How to fix a leaking floor jack

if your jack leaks follow these instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• a small cup
• a screw driver (or the rod that comes with your jack)
• Tetholon tape
• jack oil or 5w-30 motor oil

1. place a small cup under your jack take the rod that comes with your jack or use a screw driver.

2. pump the handle up and down till all the jack oil comes out
   a little metal pistil should come out

3. if the jack only lifts a little an then makes a lot of noise when the sattle went down that means you drained the oil

4. thread the adjusting screw with the tethlon tape put the screw and the pistil back in the jack.

5. open the oil fill plug unscrew the screw place a small oil funnel in the hole then slowly pour some hydraulic jack oil or 5w-30 motor oil in the jack until its up to the line in the hole.

Tips & Warnings

• it is best to use 5w-30 motor oil or hydraulic jack oil because any oil higher than 5w-30 will damage the jack and cause a leak.
• only a mechanic should do this because it could give out while you are under the car.

[shogun1011]

on 8/10/2009 Wow Ses, Talk about nit picking. The person answered the question regardless if they can spell or speak proper English. Was this a grammar lesson or a lesson on how to fix a floor jack? I actually found it pretty handy that the person fixed it with tools found in a auto garage... considering that's where an auto jack lives (referring to the 5w-30 oil). Try being a little less Pompous, and a little more helpful.

[sesquipedalian]

on 11/21/2008 As I was saying:

Generally, older jacks or those of higher quality can be rebuilt with new seals... if you can find replacement parts. Chances are, though, if yours is a cheap-o it'd cost more to fix than to replace.

[sesquipedalian]

on 11/21/2008 The secret name for "Tetholon" is "Teflon".

A pistil is the female reproductive part of a flower, however hydraulic jacks DO usually have pistons.

"Sattle" is normally spelled "saddle" in English-speaking communities. [He, She, or It] is referring to the jack platform... or possibly Seattle.

5W-30 is a multi-viscosity oil, meaning that it has different properties based on temperature. Call me crazy but I think you can get away with a single-weight oil here. Better yet, just get some standard ISO32 (hydraulic jack oil) from your local hardware store.

Aside from the utter incoherence of it all, the only thing [he, she, or it] talks about is sealing a leak around the piston lock/unlock screw. Older hydraulic jacks also occasionally leak from the seal around either of the pistons (s'cuse me, "pistils"). Generally, older jacks or those of higher quality can be rebuilt with new se