Oil leak - base of Pressure Regulator

[Styria]

Those familiar with 6.9 would be aware that the suspension pressure regulator base on top of the reservoir can be quite suspect to leakage of hydraulic oil.

The Company uses quite a strange, jelly like gasket (does anyone know why this type of gasket ?) under the base, and you can spend quite a bit of time trying to stop oil leaks from that area. I believe that new gaskets have to be sourced from Germany - at least, that's what I have been told previously.

I needed to fix the leak on Gleaming Beauty and decided to go with an 'O' ring, O/D 65mm, I/D 55mm and about 5mm in cross section. So far, this seems to work quite well. I also had to contend with another leak between the body of the pressure regulator and the base that is interposed to the filter housing. That leakage has also been remedied by dismantling and fitting an additional new 'O' ring. Again, the oil leakage problem seems to have been rectified. Regards Styria

 

[John S]

What type of material was the 'O' ring you used made from? Do you need neoprene or Teflon to resist the special mineral oil that the system uses? Can you wrap ordinary Teflon tape around an ordinary rubber "O" ring to gain the necessary protection?

 

[Lukas]

I second the question - does hydro fluid mess with the rubber in normal O rings?

Teflon tape around a regular o ring sounds dodgy - the tape would rub off as the valve was screwed on. If rubber is an issue, I'd have thought the entire o ring would have to be made of an unaffected material.

 

[TJ 450]

I don't think that normal 'o' rings will be a problem at all. They are used in numerous parts of the system. I suspect that the reason why the special seal is used there is that it is able to conform more easily to the shape of the pressed metal parts on the base of the regulator. I wouldn't hesitate to use a standard 'o' ring, regardless.

Tim