Not really a how to thread, but I assume a lot of people abandon AHC at this mileage -- I decided to keep her going and everyone likes pics.
A little backstory: My current rig is from SoCal and rust free. But on my first LX I broke two bleeder screws just attempting to flush the AHC fluid. It was a standard New England car and caked in corrosion. After breaking those, I decided it wasn't worth the hassle to put anymore effort into the AHC and did a standard LC swap. But that wasn't without its own troubles, as rust made the removal of the AHC shocks + torsion bars a full weekend project with grinding wheels, Kriol, and lots of profanity.
On my current rig, the existing AHC is functional, but definitely showing signs of age. I was getting about 6ish graduations between H-L changes. It seemed to need a lot of encouragement to settle into each level, usually requiring pumping the brake or inching the car forward to motivate it to complete it's cycle.
Fast forward to today: I drove down into NYC to pick something up for the kids, so I spent about 2 hours driving the LX in notoriously s***ty pavement conditions. Replacing the globes had been on the back burner for a bit, but this trip was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Remembering that it's a holiday weekend and no work tomorrow, I decided to tackle the globe swap. Plenty of great detailed threads here, but the general process remains the same.
1. Get the car on a level surface and into L. This helps fill the under-hood reservoir so you can extract more with your hand pump/Turkey blaster. (For $14, there's a killer little syringe that made it this part effortless and mess free. The cheap-s*** pump with red tubes from AutoZone or whatever are a total waste of money.)
2. Bleed! 10m to each corner "globe" bleeder valve and the accumulator on the driver's side frame rail. My discharge of the old black/green fluid looked more like a frothy drink from Starbucks than something that would come out of a car.
3. Remove old globes. A 36mm fan clutch wrench was all that was needed. Replace with new globes, note front/rear difference via part number. Also, lube the oring with some fresh AHC fluid before tightening back on by hand. Snug up with wrench.
4. Refill the under hood AHC reservoir if you haven't already. I put just under 2.5l at this point.
5. Start the car and let her idle for a bit, and in the process, repressurize the AHC system.
6. Quick rebleed, similar to step 2 but only takes a second or two. The last of the old fluid will get pushed out and you'll see the new pale pink fluid coming up behind it.
7. Start the car back up again, and cycle through your heights. It was night and day, at least for me, and I could feel how smoothly and immediately the system started responding to height changes versus before. No more sitting there waiting for it to "do something" for 5+ seconds after pressing the button, or going into D and pumping the brakes to encourage it to complete it's cycle. Check reservoir fluid level and top off if needed.
8. I'll do this step tomorrow, but get Tech stream hooked up and ensure pressures are within spec!
For anyone nervous about it, I think it's about a 1.25 / 5
job if your underside is moderately rust-free.
Extractor from Harbor Freight I mentioned ^^
^^ Almost each corner came out black and frothy.
^^ Rears PN. Fronts posted in 2nd post.
^^thin fan clutch for a Ford. I think there's a BMW similar tool, or grind down an existing wrench if you're up for it.
A little backstory: My current rig is from SoCal and rust free. But on my first LX I broke two bleeder screws just attempting to flush the AHC fluid. It was a standard New England car and caked in corrosion. After breaking those, I decided it wasn't worth the hassle to put anymore effort into the AHC and did a standard LC swap. But that wasn't without its own troubles, as rust made the removal of the AHC shocks + torsion bars a full weekend project with grinding wheels, Kriol, and lots of profanity.
On my current rig, the existing AHC is functional, but definitely showing signs of age. I was getting about 6ish graduations between H-L changes. It seemed to need a lot of encouragement to settle into each level, usually requiring pumping the brake or inching the car forward to motivate it to complete it's cycle.
Fast forward to today: I drove down into NYC to pick something up for the kids, so I spent about 2 hours driving the LX in notoriously s***ty pavement conditions. Replacing the globes had been on the back burner for a bit, but this trip was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Remembering that it's a holiday weekend and no work tomorrow, I decided to tackle the globe swap. Plenty of great detailed threads here, but the general process remains the same.
1. Get the car on a level surface and into L. This helps fill the under-hood reservoir so you can extract more with your hand pump/Turkey blaster. (For $14, there's a killer little syringe that made it this part effortless and mess free. The cheap-s*** pump with red tubes from AutoZone or whatever are a total waste of money.)
2. Bleed! 10m to each corner "globe" bleeder valve and the accumulator on the driver's side frame rail. My discharge of the old black/green fluid looked more like a frothy drink from Starbucks than something that would come out of a car.
3. Remove old globes. A 36mm fan clutch wrench was all that was needed. Replace with new globes, note front/rear difference via part number. Also, lube the oring with some fresh AHC fluid before tightening back on by hand. Snug up with wrench.
4. Refill the under hood AHC reservoir if you haven't already. I put just under 2.5l at this point.
5. Start the car and let her idle for a bit, and in the process, repressurize the AHC system.
6. Quick rebleed, similar to step 2 but only takes a second or two. The last of the old fluid will get pushed out and you'll see the new pale pink fluid coming up behind it.
7. Start the car back up again, and cycle through your heights. It was night and day, at least for me, and I could feel how smoothly and immediately the system started responding to height changes versus before. No more sitting there waiting for it to "do something" for 5+ seconds after pressing the button, or going into D and pumping the brakes to encourage it to complete it's cycle. Check reservoir fluid level and top off if needed.
8. I'll do this step tomorrow, but get Tech stream hooked up and ensure pressures are within spec!
For anyone nervous about it, I think it's about a 1.25 / 5
job if your underside is moderately rust-free.
Extractor from Harbor Freight I mentioned ^^
^^ Almost each corner came out black and frothy.
^^ Rears PN. Fronts posted in 2nd post.
^^thin fan clutch for a Ford. I think there's a BMW similar tool, or grind down an existing wrench if you're up for it.
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