Brake accumulator - how easy to replace?

kooky_guy · Jul 6, 2012

Hi Guys,

My accumulator has become particularly crap so time to change it. I have a new one here. Is it simply a case of depressurising the old one, unscrewing it and screwing the new one back in?

How tight is the old one likely to be? Will it need a filter wrench? Which direction to unscrew it?

Thanks in advance. Appreciate any advice and tips.

Clarky130 · Jul 6, 2012

Piece of wee-wee - exactly as you describe.

It will be fairly tight - I used a good strap wrench on mine and it took some persuasion and banging.

Make sure you FULLY depressurise the system, as described in RAVE. Also a good idea to have LOTS of rags stuffed under and around the unit as a good bit of brake fluid can still spill out.

Fill any empty space in the new one with fresh brake fluid before fitting, and use your thumb over the aperture as you're putting it back on.

kooky_guy · Jul 7, 2012

Cheers for that Paul. Does it unscrew in the usual direction? Have visions of me cursing and swearing trying to tighten it up!

Must fit that swi-jack some time. Trouble is the new stereo works so well that I don't want to mess with it again!

zzr1200 · Jul 7, 2012

kooky_guy said:
Does it unscrew in the usual direction? Have visions of me cursing and swearing trying to tighten it up!

Lefty loosy, righty tighty....:behindsofa:

Datatek · Jul 7, 2012

Unscrews the normal way, next to no fluid out of mine when it came off. Might be necessary to bleed the brakes though as if the gas has escaped from the accumulator, it goes into the fluid.

Stufer · Jul 7, 2012

My strap wrench wouldn't touch it, got the Draper ofw100 in the picture, came straight off

kooky_guy · Jul 7, 2012

Will a strap wrench damage it? Just worried about what might happen if I can't get the old one off. My lpg vapouriser is right next to it too so access isn't as good as it could be.

Desperately trying to avoid having to bleed the brakes.

Datatek · Jul 7, 2012

You would have a job to damage the container it's a pressure vessel a bit like your LPG tanks, I used a chain wrench on mine.

Endeleus · Jul 7, 2012

kooky_guy said:
Will a strap wrench damage it? Just worried about what might happen if I can't get the old one off. My lpg vapouriser is right next to it too so access isn't as good as it could be.

Desperately trying to avoid having to bleed the brakes.

I used a chain wrench to get my old one off, and there wasn't a mark on it afterwards.

I did use a strap wrench to tighten the new one on though.

If you do need to bleed the brakes, my local Halfords autocentre did a brake fluid change for £30 fairly recently, which I thought was great value to avoid the ball-ache of bleeding the brakes myself. It was on their list of "fixed price" jobs, so they must have loved me bringing a P38 in

Endeleus · Jul 7, 2012

Datatek said:
You would have a job to damage the container it's a pressure vessel a bit like your LPG tanks, I used a chain wrench on mine.

Beat me to it!

jerrytlr · Jul 7, 2012

Strap wrench should get it off no problem.

Quite a bit of brake fluid escaped from mine, so agree with the comment about the rags! I did follow the RAVE depressurising procedure too.

I haven't bled the brakes since changing it, but they do need it.

Good luck!

Cheers

Jerry

kooky_guy · Jul 7, 2012

Well what an anticlimax that was. Don't know what I was worried about!

That's got to be one of the easiest jobs I've every had to do on it. 15 mins max from start to finish including getting my tools out and putting them away again.

The old one undid with a strap wrench. Some fluid sprayed out which surprised me a bit as I had depressurised it thoroughly - or thought I had. Certainly pumped it many more times than Rave specified. Ah well.

Anyway, new one went on easily enough. System pressurised immediately rather than the few minutes it was taking before, pump is quieter, brakes all work. Job done. Just hope I didn't leave it too long. Time will tell.

Interesting point Endeleus about the Halfords fixed price brake bleeding. I assume they actually managed to do a decent job? Hmm.

I see what you all mean about there being no possibility of damaging the thing - I hadn't taken the new one out of it's wrapper before I wrote that.

What have people done with their old ones? Rave talks about drilling a hole in it. Think I might just leave mine in the garage...

Thanks all for the advice.

zzr1200 · Jul 7, 2012

Tossed my old one in the scrap metal bin at work.

According to the boss (at home

), I've already have a garage full of crap.

No point in keeping a totally fecked one, and giving the boss even more ammo.

Endeleus · Jul 8, 2012

kooky_guy said:
Interesting point Endeleus about the Halfords fixed price brake bleeding. I assume they actually managed to do a decent job? Hmm.

As with any big chain, the service you receive is only as good as the team at your local branch, so I can only talk for the one in Stoke on Trent. I've taken my P38 in there a couple of times - to have the tracking done after I'd changed the track rod and drag link (Wheel alignment - £25 fixed price), and for an MOT and brake fluid change after I'd replaced the accumulator (Brake fluid change - £30 fixed price).

On both occasions, they not only did a great job, but complimented me on the condition of the vehicle.

They have a reputation for making their money out of the extras at MOT time, but the only extra for me was new windscreen wipers, which I'd been meaning to replace for ages and kept forgetting. I'll happily take mine back there for the next MOT. To be fair, the MOT, brake fluid, and tracking are the only things I don't do myself these days because either I don't have the equipment or it needs two people.

kooky_guy said:
What have people done with their old ones? Rave talks about drilling a hole in it.

I didn't bother drilling a hole in mine, figuring I'd replaced it precisely because it had feck all pressure in it. It would have ended up in the scrap metal skip at my local council tip the last time I was getting rid of used oil. I'd rather give my scrap metal to the council for free, than encourage the pikeys who drive round looking for it. I can't be bothered weighing it in somewhere myself for a few quid.

Brake accumulator - how easy to replace?

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