The height adjustable suspension wont work.

[muttis3LV6]

I have had my car parked up for the last few months, finally got around to working on it and now the up button no longer works. YOu can here the pump trying but no movement.

Does anybody have spec's on this?

[WTF]

being that i just bought the vehicle from the above mentioned fellow...

i have done hours of digging trying to find info on what it might be..

no noticeable leaks, but amongst a lot of mud, its hard to tell what might have died..

i did find some info about the fluid resevoir though (off aus pajero club site)!



The hydraulic system is situated just in front of the rear axle on the left hand side of vehicle. It looks like a little round tank with a pump on one end and a cap on the tank end that looks very much like a radiator cap. The cap has a dipstick stuck to the under side to measure the high and low marks of the capacity of the tank.
The tank can be accessed under the vehicle but easiest way is to jack up the rear of the vehicle under the chassis and as the wheel drops away from the guard you will be able to see the little pump with tank cap just in front of axle as described.
The oil type is light hydraulic oil 10 weight is ideal weight for the system.
The screws you mention are the same as any other Pajero and can be adjusted in the same way as any other Pajero but have a small hydraulic cylinder to give you the height control.
Consider that perhaps the union (screw joint) is only leaking and only requires a tighten up. If anything its the rear bags that tend to let go not the front cylinders
If the cylinder is at fault I would try to get the part you require from a wrecker if I was you.
Cost being the reason.
And the ride tends to be a fair bit harder as the hyraulicsystem pushers down on the springs witch in turn makes the ride stiffer. The system has a safety feature in that the system automatically reverts to regular ride height at about the 45 KPH speed. This can be disabled with a little work.
The cap is far the easiest to get at through the wheel arch area when rear is lifted up. You will see the cap quite clearly and I use a syringe (The type service people use to do diffs and gearbox’s oil refill's) with about sixty cm’s of suitable diameter plastic tubing.
No special thing to watch for other than don't get a load of mud etc down the filler hole while at it. Not good for the pump.

[John SWB]

I'm the author of the hydraulic suspension system desription in WTF reply.

It would be a lot easier if I could up load a drawing I have on the subject but I will try to describe,

There is only three reasons for it not to go up.
1. A leak has acured and the oil tank is depleted of oil.check oil level and retry. (Not in general to be problem thou)

2.There is a servo hydraulic valve which after time can fail to close.this is located close to the pump with a biggish diameter rubber hose connected to the valve and the oil tank on the pump. it should close off so the oil does not go back to tank until you lower the suspension.Best to get second hand as they cost a arm and a leg from Mitsi.

3. The last reason which can stop operation is the intake port of the hydraulic pump it self is blocked by debris and the pump fails to get enough oil through to pump the system up.To cure this you have to take out the pump from under the vehicle and strip apart and clean.Not really a hard job .

Any more questions, I will try to answer for you.

[WTF]

John, thanks heaps for that info, your the only person that seems to have been able to shed light on the subject.

if possible can you email me a copy of the image to

mark @ firesport . com

?

thanks

much appreciated!

mark

[-Scott-]

I've edited the title - this is going in the FAQ!

Did you see this post: Mitsu Genuine Suspension Up and Down?

[WTF]

yeah i read the other one didnt have the location of the filler etc, so i continued my research.

if anyone has the pics mentioned in the other article etc, feel free to email them to me, and i will upload/host them for everyone else interested.

mark

[John SWB]

John, thanks heaps for that info, your the only person that seems to have been able to shed light on the subject.

if possible can you email me a copy of the image to

mark @ firesport . com

?

thanks

much appreciated!

mark

I've done that for you Mark and would be happy to send to muttis3LV6 if it could help you.

Cheers John

[WTF]

thanks to John, here are the images and some associated text for it:







text from john:



Hopefully by checking with the second picture and what you have under the vehicle you can see the relevant parts to check over.



Parts

Is the servo hydraulic valve the wire coming out of it is the power supply that makes the servo pulls in and shuts off the valve.
Is the hydraulic pump it self, the two wires goes to pressure sensors. One of them indicates high pressure to tell that the system has come to a pumped up state and the suspension has lifted to its extended hight and the light goes on in the dashboard. The second sensor indicates that the pressure is no longer there and the suspension is now on the lower position, the light in the dashboard now goes out. The light on the dashboard goes out when you flick the switch to lower the suspension or you have exceeded about 45- 50 kph (automatically goes down)
Is the electric motor, which drives the pump.
Is the hydraulic oil tank to supply the pump.
Is the return pipe for the oil to return to the tank? This has the rubber tube which connects to part A
Is the oil tank filler cap, looks much like a radiator cap. When removed it has a high and low indicator marks.


I hope this can assist you with your problem. The system is not really complicated once you get your head around the parts you are looking at under the vehicle.

