Recharging Accumulators

[Southerlin, Russell S]

All,
Well it has been along time since I posted to the Quattro list.  It is amazing I still see a lot of the same names. Have lurked here on an occasional basis but generally have been too busy with other things.  I still have Audi's in my blood.  Currently I am up to 3 Audis at this time.  My 87 5KTQ has 222K miles and going strong but looking a little ragged around the edges, I also picked up a running 5KTQ for $400 about 1 year ago.  I just purchased a 95.5 S6 with 86K miles - what a sweet car!!!

Anyway, I thought I would update everyone on the Accum. recharging I was doing a while back.  I have see some recent posts  asking if I still did them and if it was even possible.   I have not been doing them for about a year now.  I became paranoid of the liability issues. I wanted to form a LLC but have not had the time to research it. I did not really make much money considering the time spent so to me it has not been a big loss although my son misses the 50% I was paying him to do the prep. work.  I still get 1 or 2 E-mails a month asking if I can do them.  I currently have a guy with an 80s vintage Merkur(?) that wants to know how to do them.

Over about a 3 year period I did right at 95 recharges.  Of those 95 I did have a handful (like 3 or 4) that came back to me.  I am not aware of any that had any kind of failure once re-installed in the car and confirmed to be working.  Pretty good track record IMO.  For those naysayers out there I think I can conclusive say that recharging does work.  I am still running my recharged one in my 87 5KTQ for going on 5 years now.

If anyone wants to try to setup and do them I am more than willing to give away my trade secrets.  I have a write up that I have sent out to a few people on how I was doing them.  I will say it is not for the faint of heart.  Putting 1000psi into a used car part that someone has sent you from who knows where can be pretty nerve racking.  Safety is utmost important.  I rejected quite a few that were sent to me all rusty, mostly form the east coast where salt is used.

Russ Southerlin
875KTQ (222K miles an looking like it)
80 911SC Targa
95.5 S6