Air Suspension timing

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PanosL

New Member
Posts
32
Location
Athens Greece
Having read several articles/posts I would like to ask:
1. When starting the engine from cool and the car on the bump stops, i.e. in the lowest position, how fast should it raise to normal?
Mine takes approx. 4-5 min is that normal?
2. Having the car pumped up and left in a flat area, how long should it stay up?
3. Finally, the deflating of the springs, does it take place from the tank or at each spring? I hear air going out in the front left but it is not continuous, only occasional, could it be that there is a hole relatively high and as it lowers a bit and it folds it stops?

Many thanks in advance for any advise,

Panos.
 
1. Car shouldnt be on the bump stops but might be in access height if you selected it before getting out of the car. The car should raise within 10-30 seconds (quicker end really) If its any longer then there is no air in the system, there should be enough air in the tank to raise the car instantly.
2. The car in theory should stay up indefinably, mine will certainly stay put for more than 2 weeks however there is an acceptable amount of "sink" over a few days that is deemed OK
3. Air coming in and out of the springs is handled by the valve block under the bonnet. You might hear clicking and a tiny amount of air being released after the ignition is turned of as the car self levels for several minutes after the car is locked. However any continuous leakage of air is not right.
 
Many thanks,
Mine gets on the bump stops in couple days or sooner if it is not on a flat surface.....
So I guess I have a leak somewhere or something does not work well.
So reading at posts, I should disconnect EAS unit under the front seat and check to see if it falls and when. But it troubles me to read that it should go up in 10 sec. This only happens if it has worked before and it only needs to level. Otherwise it pumps air ...
Any other suggestion?
 
A valve block overhaul will help. You are losing pressure from the storage side more than likely NRV 1. New O'rings should sort that. That is why it takes so long to rise, but compressor sounds good five minutes from empty is ok. Then if it still drops look for leaks in the rest of the system and fix them.
 
Many thanks indeed. There is clear guidance from Paul on how to do this although a bit of a specialist work ....
Last question: If I loose pressure on the storage side as suggested, when disconnecting the unit under the seat will the car still go down if no other leak?
 
PanosL said:
Having read several articles/posts I would like to ask:
1. When starting the engine from cool and the car on the bump stops, i.e. in the lowest position, how fast should it raise to normal?
Mine takes approx. 4-5 min is that normal?
2. Having the car pumped up and left in a flat area, how long should it stay up?
3. Finally, the deflating of the springs, does it take place from the tank or at each spring? I hear air going out in the front left but it is not continuous, only occasional, could it be that there is a hole relatively high and as it lowers a bit and it folds it stops?

Many thanks in advance for any advise,

Panos.
Click to expand...
If you can hear air going out of the front left, odds on it's leaking and yes, the leaks open and close where the bag folds under. airbags have a design life of 7/8 years 80K miles, if yours are original, they need replacing.
 
I have left the car with back door open and it does no go down almost 9 hours now. I guess this means that chances for leak are getting weak....
Even a small hole would empty the system slowly wouldn't it?
So if we go to the EAS (I hopped we would not...) which part would cause this? The NRVs as suggested?
Please note that when leaving the car on a flat ground it goes down a bit in 20 hours on a ramp it goes down much faster (I don't know if this helps)...

thanks again,
 
PanosL said:
I have left the car with back door open and it does no go down almost 9 hours now. I guess this means that chances for leak are getting weak....
Even a small hole would empty the system slowly wouldn't it?
So if we go to the EAS (I hopped we would not...) which part would cause this? The NRVs as suggested?
Please note that when leaving the car on a flat ground it goes down a bit in 20 hours on a ramp it goes down much faster (I don't know if this helps)...

thanks again,
Click to expand...

The NRV i mentioned will not cause car to go down. But it will if leaking prevent it from going up, until tank is refilled to a higher pressure than is in the airbags. NRV1 holds air within the pressure storage side. That is it's only purpose. NRV1 holds pressure in the tank. NRV2 prevents air from bags flowing into an empty tank from bags when corner valves and inlet valve are opened to raise car. NRV3 prevents high pressure air from coming against exhaust valve and entering fill/exhaust chamber whilst compressor is filling tank.
 
PanosL said:
Many thanks,
Mine gets on the bump stops in couple days or sooner if it is not on a flat surface.....
Click to expand...

The older cars appear to do this so it may not be an issue.

I'd love to see a history of the EAS system development. The older models (like mine) appear to try to self level on uneven ground until they run out of travel. If I pull out my EAS delay timer relay it stays up pretty much indefinitely. Later models seem to stop after a certain amount of adjustment.

Whenever troubleshooting the EAS, just follow Wammer's guide in the How To section in the first instance. It really is invaluable.
 
Grrrrrr said:
The older cars appear to do this so it may not be an issue.

I'd love to see a history of the EAS system development. The older models (like mine) appear to try to self level on uneven ground until they run out of travel. If I pull out my EAS delay timer relay it stays up pretty much indefinitely. Later models seem to stop after a certain amount of adjustment.

Whenever troubleshooting the EAS, just follow Wammer's guide in the How To section in the first instance. It really is invaluable.
Click to expand...

I would wager its a continuous air leak on one corner that is causing the car to lower the other three to match, eventually the car ends up on the bump stops.

It is not a "feature"
 
quavey said:
I would wager its a continuous air leak on one corner that is causing the car to lower the other three to match, eventually the car ends up on the bump stops.

It is not a "feature"
Click to expand...

No leak on mine. Got pressure gauges to monitor it! Live traces with Nanocom show the compressor isn't coming on much. Spent absolutely ages making sure. On flat ground no issues. On an awkward slope it will slowly go down over a week or two. Storage side stays solid though and as soon as you start her up she bounces back in seconds.
 
probably depends how uneven the ground is. If the CoG is far enough off centre, it can't ever level itself, so will continue to attempt adjustments.

Mine used to do it more on sloping driveway depending on which way round I parked, than on flat ground. Final fix was the proper disable method using extra relay to remove the 12V from EAS timer relay.

Had new bags on all corners for couple of months now, but suspect I've got a small leak in valve block for front left, because when I'm away for work for few days, wifey says "your car is ****ed again"
 
pwood999 said:
probably depends how uneven the ground is. If the CoG is far enough off centre, it can't ever level itself, so will continue to attempt adjustments.

Mine used to do it more on sloping driveway depending on which way round I parked, than on flat ground. Final fix was the proper disable method using extra relay to remove the 12V from EAS timer relay.

Had new bags on all corners for couple of months now, but suspect I've got a small leak in valve block for front left, because when I'm away for work for few days, wifey says "your car is ****ed again"
Click to expand...
More likely it's the pipe into the airbag connection that's leaking.
 
pwood999 said:
probably depends how uneven the ground is. If the CoG is far enough off centre, it can't ever level itself, so will continue to attempt adjustments.

Mine used to do it more on sloping driveway depending on which way round I parked, than on flat ground. Final fix was the proper disable method using extra relay to remove the 12V from EAS timer relay.

Had new bags on all corners for couple of months now, but suspect I've got a small leak in valve block for front left, because when I'm away for work for few days, wifey says "your car is ****ed again"
Click to expand...
Uneven ground or high winds do seem to affect the amount of drop. Undercover on the flat, mine doesn't move. Outside on an uneven slope it drops a little. Extreme cold also lowers the car, cold air contracts a little.
 
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