Hydraulic system leak

[raguillard-HILO]

Starting to prep camper for an initial short trip in two weeks. All is good except the hydraulic reservoir is empty with a brown dead grass spot underneath the compartment. Did not have time this weekend to tackle it. Any advice would be helpful in tackling this issue.

 

[Treeclimber]

Sounds as though your reservoir has a crack in it, or a leak at a fitting. Clean the area under it very well then put some Dextron type IV in it and see where it leaking. Sorry, don't know where to get a new reservoir. I doubt this loss of fluid is from the cylinder, but check the plastic tube from the reservoir to the cylinder, hopefully, there will be little or no fluid in that line.
Tree

 

[JIM L-HILO]

We need to know where the leak is. Is the fluid on the ground under the pump area, between the pump and the hyd cylinder, or under the hyd cylinder? It would be unusual for the reservoir to crack. The pressure line from the pump to the hyd cylinder is usually steel and do rust thru with age. Look there, it is easy to replace. Could be a seal in the hyd cylinder. It can be rebuilt, a bit of a job to remove. As treeclimber said check for loose fittings and the plastic vent line. Try putting fluid back into the reservoir. If the top is up put aprox 1 or 2 inches in the bottom of the reservoir and if the top is down fill to 1 inch below the fill opening. Recycle the pump to bleed the air out of the line and if the fluid level goes down keep adding fluid until the air is out and the top will raise OK. This will help locate the leak and you may find that the leak is so small that you can go on your trip and fix any leak later. Try these things and let us know what you find. It would be very rare for the pump to leak. Use any Dextron fluid up to Dextron 5 but do not use Dextron 6.

 

[raguillard-HILO]

Thanks to both responses. The dead grass is directly below the pump compartment. I may be able to look at it tonight after work. Thanks also for the Dextron VI warning. I just bought 3 quarts but did not have time yesterday to work on this issue.

 

[Treeclimber]

Jim, not 100% sure but I think the tube back to the reservoir has a check valve at the tank preventing fluid from the reservoir to the tube. Otherwise, the tube would always be filled with fluid. Basically, if the cylinder has an internal leak it sends the fluid to the reservoir. If all is well, there should be NO fluid in that tube. Your right about a cylinder removal, not fun.
Tree
PS: where would one get a reservoir?

 

[KnottyRig]

Oils have a funny way of moving around and away from the actual source, sometimes making it hard to find the leak.

An old shade-tree mechanic trick is to really clean everything (spray some degreaser on and then rinse), let it dry, then toss some baby powder/corn starch on the areas where you think the leak is coming from. A leak will create a path through the baby powder that you can trace back to the source.

I’ve done this on motorcycle engines where air flow just blows the oil all over, and it really helps.

 

[JackandJanet]

Tree, JR MIGHT have the reservoirs. But, I think cracks could be repaired.

If repairs are needed, I'd certainly take the reservoir out so that I could clean the repair area thoroughly. And, if there was a crack, I'd stop drill the ends before applying any repair material.

- Jack

 

[Treeclimber]

Knotty, in Naval aviation, we chased hyd leaks all the time. Your right, they can be tough to find. Lint free rags to the rescue. Hopefully, Raguillard won't have too much trouble and it will be a simple repair. Just for my own info, I'm gonna check with JR and see if they have a reservoir.
Tree

 

[raguillard-HILO]

Thanks for all the good advice. Will not get to look at camper until this weekend. But will certainly put all your advice in play. I do remember that there is no fluid in the plastic line. The grass is dead only under the compartment with the pump and batteries.

 

[KnottyRig]

Knotty, in Naval aviation, we chased hyd leaks all the time. Your right, they can be tough to find. Lint free rags to the rescue. Hopefully, Raguillard won't have too much trouble and it will be a simple repair. Just for my own info, I'm gonna check with JR and see if they have a reservoir.
Tree

My father was a mech/flight engineer in the AF for 20 years...heard some great stories of how much planes actually leak (if most civilians had *any* idea...) and things don’t work (oh how he cursed the C5’s new “hi tech” systems that never worked right). Learned a lot from him (like the corn starch).

