I recently got a broken reverb from my friend.
He said that it had had some sag and finally it totally collapsed.
I of course was interested if it could be fixed.
The post could be compressed by hand and did not hold the position.
First I noticed that it was lacking almost all of the pressure.
I tried pumping it up to 250psi and it became stiffer, but still it didn’t hold and the post was basically an air-spring.
I have never seen green oil in the remote (reverb fluid is reddish orange), maybe the first owner (my friend was the 2nd) had also done some DIY maintenance?
Next I started taking it apart and begun by removing the valve and then cycling the post to make sure it wouldn’t have any pressure left. I did not expect this kind of effect..
Apparently almost all of the oil was as foam in the air chamber. Nearly no oil came out after disassembling the post, all was left on the stool.
No wonder that it didn’t work 😀
Apparently there had also been some leakage on the underside.
After removing the lower post, it became apparent what the issue was: the internal sealhead had worked itself pretty loose. Also the bushing had been damaged.
There should be no gap between the upper post and internal sealhead nor should the internal O-ring be visible.. also some scratches on the keyslot.
A little more damage was found on the piston and the poppet valve looked like it was bent.
Rebuild and results on later post.