P38 EAS problems

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feyniriel

feyniriel

Active Member
Posts
102
Location
Finland
Hi, I'm not very familiar with EAS systems so pardon my newbie questions.

Ever since I bought my 1999 P38 (auto&2.5diesel) dash sometimes says "EAS fault" and the car would go to high setting. Usually after restarting the car, the issue resolved so I never looked into it.

Lately it started saying "EAS fault" while driving and lowering either the rear or front axle to access setting. This has caused problems on one instance when we were driving on a mountain road and had to pull over as the car wouldn't raise back up. That time restarting didn't work. We tried disconnecting battery, going to EAS menu on Nanocom, pressing "lift to standard height" which did nothing. There were some fault codes, one "front right valve permanently closed" and "unknown fault code". I deleted the fault codes, restarted the car, waited 5min with a door open (as I read this gives the compressor power to lift the car) and pressed "lift to high" which lifted it to standard height and we managed to keep driving.

Another time it went into access mode upon parking in town, but after returning in 30mins and restarting, EAS was working again.

What could be causing this? A while ago if I left the car in high setting overnight, it wouldn't lower. I think that meant it holds air well or something? It has also often given error codes claiming that the height sensors are out of range. Usually when we start it, the EAS lights are all on and if you start driving right away, it goes into a setting and works normally. However if you idle for a while, it gives EAS fault which won't get resolved until restarting.

We just pulled it in the garden to check some fluids underneath and it lowered itself again, can't reach under it now and EAS only goes to normal (sometimes) if it's driven for some tens of meters. Worth mentioning that the heights aren't calibrated, the target heights are all over the place. Could this be the culprit? Thanks guys.
 
feyniriel said:
Hi, I'm not very familiar with EAS systems so pardon my newbie questions.

Ever since I bought my 1999 P38 (auto&2.5diesel) dash sometimes says "EAS fault" and the car would go to high setting. Usually after restarting the car, the issue resolved so I never looked into it.

Lately it started saying "EAS fault" while driving and lowering either the rear or front axle to access setting. This has caused problems on one instance when we were driving on a mountain road and had to pull over as the car wouldn't raise back up. That time restarting didn't work. We tried disconnecting battery, going to EAS menu on Nanocom, pressing "lift to standard height" which did nothing. There were some fault codes, one "front right valve permanently closed" and "unknown fault code". I deleted the fault codes, restarted the car, waited 5min with a door open (as I read this gives the compressor power to lift the car) and pressed "lift to high" which lifted it to standard height and we managed to keep driving.

Another time it went into access mode upon parking in town, but after returning in 30mins and restarting, EAS was working again.

What could be causing this? A while ago if I left the car in high setting overnight, it wouldn't lower. I think that meant it holds air well or something? It has also often given error codes claiming that the height sensors are out of range. Usually when we start it, the EAS lights are all on and if you start driving right away, it goes into a setting and works normally. However if you idle for a while, it gives EAS fault which won't get resolved until restarting.

We just pulled it in the garden to check some fluids underneath and it lowered itself again, can't reach under it now and EAS only goes to normal (sometimes) if it's driven for some tens of meters. Worth mentioning that the heights aren't calibrated, the target heights are all over the place. Could this be the culprit? Thanks guys.
Click to expand...
The heights not calibrated to the car won’t help. Mine used to throw faults constantly until I used the calibration blocks. Now it’s pretty reliable.
 
feyniriel said:
Hi, I'm not very familiar with EAS systems so pardon my newbie questions.

Ever since I bought my 1999 P38 (auto&2.5diesel) dash sometimes says "EAS fault" and the car would go to high setting. Usually after restarting the car, the issue resolved so I never looked into it.

Lately it started saying "EAS fault" while driving and lowering either the rear or front axle to access setting. This has caused problems on one instance when we were driving on a mountain road and had to pull over as the car wouldn't raise back up. That time restarting didn't work. We tried disconnecting battery, going to EAS menu on Nanocom, pressing "lift to standard height" which did nothing. There were some fault codes, one "front right valve permanently closed" and "unknown fault code". I deleted the fault codes, restarted the car, waited 5min with a door open (as I read this gives the compressor power to lift the car) and pressed "lift to high" which lifted it to standard height and we managed to keep driving.

