the 'gas springs' or accumulators (actuators in Toyota speak) are dead. Check for contamination using the Water Reaction Test (below) as even small amounts of most common contaminants will destroy the diaphragms in the 4 wheel accumulators.
B and B Suspension LLC
AHC FLUID WATER REACTION TEST
1) Purpose;
AHC fluid is very light colored highly refined low viscosity petroleum oil. Its appearance is (prior to new fluid from 2009 on) light greenish to light straw colored, clear and transparent. New fluid sold from 2009 on is dyed a light red/pink in color to distinguish it from other products. The similarity in appearance to brake fluid, many windshield cleaner concentrates, and un-dyed ethylene glycol antifreeze concentrate has contributed to many instances of service personnel using these similar appearing fluids to top-off or refill the AHC fluid reservoir. Unfortunately, the ‘new color’ is nearly identical to that of ‘environmentally safe, non-toxic or RV water system antifreeze—propylene glycol) All of these common contaminating fluids are very detrimental to the ‘rubber’ components in the AHC system.
The diaphragms separating AHC fluid from high pressure Argon in B&B Suspension accumulators are made from a special ‘Nitrile’ compound formulated to retain flexibility and strength from -40 to + 180 F. These parts flex with every tiny bump and road roughness and thus are repeatedly stressed where they bend. The common contaminants mentioned above are VERY DETRIMENTAL to the diaphragm because they dramatically increase cracking from repeated flexing. Even very low contamination levels, barely detectable by this rough test, can reduce accumulator life by 75% or more.
This ‘Water Reaction Test’ is designed to quickly show if any significant amount of brake fluid, methanol, propylene or ethylene glycol are present in the AHC fluid where an accumulator failed unexpectedly. Note this contamination may have caused failure of the original accumulators before the present owner acquired the vehicle. Many Owners have experienced repeated failures of Dealer installed OEM accumulators following known system contamination and accumulator failure, even though ‘the system was flushed with new AHC FLUID EACH TIME.’ Draining the reservoir and refilling with fresh AHC oil, then flushing to the accumulator bleed screws leaves nearly 75% of the old oil and contamination in the struts and main pressure accumulators.
2) Test Procedure;
Prepare 3 glass pint jars with lids by thoroughly washing with detergent and then thoroughly rinsing to ensure all detergent residue is removed . Ideally the final rinse should be with distilled water. From the right front accumulator bleeder, catch approximately 4 ounces of the old AHC oil into one of the clean glass pint jars—BEFORE ANY ACCUMULATORS OR FLUID ARE REMOVED. Then into another clean jar, catch a similar 4 ounce sample from the right rear bleeder. Add two (2) ounces of distilled water to each jar with the samples. Cap and then vigorously shake both jars for thirty (30) seconds to thoroughly mix the oil and water and then place the jars on a flat stable surface and allow them to sit and settle. After they have settled for 30 seconds, take color photographs of each bottle, then again after 2 minutes , and again after 5 minutes. Take the photos close enough to clearly show the interface between oil and water layers. EMAIL all 6 photos to
kebowers47@gmail.com and
kvnedbow@gmail.com. Note: Depending on the vigorousness of the shaking, a very fine emulsion may form which may take several hours to fully separate, even for the new fluid. However, even very fine emulsions of uncontaminated fluid and water will show growing clear layers within 5 minutes.
Is it neccesary to bleed whole system when you want to change one gas sphere or bleed one corner is enough?
