L322 Suspension Mis-Hap

M4ttB said:

Evening folks,
had been resolving some knocking front suspension on my 2010 L322. Id been replacing lower control arms and drop links.

Did one side, a couple of weekends ago, with some improvement, and tackled the passenger side last weekend.

In the excitement of finding a ball joint which had enough play in it, to be used as a musical instrument, i put it all back together but absent mindedly didn't initially attach the height sensor.
I had pushed the height sensor arm out of the way on disassembly, and upon remembering i quickly lifted the car back up on the ramp and reached in above the tyre to re-attach said height sensor link.
However un-be-known to me, having reached over the wheel with limited visibility, although the link was reattached to the lower arm, the sensor arm as still pointing in towards the engine bay.

Shortly after test drive i get the dreaded "pssssstttt" as air has released and the air bag split. Obviously the system kept on inflating the shock as it believed the height hadnt changed.

I have a new "expensive" shock in hand now to replace, before I do so are there any other gotchas i need to be aware of when replacing, apart from having the sensor arm orientated properly?

Click to expand...

Mark Piercy said:

Don't overtighten the air fitting on the top of the shock. It takes no force at all to strip the thread.....

Click to expand...

backinblack said:

Been there done that disconnected the arm and reconnected it the right way round, cleared the fault code and all was good.
Didn't burst a bag though.

Click to expand...

M4ttB said:

Yeah I’m surprised the bag went. I’d have expected some kind of relief valve to operate.

Although I’ve owned Landrovers for 15 years, I’ve not really familiarised myself with them mechanically. Spent my time rebuilding tvr engines

Click to expand...

neilly said:

How did the bag not go bang?

Cheers

Click to expand...

M4ttB said:

I’d have expected some kind of relief valve to operate.

Click to expand...

M4ttB said:

It did go bang, split at the bottom.

Click to expand...

neilly said:

OK, just reading your OP, it seemed it when psssttt, not bang.

Cheers

Click to expand...

M4ttB said:

Yeah there was a bit of banging then the psssstt. I realised after the event that some of the noise was the suspension being rock hard for short distance.

To be fair the bag rubber does look “dried out” compared to the new one.

Expensive lesson learned.

Click to expand...

neilly said:

OK, sounds good,

How was it an expensive lesson learned? Have you done both sides?

Cheers

Click to expand...

backinblack said:

Been there done that disconnected the arm and reconnected it the right way round, cleared the fault code and all was good.
Didn't burst a bag though.

Click to expand...

brianp38dse said:

Best to do both front bags as if one is worn out the other will not be far behind.

Click to expand...

M4ttB said:

Learnings.. in that I’ll be triple checking everything is correctly orientated in future.
Expensive as the new shock was £419!!

Click to expand...

neilly said:

OK, please explain the orientation ...did that cause a failure??

regarding the £419, did that include the adaptive damper? and who was the supplier? bit more than an airbag going boom.

Cheers

Click to expand...

M4ttB said:

Yeah I’m surprised the bag went. I’d have expected some kind of relief valve to operate.

Although I’ve owned Landrovers for 15 years, I’ve not really familiarised myself with them mechanically. Spent my time rebuilding tvr engines

Click to expand...

M4ttB said:

When I say orientation, I’m referring to the orientation of the height sensor arm.

Yes the 419 was a complete variable damping strut unit from Island 4x4.

Click to expand...

neilly said:

So you are changing the damper and the air bag , but only on one side.

Cheers

Click to expand...