few days just to make sure you got it all(air/funk) out. Be careful blowing out the lines with compressed air since it can over-pressurize certain seals in the system. By all means turn up your compressor and let it have "IT" if you want to have someone else fix your junk after you blew out the seals in the cylinders!

[John L]

Interesting thoughts Miles. If I run into any more trouble I'll try that.

Last night I tackled bleeding the system with the power bleeder reccomended in the forum. Before starting, I had already emptied the resevoir as I changed out the elbows and T. I reached in with my hand and pulled out nastiness in the reservior. Once it was clean I flushed the system. What came out looked like coca-cola with yellow floaties. A far cry from the clear new fluid that went in.

Afterwards, I re-adjusted the lever system to make sure the actuators were impacting the pistons in the correct spot. AND, as some of you vets would guess, all three pistons depressed with the pull of the lever. (before hand the center lever broke as the system was frozen.)

So, I am cautiously optimisitic that I solved the problem. But, won't know for sure until a road test later this evening or tomorrow. I need to make sure that when the levers are pulled the actual diffs are engaged. I also want to check the locker lights. They all worked before I fooled with them. Hopefully I marked the wires correctly and put it back together right.

I can't thank you guys enough for the input. I had never tried anything like this before and now feel comfortable tackling the master cylinder for the brakes. But, that's a project for a later time.

I'll report on the results of the test drive. I'll also spend the time putting together a report to post to the Tech section as I upgraded the broken lever as suggested with a bolt to reinforce it and spread the force over three parts intstead of one and changed out the elbows and T prior to giving her a flush.

Thanks!!!

John

[edzz]

I had never tried anything like this before and now feel comfortable tackling the master cylinder for the brakes. But, that's a project for a later time.

Look at this thread regarding the brake reservoir cap
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7398&hilit=brake+cap