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Recharge Accumulators


Guest jimmyk

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Guest jimmyk

I have found a company that recharges accumulators. It's called audibombs.com. (He calls accumulators bombs)

Dave there said that he had recharged an accumulator for a Reatta owner earlier this year. Was that anyone here? And if so, did his service restore the accumulator's performance?

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An intriguing idea, but I am more concerned about the condition of the rubber bladder inside being deteriorated than the charge. The latter can possibly be "fixed" while tbe former cannot be serviced as the accumulator is a sealed housing.

Really though, at $200-300 for a new one is worth it as you are dealing with a safety critical part. Not something to be messed around with by a half-@$$ed fix IMO.

KDirk

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Guest jimmyk

Just passing along info. Eventually we will be out of NOS accumulators and have to find a suitable replacement, either recharged or an alternately sourced part the will function correctly.

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Guest PontiacDude210

Interesting. I'd give that a shot. Having worked with hydraulic equipment, I can say it is common to recharge accumulators. I don't assume a bladder rupture is typically a slow process with that much pressure. If the bladder still holds pressure, a recharge seems reasonable. Theoretically a bladder rupture could be a concern even with the holy grail n.o.s. units. They're still old.

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Just thinking out loud here. I'm sure everyone is familiar with fix a flat, that stuff you inject into a flat tire. I'm wondering if there is a way to inject some kind of epoxy under light pressure that would adhere to the rubber bladder to fix a small leak inside. Probably not, even if you could there is no way of telling how long it would last, just a thought.

Mike

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Heres the thing. All rubber ages and depending on exposure (air, water, chemicals etc.) the rate of detrioration may be lesser or greater but occurs nonetheless. Now, a Teves system that has been well maintained with clean fluid for the life of the car will likely have an accumulator bladder in better condition than one where the fluid looks like swamp mud. This is why proper maintenance of the Teves system is so critical to it's longevity.

As brake fluid absorbs water and water deteriorates rubber (look at the flapper inside a typical toilet tank after several years to see this effect in action) I am not so enthused about recharging a 25 year old (assuming an original part) accumulator and expecting much additional service life from it.

For what he is charging, it isn't a bad deal if it works for another few years after the recharge. If it works a day or a week or even a month I view it as wasted money that should have been spent on outright replacement. So, it is a roll of the dice but odds favor the house, as always.

Obviously, he has been successful at resurrecting a number of these or he probably wouldn't still be offering the service. That's great as far as it goes, but I still say a 25+ year old accumulator should just be replaced. 200-300 dollars is a fair chunk of money, I know. However, if you can't afford to maintain the safety critical parts on a car and are looking to cut corners on something as important as brakes - versus skimping on the eye candy - then maybe you need to consider a different car that uses more conventional and readily available parts to reduce the cost of ownership.

We have witnessed a lot of people blow in here after buying a dirt cheap Reatta and struggle to get it road worthy due to the need for several expensive repairs right out of the gate. Many either throw in the towel and we never hear from them again or the sell the car either complete or for parts after deciding they got in over their head. We also have some members who seem to take some kind of perverse pride in how cheaply they can maintain their cars.

I am not advocating spending crazy money on restoration - unless that is your aim - but everyone needs to consider their own safety and that of others when pinching pennies on car repairs. If you can't cut it due to lack of funds, or simply cannot stomach the cost of keeping a quarter century old car of any sort in good operating condition then maybe you need to reconsider owning such a car.

It is called pragmatism and sometimes I sense a serious lack of it from those who think they can take a sows ear and turn it into a silk purse on little to no budget. Doesn't work that way, and yet I see it all around me with people who won't bother to do things right whether it is maintaining a house, car, one's health or anything else. Laziness and cheapness abounds, and many seem unable to prioritize correctly.

I see cars on the road with $5000 wheel and tire packages and a big enough stereo to split pinch welds that have bodies rusted clean through, trash bags on two windows and the trunk lid tied shut. How well has that driver maintained their brakes and suspension? I pretty well know already, and the presence of such a car in my vicinity risks my car and my safety if their car can't stop or steer properly as they chose not to keep those things in decent shape. And safety inspections are no panacea towards eliminating this as many things slip through the cracks. I know because I've been cut slack before on a safety inspection.

