MikeJ65

I knew I had at least one bad accumulator because of the red ABC messages I was getting over bumps, so I started by replacing the front one. This has eliminated my warnings, but I'm still not 100% certain that the rear is OK. Before my repair, ABC pressure during the rodeo test was dipping into the 70 bar range, after the repair I'm seeing 110-120 bar as the minimum. What have others seen for pressure drop during rodeo. Is a 70-80 bar drop normal, or do I have a second bad accumulator? Is there a different test I should be using? Just to clarify, my normal ABC pressure is right at 190 bar.

Note: my front accumulator was not completely blown. It passes the 'poke' test, but was about 12 oz. heavier than the new one and sloshes when you shake it. It was also oozing oil and some air bubbles after I removed it. Clearly bad, but not blown.

MikeJ65

Thanks, it looks like I am in the ballpark on rodeo pressures. I made an educated guess on the front accumulator because a sharp, low speed bump on just the front axle would trigger the warnings. Also, the front seemed a bit less responsive on the rodeo test (front struts didn't extend as quickly as the rear). However, pressure drop during rodeo was about the same on all four strut extensions. It is difficult to figure out which accumulator is bad because they are not independent and both will feed the pressure line if pressure drops. After seeing how the front one failed, I will probably replace the rear one as well. I believe that it is probably original and, if so, the diaphragm is probably in pretty bad shape after 17 years.