J

Jelbear

New Member
Evening all,

I've Just spent 2 out of the last 3 days changing the air bags and dampers all round, in between dodging the rain.

Backs went fine on the first day, though I think one of the collets has a slight leak but nothing too bad, as only slight foaming bubbles when the soapy water test is applied, so I'll have a fiddle tomorrow, to see if I can connect the hose better to it.

Now where I have been a prat, is on the fronts today. All was going well other than a few seized pins, nothing that a bit of brute force didn't solve. Got to the end of the job, and instead of just closing the doors/tailgate to get some air into the bags before lowering the front of the car to the ground, I started the car up! Doh!!! (my excuse is we were late for dinner at the inlaws and I was rushing)

Now the car has the Access level light solidly on, and the other height level lights flash one at a time when I select that height using the rocker switch, but the car doesn't change height.


Now, what I praying for, is that the car got confused thinking it was grounded and went into its grounded EAS program.

I'm hoping that in the morning it will have reset itself, or am I just deluding myself, and in fact I've caused a soft fault, that needs to diagnostically cleared?

I hoping it will be the former as the behaviour of the height indicator lights seems different to the standard soft fault, i.e their not all on, and I've had no message on the dash saying EAS Fault.

Anyone out there that can ease my worry, or atleast conform it?

Cheers

James
 
hi mine done the same sort of thing recently but came up with eas fault max speed on the dash and bottom light on then all started to flash turned it off and walked away came back to it 20 mins later it started up and no eas fault but still took a time to go up but did raise so i was going to drive to a petrol staion and use my bypass kit to kit me home thought i would raise and lower it now at a garage and all worked ok and not had a problem since
 
It sounds like your compressor is also worn out. The solid light indicates the height it is presently at and the flashing one the height it is trying to reach. It will continue to flash until it has reached the height selected.

Just leave it run for about fifteen minutes with a door open to allow the reservoir fill before it attempts to fill the bags. Then turn it off before closing the door. When you turn it back on again it press the inhibit button on the dash and manually select motorway height. Turning it off before attempting to raise it will reset the timer on the compressor and will prevent it faulting out.

The sooner you fix any leaks the better. At best they will wear out your compressor quickly, at worst they will hard fault you sooner rater than later.
 
:confused: please excuse my amateurish question but whats the problem here?is that the car was started BEFORE doors/tailgate were closed.only asking has i,m about to do my rears and don,t fancy f**king up:)
 
bart2181 said:
:confused: please excuse my amateurish question but whats the problem here?is that the car was started BEFORE doors/tailgate were closed.only asking has i,m about to do my rears and don,t fancy f**king up:)
Click to expand...

Starting the car before closing the doors/tailgate won't make a difference as the EAS ECU is frozen whilst they are open. As SpudH says the compressor will take 10-15 minutes to recharge the system before much happens (leave doors open to allow compressor to fill tank). Also the front will not rise until the rear has first, so a leak at the rear will affect the whole systems operation, as well as wear out the pump, which if you had problems before you did the work, will probably be fairly tired already.
 
bart2181 said:
:confused: please excuse my amateurish question but whats the problem here?is that the car was started BEFORE doors/tailgate were closed.only asking has i,m about to do my rears and don,t fancy f**king up:)
Click to expand...

I was just wondering the same thing... Sounds like the tank just hasn't filled up yet.
 
i,m under the impression the new airbags can be damaged if the weight of the car is allowed to sit on them before they,ve been inflated:eek:
 
bart2181 said:
i,m under the impression the new airbags can be damaged if the weight of the car is allowed to sit on them before they,ve been inflated:eek:
Click to expand...
That is true, if they are OEM Dunlop type the bladder can come off at the bottom and then will not seal no matter how hard you try. If that happens, you will need to re-seat the bladder.
 
Well the update this morning, I fired the girl up, and the height indicator lights showed the same behaviour.

So I took it for a 2 minute spin round the block, and to my relief half way round it all cleared and normal service was resumed, all heights selectable.:)

Its now been sat at off road height for the past 5 hours with the tailgate open and hasn't sunk at all. So to me that implies no leaky bags:)

I think my problem was that I followed all the advice about keeping the tailgate/door open while you work on the EAS to disable the self levelling, and at the end instead of just closing the doors/tailgate to reactivate the self levelling to partially infalte the new bags (which I had done the previous day for the rears), I closed them and started the engine, while still jacked up. So the car thought it was grounded, and went into its grounded EAS program. :doh:

I didn't have time to wait for it to go through the grounded height program last night, but a quick spin round the block this morning let the program complete and reset. It just needed to reassured that all 4 wheels were on the ground. RAVE says the program will last 10 minutes ,plus an undetermined period of time.


