W126 Self Leveling Suspension Fluid Leak

[GILBY]

I keep having to top the hydraulic fluid on my 87 560 sec.
I checked underneath the car and there are no visible leaks coming from the front or rear.

Can there possibly be an internal leak?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Cheers

 

[219]

Internal leaks are possible ( it is not unknown for the diaphragms fail in the spheres allowing the nitrogen gas to escape and be replaced by the mineral oil - this results in a hard , bouncy ride ) , however the most common leaks are external ones caused by corrosion of the hydraulic lines underneath the car , usually in the vicinity of the rear suspension .

The cost of parts is moderately expensive , but the labour cost of replacing pipework can be very expensive if you are paying someone else to do it .

 

[GILBY]

thanks for the response...

Wouldn't the fluid eventually level off once those were full, it seems to just keep going down in the reservoir?

 

[219]

Yes , if the spheres had failed internally , I would expect them to take so much fluid then no more .

If you are constantly adding fluid it must be leaking out of the system .

 

[Dieselman]

If you are constantly adding fluid it must be leaking out of the system .

But possibly internally to the engine via the timing chain case.

The spheres are 400cc each so the maximum additional lost could be 400cc in total.

 

[GILBY]

How easy is it to fix if it is leaking internally via the timing chain case?