KDirk

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Guest PontiacDude210

I don't mind paying for parts, but I do mind getting run around the block to get them. "Look, there's a brake accumulator over there! Ahhhh, too slow, there's one over there! Nope, there's three! And they're gone. A guy in ___ might have...." There are a certain number of them out there, why do the sellers lack interest in selling them? I want to acquire a new one and experiment with recharging or repairing the old one. Don't plan on making any ground, for the record. I want to see the condition of the bladder for myself. N.O.S. is not always going to be a viable option, and we need to consider other options. I'm aware of the crusade to kill the beaters, and I understand the reasoning. I don't like it, as every time I go to make a repair I hear "are you suuuuuuure you want to put that much money into this?" Or "You should've dealt with that before you bought a stereo." I'll get it done and I'll deal with issues as they become apparent. A partially repaired car bought with no service records is tricky. Because no, the entire brake system isn't 25 years old, some of it is brand freakin new as of when I bought the car and not replacing new parts isn't exactly reckless endangerment, if the brakes stop the car effectively and quickly. One final thought, if you aren't prepared to stop your Reatta by means of emergency brake and you don't have a plan in case something happens, don't drive it. I've pulled mine from the road early this year to work on several safety features. If you can't handle your car in an emergency however, perhaps an old car isn't your thing. Even the best kept Reatta can have failures.

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The Reatta doesn't have an emergency brake. It has a parking brake. You had better not depend on the parking brake to slow you down.

The accumulator failing will not prevent the Reatta from stopping if the pump is in good running condition but the pump may not react fast enough in a panic stop situation. Even if the pump stops running you can stop the Reatta if you are prepared and know what to expect. A long time ago as a test I disconnected the pump on my Reatta and pumped the pedal until the accumulator pressure was relieved and the pedal got hard. Then I drove my Reatta without the pump running on a stretch of road where there is little traffic to get a feel of what it would be like without the pump running. Without the pump running you only have front brakes and to get it to stop you have to stand on the brake pedal with all your weight but it will stop as long as you have plenty of room. I'm not recommending anyone do this but I think what you would learn from it would be invaluable if your brake pump stops running unexpectedly while your going down the road. Knowledge of what to expect can be a powerful tool in the event of an emergency situation.

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Guest Corvanti

"Dude": i appreciate your attitude on keeping your Reatta on the road!:cool: i do have to say that making her run (engine), drive (trans), and stop (brakes) should be the highest priorities. carry on!:)

Ronnie is totally correct about about the parking brake. by the time one pumps up the pkg brake, if there is a car in front of you, that will be what stops a Reatta.:(

Daves89 has some NOS accumulators in the "for sale" section above. i'd trust him with any safety part! others like Jim Finn may have some.

"bikemikey" (post #7), i really don't think anything like fix-a-flat or the other flat tire fixes would be able to hold the 990psi or more, as Padgett stated in another thread. i'd like to be proved wrong.

my 2 cents...

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"Dude": i appreciate your attitude on keeping your Reatta on the road!:cool: i do have to say that making her run (engine), drive (trans), and stop (brakes) should be the highest priorities. carry on!:)

Ronnie is totally correct about about the parking brake. by the time one pumps up the pkg brake, if there is a car in front of you, that will be what stops a Reatta.:(

Daves89 has some NOS accumulators in the "for sale" section above. i'd trust him with any safety part! others like Jim Finn may have some.

"bikemikey" (post #7), i really don't think anything like fix-a-flat or the other flat tire fixes would be able to hold the 990psi or more, as Padgett stated in another thread. i'd like to be proved wrong.

my 2 cents...

You're probably right about the fix-a-flat idea. It's too bad there is not a way to encapsulate the old bladder from top to bottom if you know what I mean. Even if you could, it would probably be cheaper just to build a new accumulator rather than fix an old one. Don't mind me I get these crazy thoughts from time to time.

Mike

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Guest PontiacDude210

Wouldn't life be easier if they were rebuildable? Mine works but falls marginally short of the ideal range on the test. I want to replace mine but I wish we could find a way to save some. Pipe dream at best. I think the 1100# mini accumulator on the hydraulic power packs on Hydromats might work in a pinch, they're easy to come by, continue to be produced and last a long time even under 24hr 6 day a week load.

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