The procedure of keeping the door/tailgate open, and then closing them before lowering the car off the jack to partially inflate the new bags, worked fine when I did the rears, and the car pop straight up to normal height, once lowered to the ground. So I don't think it was a compressor problem.

I think the moral of the story here is , don't rush with the order you do things.

Or it could be don't go to dinner at the inlaws:D
 
Or it could be don't go to dinner at the inlaws:D
Click to expand...

Rather work on me P38 than do THAT ANY DAY!!! In fact thinkin about it I'd rather shuv a Wasps nest in me Y Fronts that go & have dinner at the IN LAWS!!!
 
Jelbear said:
Well the update this morning, I fired the girl up, and the height indicator lights showed the same behaviour.

So I took it for a 2 minute spin round the block, and to my relief half way round it all cleared and normal service was resumed, all heights selectable.:)

Its now been sat at off road height for the past 5 hours with the tailgate open and hasn't sunk at all. So to me that implies no leaky bags:)

I think my problem was that I followed all the advice about keeping the tailgate/door open while you work on the EAS to disable the self levelling, and at the end instead of just closing the doors/tailgate to reactivate the self levelling to partially infalte the new bags (which I had done the previous day for the rears), I closed them and started the engine, while still jacked up. So the car thought it was grounded, and went into its grounded EAS program. :doh:

I didn't have time to wait for it to go through the grounded height program last night, but a quick spin round the block this morning let the program complete and reset. It just needed to reassured that all 4 wheels were on the ground. RAVE says the program will last 10 minutes ,plus an undetermined period of time.


The procedure of keeping the door/tailgate open, and then closing them before lowering the car off the jack to partially inflate the new bags, worked fine when I did the rears, and the car pop straight up to normal height, once lowered to the ground. So I don't think it was a compressor problem.

I think the moral of the story here is , don't rush with the order you do things.

Or it could be don't go to dinner at the inlaws:D
Click to expand...
now i am confused,i thought you had to close all doors etc,start the engine whilst the car IS still jacked:confused:anyone
 
bart2181 said:
now i am confused,i thought you had to close all doors etc,start the engine whilst the car IS still jacked:confused:anyone
Click to expand...
Yep start the car while it is still jacked to re-inflate the airbag all door closed but leave the drivers window open for access to the key incase of a problem. Once the airbag has inflated, lower the jacks.
I did a guide with photo's, if you want a copy PM me:D
 
Mine did the same thing. I just put the manual overide switch in and moved the suspension switch down then up and all was fine.

I've also got a soap test failure on front left. Hoping it will sort itself:doh:
 
All seems fine now, although I'm a bit concerned so I'll probably do a compressor refurb in the next couple of weeks, just to be on the safe side. (Anybody got a good source for a compressor refurb kit?)

I've soapy water tested all the bags and the new rear bags bubble a tiny bit around the brass collet, and when I say a tiny bit, I mean a small foaming. Is this acceptable?


I read somewhere else that a small amount of air loss was unavoidable in the system.

I've tried pushing the hoses in as hard as I can, but as we know access is not great, and I can't get them to go in any further.


Should I just live with the slight loss around the rear collets? What else could I try to locate the hoses better?

cheers

James
 
Jelbear said:
All seems fine now, although I'm a bit concerned so I'll probably do a compressor refurb in the next couple of weeks, just to be on the safe side. (Anybody got a good source for a compressor refurb kit?)

I've soapy water tested all the bags and the new rear bags bubble a tiny bit around the brass collet, and when I say a tiny bit, I mean a small foaming. Is this acceptable?


I read somewhere else that a small amount of air loss was unavoidable in the system.

I've tried pushing the hoses in as hard as I can, but as we know access is not great, and I can't get them to go in any further.


Should I just live with the slight loss around the rear collets? What else could I try to locate the hoses better?

cheers

James
Click to expand...

Funnily Enough I've just run thru this with RayC .. Check this thread

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f10/front-suspension-airbag-leaking-103492.html



Keith
 
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