[/i]

[WTF]

btw i put hydraulic jack fluid into it, it took around 500ml, and now the ride height controller works a charm

mark

[John SWB]

btw i put hydraulic jack fluid into it, it took around 500ml, and now the ride height controller works a charm

mark

That's great but does that mean you have a leak. I guess it will show up sooner or later. Because the system uses steel pipes and not flexible pipes they stay oil tight for longer..
The vehicles are getting up to sixteen years old now and things start to let go. I guess you can't push back time.

Cheers John

[WTF]

btw i put hydraulic jack fluid into it, it took around 500ml, and now the ride height controller works a charm

mark

That's great but does that mean you have a leak. I guess it will show up sooner or later. Because the system uses steel pipes and not flexible pipes they stay oil tight for longer..
The vehicles are getting up to sixteen years old now and things start to let go. I guess you can't push back time.

Cheers John

after last nights play out in the tracks nearby, i looked under teh car to notice the system is leaking in a few places :(

one of the joints to the resevoir, and just above each rear spring appears to have a leak as there is oil in those regions.

im guessing this is something that cant really be fixed since they were never released in oz, so the parts will be hideously expensive.

the torsion winders seem fine, but the bags above the springs appear to have a leak.

the system still works though, so i guess its a case of putting oil in, and only using the system when absolutely necessary for that extra clearance.

the leak is fairly slow, perhaps i can use thicker fluid?

i just use hydraulic jack fluid, maybe thats too thin?

mark

[John SWB]

The weakest link in the system (for leaks) is the bags that push down on the rear springs.
The weakness of the system is that you can't get too rough on them , the rear bags have been known to let go with harsh treatment.
The front torsion bars cylinders give no trouble that I have herd of.

Replacement bags is cheapest found in the wreckers yard

The oil used should only be fairly light grade as the little hydraulic pump can't handle it. The right oil seems to be about the 10 weight mark viscosity. I got half a 10 litre container from a hydraulic specialist who serviced industrial and dirt moving machinery. The little reservoir only holds about 2 litres.

The easiest way to get at and fill the reservoir is jack the left rear of the Paj up and remove the wheel.

Cheers John.

[WTF]

heya john,


thanks again for the advice.

i have found that it wasnt jacking the car up at all before i added around 600ml of jack fluid.

so i was guessing it only held about a litre or at least its pickup was around that point.

i have refilled the resevoir with power steering fluid (dexron3) but will be leaving the car at LOW unless i NEED it for clearing things or if stuff gets hairy.

i dont need to jack the car up or remove the wheel to get to the resevoir, i already have around 2in lift and larger tyres, so i can do it quite easily with it just on the ground using a plunger thing used to fill diffs etc as you siggested.

shame they fail, its a cool little feature.

do the "normal" spec pajeros (eg regular au delivery ones) have the suspension set higher than the jap ones, or equiv to the jtops high setting?

[John SWB]

heya john,


thanks again for the advice.

i have found that it wasnt jacking the car up at all before i added around 600ml of jack fluid.

so i was guessing it only held about a litre or at least its pickup was around that point.

i have refilled the resevoir with power steering fluid (dexron3) but will be leaving the car at LOW unless i NEED it for clearing things or if stuff gets hairy.

i dont need to jack the car up or remove the wheel to get to the resevoir, i already have around 2in lift and larger tyres, so i can do it quite easily with it just on the ground using a plunger thing used to fill diffs etc as you siggested.

shame they fail, its a cool little feature.

do the "normal" spec pajeros (eg regular au delivery ones) have the suspension set higher than the jap ones, or equiv to the jtops high setting?

I mite of got a bit carried away on the capacity of the reservoir as you say and I haven't been under there for awhile.
The power steering fluid is not a bad idea at all and its easy to find.

In NZ the jap spec seem to be same as the local spec , only the J tops which are jap spec any way are higher.

John

[Shrex]

Does any no how to bleed out the air to each ram or does it self bleed? my system seems to be bone dry so I topped it up with some new oil and the pump seems to be working very hard & not doing anythick. Any ideas?

[John SWB]

Does any no how to bleed out the air to each ram or does it self bleed? my system seems to be bone dry so I topped it up with some new oil and the pump seems to be working very hard & not doing anything. Any ideas?

Yes there is a way to bleed the system,
In the pictures in the earlier posts on this subject you will notice the circled part in the picture, labelled C. The part indicated is the pump and on the front part of the pump (front being the bit of the pump that faces the front of the vehicle) you will find a hex shape ( like a cap screw head) that a Allen key fits into.
This is the bleed screw for the system.
1/Insert Allen key and undo if I remember right the screw can only wind out so far so you cant go to far wrong.
2/turn the pump on as if you are to lift the vehicle and the pump will self bleed itself back to the oil tank.
3/ after about 30 seconds re tighten the Allen key in the hex to reseat the bleed screw.

With luck this has bleed the system for you, if not try again.

Failing that it may have a blocked intake port.

Hope this helps.

Cheers John

[Shrex]

Thanks John I will try that