Allegro Club International

[Colin T]

As titled pretty much.

My near side suspension is very low. The ride had felt hard for a little while, and I thought the car was listing slightly. After having a look it was worse than I thought - the front hub is almost touching the bump stop.

The car seems particularly low at the font, but the rear is also lower - the car has always been high at the back, which changing the front knuckle joints and resetting the rear radius arm assembly dimension, as well as adding weight to simulate a full tank of fuel during pumping failed to solve.

I have had a very thorough look for fluid leaks and found absolutely none (that's a lie - I found leaks from both steering rack gaiters, two from the engine/gearbox and one from the fuel pump.... But none from the suspension!)

So I suspect that the nitrogen has gone AWOL from a displacer - but how do I tell which one? The suspension isn't completely flat yet, so do I need to let all the fluid out and then feel for resistance from the displacers?

Advice welcomed. Thanks, Colin.
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Hell has frozen over...... the car formally known as 'Heap' is back on the road!

[Colin T]

Can anybody please advise?

My thought is that as the suspension is not yet on the bump stops, if I do drain it and feel for the resistance of the nitrogen then there might still be enough 'oomph' in the system to make it difficult to tell which displacer is at fault.

But as the fluid is going to have to be drained anyway, maybe I should give this go and see what's what?
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Hell has frozen over...... the car formally known as 'Heap' is back on the road!

[josephlamont]

Hi Colin,
I had a similar problem with my 1500 Special, RKB 143T.
Morrisons of Stirling, who did the suspension work for me, said they found fluid leaks at the front displacers (by that I think they meant Hydragas leaks). That is not to say that the nitrogen was down as well, but I had no means of proving that, and Morrisons certainly did not mention it. The replacement displacers certainly transformed the car and I gather it is front displacers that tend to go. Although after the new displacers went in I still had some fluid loss from the offside. Morrisons evacuated the Hydragas, checked for leaks, (and found none) and pumped Hydragas back in, and so far it has held up. I was lucky enough to find a replacement offside rear displacer so I have it in reserve if the system leaks again.
I hope this is of some use and good luck in getting yours sorted,
Joe

[Paul-V]

Colin,

It is possible for a slow loss of fluid to go virtually undetected, as it tends to evaporate within a few hours.

Have you checked the steel interconnection pipes where they pass through the rubber-lined 'clips' on the floor? This is a common place for pinhole corrosion, especially towards the back of the car, where the automatic rustproofing (oil leaks!) does not reach

[Colin T]

Thanks chaps.

I had checked the whole system, displacers and pipes, and even peeled back the rubber covers on the displacers. No stains, nothing.

I looked around the pipe clips but didn't pull the pipe from the clips and check under the rubber bits. Perhaps I should have.

Perhaps I should try driving over some bumpy ground and then then immediately examine the system for leaks? There are a couple of unmade roads within half a mile so I shouldn't have any problems doing that.
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Hell has frozen over...... the car formally known as 'Heap' is back on the road!