What's wrong with my jack?

[theaxe]

Hope you can help, I recently purchased a new jack but I don't think it's working properly.

The first few strokes work as you'd expect, but then it comes to a point where the handle wants to pull back up bringing the car back down.

Sometimes a few attempts will get it to 'stick' and the car will remain up but then on the next stroke I'll have the same problem. It's as if whatever the ratchet mechanism is inside is not working.

I tried to bleed the jack and I did get quite a bit of air out of it. That improved the general feel of the handle but didn't solve the problem.

Any ideas?

[theaxe]

shoehorn said:

Did the jack come with a small bolt or plug in the box which you missed,discarded or disregarded?
Sometimes the filler plug on hydraulic units are sealed for transportation and you then remove and replace it with a similar plug but one which will have a small hole in it to allow the unit to breathe.
Try using the jack with the filler bung/screw removed and see if it then works properly.

Interesting, I'll give this a try, thanks.

[theaxe]

Tried but no luck.. Thanks anyway.

[theaxe]

littleredrooster said:

This ^ ^

Sounds like a broken spring in the non-return valve or a foreign object floating around keeping the valve open.

Thanks, sounds like it'll have to go back. :-(

[theaxe]

Quinten said:

Out of interest, what make/brand is it?

Liftmaster aluminum 2.5t.