Another time it went into access mode upon parking in town, but after returning in 30mins and restarting, EAS was working again.

What could be causing this? A while ago if I left the car in high setting overnight, it wouldn't lower. I think that meant it holds air well or something? It has also often given error codes claiming that the height sensors are out of range. Usually when we start it, the EAS lights are all on and if you start driving right away, it goes into a setting and works normally. However if you idle for a while, it gives EAS fault which won't get resolved until restarting.

We just pulled it in the garden to check some fluids underneath and it lowered itself again, can't reach under it now and EAS only goes to normal (sometimes) if it's driven for some tens of meters. Worth mentioning that the heights aren't calibrated, the target heights are all over the place. Could this be the culprit? Thanks guys.
Click to expand...
If the heights are way off, it will cause problems hence the "out of range faults". Corrosion in the white connectors at the foot of the A post left side behind the kick panel is another common cause of problems. The connectors in the EAS box also give trouble. It would be helpful if you would note down the faults and post them on here so we can make a better analysis.
Calibration of the heights is best done with a measuring stick, the blocks method is a PITA.
 
+1 on do a calibration first. All the faults are listed in the EAS system Info Doc.

"Sensor out of range" will either be dirty/worn tracks inside the sensor, or possibly bad connection where it plugs into the body loom.

"Valve stuck closed" (or stuck open) happens when the ECU commands a change but does not detect height movement. This fault can also be caused by the sensor issue, but also by internittent connections on the connector between the driver pack & solenoids.

"Jumping to High mode, followed by EAS Fault" can be a variety of issues. It's because the ECU thinks the car has grounded, hence it raises it as far as possible. Usually a sensor error, but could be height not changing. Sometimes cycling the ingition resolves it, but other times it will require faults cleared with Nanocom.

One thing I have found, is driving with Nanocom recording the Inputs to SD Card generally prevents faults from happening for some reason, but no idea why ??
 
pwood999 said:
+1 on do a calibration first. All the faults are listed in the EAS system Info Doc.

"Sensor out of range" will either be dirty/worn tracks inside the sensor, or possibly bad connection where it plugs into the body loom.

"Valve stuck closed" (or stuck open) happens when the ECU commands a change but does not detect height movement. This fault can also be caused by the sensor issue, but also by internittent connections on the connector between the driver pack & solenoids.

"Jumping to High mode, followed by EAS Fault" can be a variety of issues. It's because the ECU thinks the car has grounded, hence it raises it as far as possible. Usually a sensor error, but could be height not changing. Sometimes cycling the ingition resolves it, but other times it will require faults cleared with Nanocom.

One thing I have found, is driving with Nanocom recording the Inputs to SD Card generally prevents faults from happening for some reason, but no idea why ??
Click to expand...
Because the ECU is in diagnostic mode.
 
Datatek said:
If the heights are way off, it will cause problems hence the "out of range faults". Corrosion in the white connectors at the foot of the A post left side behind the kick panel is another common cause of problems. The connectors in the EAS box also give trouble. It would be helpful if you would note down the faults and post them on here so we can make a better analysis.
Calibration of the heights is best done with a measuring stick, the blocks method is a PITA.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply. What is an A post and a kick panel and where could I find the EAS box? Sorry for the dumb questions
 
A post is what your front door hinges on. Kick panels are both sides in the same place, drivers side, rhd, is down where the bonnet pull lever is, the other panel is in the same place but on the passenger side. The white connector blocks corrode and are only there to aid the manufacture of the car and unless you are thinking of removing the body off the chassis, cut the blocks off and solder, heatshrink the wires.
 
IMG_3920.jpeg

This is what the white connectors looked like. Sprayed some contact cleaner in them, yet to test if it made a difference.
 
feyniriel said:
View attachment 321208
This is what the white connectors looked like. Sprayed some contact cleaner in them, yet to test if it made a difference.
Click to expand...
Contact cleaner when they are in that state is a waste of time IMO. They need cutting out one wire at a time and the ends soldered together insulated with glue filled heat shrink tube. If soldering is too much of a challenge, then damp proof crimps will do.
 
One or two, I forget, also have 2 wires one side of the block and only 1 wire on the other side so watch out for that! Protect your carpets from hot soldering iron, solder drips.
Pulling up the plastic sill cover and clipping off a couple of harness clips gives more slack and makes the job easier. It's tough on the knees if your an old git like me too.
 
