F1technical.net

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone can help, I tried to Jack my car up the other day with my standard 2 tonne trolley jack and realised I was running low on fluid. Does anyone know how to refill one? I've tried and nothing seems to work.

If adding oil doesn't help than it must be the seals or possibly demaged "pump".

I had similar problem - jack lost some oil and since I had no idea which oil should be used I added oil for brakes and it worked fine (still does).

Hey Tom,

At the bottom of the actual jack "bottle" you should see a plug that usually has a square head. It is best to remove the bottle jack from the unit, but this can be a pain. If you do, just lay it on the bench with the plug pointing up and put in a half pint of hydraulic or air-tool oil. Replace the plug, test, and reinstall. You may need to add more or drain some out.

Easier and more common way is to flip the jack where the plug is down, drain what oil is in it, and fill with motor oil. Not the preferred method, but it isn't going to kill your jack either. We have alot of customers that do this with no ill effects. Just don't mix the oils or you will get foaming when the cylinder is under pressure and create gum. I personally don't like to see this, but if you're in a pinch, it works.

If you are already getting foam from when you filled it--say you are jacking it and nothing much is happening or it slowly goes down because the air bubbles are collapsing--drain it and fill with Diesel fuel, cycle it several times and drain it again. Then fill it with the hydraulic or air tool oil.

Ted

Cheers, I haven't noticed that plug before so I'll see tommorrow, I'm cheekily using sunflower oil at the moment.

Try adding sunflower oil in some two-stroke engine... works fine and smells like kitchen

Our diesels are always on them, and used chip fat is fantastic!

manchild wrote:Try adding sunflower oil in some two-stroke engine... works fine and smells like kitchen

what about cooking with 2 stroke oil

makes the kitchen smell like the shop

mmmm... castrol