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All I can say is what he said. In one position, the top rams hold more fluid. If you fill in that position, it will blow out a seal in the resevior. He said it was common, and he could tell, and would void my warranty.

Thinking about it, it must hold more fluid in the up position since the ram arms take up space in the down position.

So if you fill while the top is up, then you have over filled the system.



this could be a possibility. when the ram is extended, the entire volume of the cylinder is filled with fluid. when the ram is retracted, the cylinder is filled with the ram "rod" and fluid.


When I was hooking up the convertible top stuff on the Packard, I was unaware of this, and possibly just got lucky that there was enough air in the system, that each time I topped it off and ran it through again, it was removing enough air that it never "over filled" the resevoir with fluid.

that being said--you could play it safe and top off only when the rams are retracted--but I still think that if one of the lines blew out, it's because it was old/brittle and something else was binding up causing a pressure spike

when new, did these tops use brake fluid or ATF/PS fluid? I know the packard stuff called for brake fluid, but that was also in the 1950s...

**Photobucket sucks**