New to the forum and just picked up a new to me '09 A300. Changing all the fluids and all the filters so I have a fresh baseline. The unit has 1508hrs and I was provided with no service records, although it appears to be taken care of by the previous one-owner on a farm. The only thing I found upon delivery was the hydraulic fluid wasn't showing in the sight glass. I removed the two lower covers from both sides and found the accumulation of dirt on the bottom of the tub. On the left side the dirt was dry, but the right side the dirt was oil soaked. Scrapped out everything I could by hand which equated to about 3 shovel fulls. Inspection from the top I noticed the 2 hyd lines that feed each wheel are wet. The left side I would say more of a weep/seep over a long period of time, nothing major. The right side were pretty wet. I couldn't identify the location of any leaks because so much dust/dirt had attracted to the lines. After blowing out what i could from the top with high pressure air, I pressure washed the lower section best I could and especially the hyd lines, filled up the fluid and ran the unit a bit, reinspected and couldnt find any evident leaks. 2nd issue. When I removed the sound dampening mats from the front, I noticed the front top cover was leaking oil at the front and running down into the foot wells. I removed the cover, jacked up the rear end and pumped all the hyd fluid from the chaincase. I ran a magnet around the bottom which thankfully yielded no metal or shavings. I did notice the fluid looked pretty clean, so I'm thinking the chaincase could have been serviced around 1000 hrs. The only thing that makes me think not, is that it appeared that the top cover had the orig BC silicon and it was a bitch to get off, but I could be wrong. Another sign, the fluid was well above the front drain to the point I couldnt even see it. Peering down into the case, it appears the front drives dont line up, only off a little bit. Looking at the machine from the front, the right side chain has more deflection that the left. The right side has 1.5" of deflection while the left side has about 3/4". My questions, could the overfilling of the chaincase be causing any issues? Should I be concerned about the differing tension in the drive chains? Are those 8 hyd lines that go to each wheel prone to leaking? Should I attach a porta power to each line and see if I can find the source of the leak(s)? Lastly, should I run the overhead now or wait until 2000 hrs? The dealership service dept is telling me anywhere from 1500-2000hrs is good, however I doubt it was done at the prescribed 500hrs per the maint manual. I'm open to any/all comments on this one, bad, good or otherwise. I appreciate your time and look forward to your input! Tim
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