 

[raguillard-HILO]

OK, my saga continues. I was able to look at the hydraulics. There appears to be fluid coming from underneath the reservoir. But, I tried to lower and lift the camper after I filled the reservoir. It would lower, but not raise. All I get is a loud, continuous beep. I checked the other 12v systems and nothing lights up. I checked the batteries and both were dry. I filled with distilled water and charged the first one. The second one registered 4.1 Volts and never moved beyond 1% charge. In fact, the water started to bubble in two cells and there was a definite sulfuric acid smell. I guessing this battery is gone. Should I change both? Anxious to see if this is the issue. The camper is plugged into a land line right now. Shouldn't the 12v system work without a good battery? thanks in advance for your insight.

 

[KnottyRig]

Battery going dry is Bad News. They will likely need to be replaced...BUT...

For short-term, you may be able to get by for testing. Refill them with distilled water (be sure it’s distilled). Then charge them at the highest rate your charger can do. During the process of boiling out electrolyte the plates get damaged - a coating forms on them (sulfation) that can only be removed via high charge rates (or via specialized chargers), or not at all.

After charging a battery, let it sit for an hour then check the voltage. It should be 13.2 or a bit more. If both measure up that should get you enough juice to test a lift or two.

This may get you by for now for testing, but I’d start looking into replacements.

 

[renoites]

From your description of being dry, you will need to replace them both. They might be able to partially recharge. But our trlrs need "good batteries" with good depth of charge to work properly.
120v will not operate the lift. You can jump a vehicle to the batteries, but you have 2, in series I suspect, and others will chime in with procedure.

There is a solenoid that opens the port for system drainage for lowering(minimal power needed).

I personally would replace both batteries with deep cell and make sure pump and reservoir have enough fluid.
Then test for lift function. Leak may be small and can be repaired later.

Then test why your lights didn't work, breaker- enough 12v power-broken wires. The batteries are the king-pin of the trlr. If they aren't good, multiple problems and symptoms to chase.

hth

steve

 

[raguillard-HILO]

Thanks for input. I was almost sure the batteries needed to be changed. Will do so this weekend and move on from there. We are planning a trip March 12th for a few days and I assumed everything would work. Lesson learned to check earlier.

 

[hilltool]

If you buy one new battery you can likely get by on it-but dont hook it to the other dead one. However, if you can afford it at all- buy two NEW ones and then take good care of them from here on out. I agree that bad batteries can cause a great deal of hassle and though the the converter is designed to take house current and change it to 12v for operating the other stuff in the trailer you wont have the quick supply of amperage you need to get the trailer to rise. If you ran the batteries dry they are likely shot. start over.

Rick

 

[JackandJanet]

Just a note about why your lights may not be working when plugged into shore power: If your battery(s) are low and are not accepting a charge, they will drag the 12V voltage WAY down. It is likely so low that you don't see lights illuminating and it will be too low to power any other 12V appliance.

I agree with the above folks about your batteries - they're finished. Replace them both with new, recently manufactured batteries of the same brand and capacity.

- Jack

 

[garyk52]

Since you say you have 2 batteries I have a question. Do you have 2 - 6 volt batteries hooked in series or 2 - 12 volt batteries hooked in parallel?

 

[raguillard-HILO]

Replaced the batteries and all is well in that area. two 12 volt hooked parallel. Now back to the hydraulic question that started this thread. I have had the camper for only a few months and have not used it but a couple of times. I believe the previous owner filled the reservoir full when the camper was up. So every time it is lowered some fluid is forced out of the cap of the reservoir. The fluid I noticed coming from underneath the reservoir is just residual fluid, I think. How do I lower the fluid in the reservoir to the proper level when the camper is elevated? How much fluid should be in the reservoir at that point? Can't get to it when camper is lowered? Am I on the right track with this line of thinking? I've never worked with hydraulics!

 

[JIM L-HILO]

Go back to the answer I gave you on this thread on 2/26/18 at12:51 pm for the answer to the fluid level. Stick with 1" of fluid in the bottom of the reservoir when the top is up. If you need to remove any fluid, use a piece of small flexable tubing to siphon out the excess fluid.

 

[raguillard-HILO]

Thanks, I totally missed that or at least it did not stay with me. I'm I am good to go and excited about out next week.