So I attempted to calibrate the EAS with the measuring stick method. I found the factory measurements for each profile in millimeters and used that as a guideline for my cars height. I started with the high profile, this is what the values looked like (I took a picture before modifying them in case anything went wrong). Then I went around the car with a measuring stick trying to have the distance between the arch of the wheel and the center of the wheel to be approximately 51cm(510mm). I used a Nanocom and went in EAS Settings and changed the target heights maximum 5 numbers at a time to make the car even, then went around the car measuring again.

I noticed the right side of the car wanted to be higher than the left side, even if I would go and put front left & rear left values higher and front right & rear right lower. I tinkered with it a bit and the closest I could get to having it be level was 51cm on the left side and 51,5cm on the right side. Car was standing on straight garden concrete so I'm pretty sure it was on even ground.

So after it seemed okay, I entered the live values into the target values. That's what I was supposed to do, right?

So in the picture the front left live height was 149, I entered 149 as target height in the stead of 133, front right live height was 134, I entered 134 as target height in the stead of 147 and so on. I hope I got this right?

Then I pressed the car into standard profile and the arches were all within 2-4cm difference of height from each other. I started tinkering with the target heights and measuring again, but I noticed the live heights would give wild readings. Namely the front left axle height values would move between 18 to 60 (as the car was perfectly still) while the rest of the height values would be around 80-100 and would also fluctuate slightly, but not as much as the front left axle.

So even as I modified the target heights and all the arches seemed to be around 48cm for the standard profile (47cm was the factory measurement but whatever, I read that you can adjust the height to your preference) I couldn't get a proper live height reading to enter into target heights, because all the numbers would fluctuate so much.

So I only managed to calibrate the high profile as of today. Any idea why the live heights are acting up? Is it a sensor issue in the front left axle sensor, or all of the sensors? Or could it be an issue with those white connectors?
Thanks a lot for your help guys.
 

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feyniriel said:
So I attempted to calibrate the EAS with the measuring stick method. I found the factory measurements for each profile in millimeters and used that as a guideline for my cars height. I started with the high profile, this is what the values looked like (I took a picture before modifying them in case anything went wrong). Then I went around the car with a measuring stick trying to have the distance between the arch of the wheel and the center of the wheel to be approximately 51cm(510mm). I used a Nanocom and went in EAS Settings and changed the target heights maximum 5 numbers at a time to make the car even, then went around the car measuring again.

I noticed the right side of the car wanted to be higher than the left side, even if I would go and put front left & rear left values higher and front right & rear right lower. I tinkered with it a bit and the closest I could get to having it be level was 51cm on the left side and 51,5cm on the right side. Car was standing on straight garden concrete so I'm pretty sure it was on even ground.

So after it seemed okay, I entered the live values into the target values. That's what I was supposed to do, right?

So in the picture the front left live height was 149, I entered 149 as target height in the stead of 133, front right live height was 134, I entered 134 as target height in the stead of 147 and so on. I hope I got this right?

Then I pressed the car into standard profile and the arches were all within 2-4cm difference of height from each other. I started tinkering with the target heights and measuring again, but I noticed the live heights would give wild readings. Namely the front left axle height values would move between 18 to 60 (as the car was perfectly still) while the rest of the height values would be around 80-100 and would also fluctuate slightly, but not as much as the front left axle.

So even as I modified the target heights and all the arches seemed to be around 48cm for the standard profile (47cm was the factory measurement but whatever, I read that you can adjust the height to your preference) I couldn't get a proper live height reading to enter into target heights, because all the numbers would fluctuate so much.

So I only managed to calibrate the high profile as of today. Any idea why the live heights are acting up? Is it a sensor issue in the front left axle sensor, or all of the sensors? Or could it be an issue with those white connectors?
Thanks a lot for your help guys.
Click to expand...
You need to sort those white connectors before doing anything.
 
You ended up with quite a big difference Left - Right which is not good. The targets should be within 5 bits of each other, or it will hunt up & down when stationary at trafic lights with engine running.

Are the sensors on both side original or matching replacements ? If they are matching you might have one bent sensor arm.
 
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