DJohn14296,

in short, flushing really dark looking fluid is a good idea, there is no official procedure for it, the Crossfire system is more sensitive to contamination than the SLK system, and the Crossfire pump is quite different from the SLK pump.

Why does the fluid need to be flushed? The main culprits are suspended particles in the fluid (turning into sludge) and water on the bottom of the reservoir (from condensation if you are in a warm, humid climate). Suspended particles are created by friction on the cylinder walls, inside the pump, and largely from fragments of decaying seals. Their biggest impact is wearing out the pump, but they also change the chemistry of the fluid, and they can make it corrosive in the long run. Water is supposed to sink to the bottom of the reservoir. If the level of accumulated water gets too high, then it will be sucked into the pump and wreak all kinds of havoc. This is rare, but needs to be mentioned for completeness.

What is so special about the recommended hydraulic fluids? They lubricate the system without damaging it, they have low viscosity (thickness) even at low temperatures, and they do not have emulsifiers in them, or other additives that would damage the seals in the OEM cylinders. If you had all seven cylinders rebuilt by Top Hydraulics, then you could actually use transmission fluid, because our seals are chemically much more stable (they hold up fine even to water, "stop-leak", or acetone...).

How do you flush the system?
A perfectionist would take out the pump, dump its fluid, and then cycle the top manually to get all original fluid out of the system. That's what you would have to do if you had accidentally put the wrong fluid in, and hope that it didn't do any harm yet.
A more practical way for preventative maintenance would be to suck the fluid out of the reservoir with a syringe that has a hose on it (so that you can stick the hose through the fill plug until it reaches the bottom of the reservoir), suck out the fluid, move the top manually to get the fluid from the cylinders pushed into the reservoir, suck out the fluid again, move the top some more, then suck out old fluid again, then add new fluid to the reservoir and use the pump. Keep filling the reservoir until the fluid level is constant and within min/max range. The system is self venting. Almost all air will be out of the cylinders after some three cycles. I am not a fan of folks taking off the reservoir, because some of them get damaged upon re-installation and the owner will end up sending us their pump for rebuild just because there is now a leak from the reservoir...
The easiest way if you don't want to go through the trouble of moving the top manually after evacuating the reservoir, is to empty the reservoir with a syringe with a hose on it, refill it, cycle the top once with the pump, and repeat the procedure several times. You still get the majority of the fluid flushed this way - somewhere between 50-90% depending on how many times you do it.

Now that Top Hydraulics is a forum sponsor, I can talk about what we are doing: we rebuild the hydraulic cylinders and make them better than brand new ones for a fraction of new price (if you could still get new cylinders), we rebuild the pumps, and we manufacture new hydraulic hoses. The quality of our work is unmatched, as is the quantity. There will always some guys out there trying to offer a "cheap" rebuild service and not doing the job right, until they disappear because their customers will be back when the incorrect rebuild has failed. Conversely, we do it right, we replace and upgrade ALL seven seals in each cylinder, and we have tens of thousands of happy customers (no kidding). Sorry to be so direct; it gets me very upset when I see how some outfits will try to get away with replacing just one single seal and usually butchering the cylinder while they are at it...

We offer core exchange for the full sets of cylinders and for the pumps. See Rebuild/Upgrade Service for Chrysler Crossfire Roadster Hydraulic Cylinders - Top Hydraulics, Inc

Hydraulic pump: p/n 5142638AA. Mercedes p/n reference A193 800 00 30. See Chrysler Crossfire Hydraulic Pump Rebuild/Upgrade and Chrysler Crossfire Hydraulic Pump Core Exchange

Rear bow latch 05142957AA aka A 193 750 0184. See Rebuild/upgrade service for Crossfire Rear Bow Latch Cylinder - Top Hydraulics, Inc or Core Exchange for Crossfire Rear Bow Latch with Cylinder - Top Hydraulics, Inc
Tonneau cover latch 05166559AA aka A 193 750 0183. See Rebuild/upgrade service for Crossfire Tonneau cover latch cylinder 05166559AA aka A 193 750 0183 - Top Hydraulics, Inc
Folding top rear bow hydraulic cylinder 05142640AA (left side). See Rebuild/Upgrade Service for your Crossfire Left Bow Tension Cylinder - send in your cylinder first - Top Hydraulics, Inc
Folding top rear bow hydraulic cylinder 05170014AA (right side). See Rebuild/Upgrade Service for your Crossfire Right Bow Tension Cylinder - send in your cylinder first - Top Hydraulics, Inc
Main drive cylinder 05142639AA (left side). See Rebuild/Upgrade Service for your Crossfire Left Main Lift Cylinder - send in your cylinder first - Top Hydraulics, Inc
Main drive cylinder 05170015AA (right side). See Rebuild/Upgrade Service for your Crossfire Right Main Lift Cylinder - send in your cylinder first - Top Hydraulics, Inc
Tonneau cover lift cylinder 05142641AA. See Rebuild/Upgrade Service for your Crossfire Tonneau Cover Cylinder - send in your cylinder first - Top Hydraulics, Inc
Full set of cylinders: See Full set of 7 Crossfire Cylinders to be rebuilt for less than the price of 6 - send in your cylinders first - Top Hydraulics, Inc or Special Option: Core Exchange for Full Set of Crossfire Cylinders - Top Hydraulics, Inc

The latch cylinders can be sent to Top Hydraulics in their latches.


Klaus


Top Hydraulics, Inc





Location of your Crossfire Roadster Cabriolet Hydraulics