My accumulator got charged up the other day, and it was working great. Mechanic kept the gauge on the bottle for 30 minutes to make sure it didnt leak, and it didnt. It was charged to 100 bar pre-charge. I went to a job the next day, and it worked awesome. Went to clean out, and forgot to switch the rear panel to local before turning remote off so accumulator dumped. Dumped off at around 30Bar this time. I thought, "Thats weird" So I reset it and it took forever to build back up to 200Bar. Shifted very slow at low RPM, but normal at high rpm.

Today, I went down to the shop to see if it still had a charge of some kind on it, and it doesnt. still Takes forever to build to 200 bar, but now when I dump it.. it instantly goes to 0 . Rock is shifting super slow now too no matter what RPM or volume I was at.

Does this mean that my accumulator bag blew on the job yesterday? I didn't notice any change in stroke / flow the entire job... which I parked in the middle of the pour and did a slab on the left, then swung to the right and did a wall. about 100 yards total.

Any suggestions would be helpful.. Its a 2002 Schwing with a 2023-4 pumpkit.

I'd say your bladder give up.

are they hard to change?

if your bladder is busted, hook up your test gauge and charge it again. you will hear the nitrogen bubling out of the hydraulic tank. it sounds to me that you have besides the bladder problem,you also have a problem with the accumulator pump. you probably need to pull the regulator off the pump, to see if the spool inside is still moving easily.

as far as replacing the bladder, its similiar to changing the inner tube on your bicyle tire. you will need a spanner wrench to remove the locknut, biggest problem is to get those fitting out, if it has never been done, they may be secured with Loctite.

when you reinstall, make sure everything is clean, oil up the bladder, so it does not get hung on anything when you put it in. BE SURE: when the check valve is installed, charge the bladder just a little and watch the check valve close. it may happen that the bladder gets in between the valve seat, and it will damage it instantly

it's really simple, have done it many times

yeah mechanic already overnighted an accumulator pump.. will be there monday. bladders just an added bonus I guess.... thanks for the help guys. I appreciate it

I do agree with gboom on checking the spool on your regulator also!!! That starting to stick could literally make your pump stop completely!!! Always something I know!!

ok. so bladder was blown but we fought the accumulator pump all day and couldn't get it off.. its stuck on their pretty tight

Why are you trying to get the pump off? I'm just curious. Have you pumped with it since you replaced the bladder?

mechanic said the pump needed replaced. lol

how much faith do you have in your mechanic?

Be cautious with the new replacement bladder. the after market replacement bladders are not nearly as tough as the factory equip....especially in cold temps.

were at this point now in replacing accumulator bag.. lol

is this one of these  "...since we have it already apart, might as well do it all..." repairs?

the accumulator pump was seized in the steibel box and when we finally got it out we found more problems.. worn out stuff. so yeah now its a since were in there might as well fix it