Never known one burst, not even a cheap knock off, that just leaked as there was only one O ring where the pipe goes in. Where did it burst? I've always got them from Island4x4.

Looks like it split about a third of the way up at the rear of the unit.

This will make you laugh!

All sorted now.

After I renewed all the seals in the valve block, overhauled the pump and put it all together, I tested it yesterday with the car still on the two post lift but with the wheels on the ground, just I guess.
I fired up the car yesterday afternoon and after several minutes running I heard a gush of air from the rear which I assumed was the airbag which had split and left it like that.

Went back to it a short while ago and thought I would check it out. The airspring bag had popped off the lower plastic seat! I did not know that this could happen being a P38 virgin.

A little bit of soapy water and I managed to get the rubber sleeve back over the lower plastic cup. Lower the ramp a bit and worked the airbag down evenly over the cup. I lowered the car a bit more and did the same and then fired her up. The system inflated fully, all all suspension settings and levels checked and all is well! A job well done even though I have learnt not to run up the engine with the suspension extended!

Thanks for all your help. It is a learning curve!

That's good. That is a danger if you jack the car up on the chassis with little or no air in the air springs. If the car is lifted with the suspension on high, it isn't a problem but with no air in it's always going to be a toss up over whether the air spring inflates or it pulls apart.

I usually jack on the axles but if I do need to lift the car I put the suspension on high first. Once went to have tyres fitted and one of the fitters, being familiar with EAS, stopped his mate from jacking it up on the chassis until the suspension had been put on high.

I didn’t know that about putting it on high before jacking it up.

I know now!

Unfortunately the saga is not over yet!

I have just checked the car and it has settled at the rear, slightly more on the drivers side where the air spring parted company from itself!

Hopefully it is nothing to do with the valve block that I rebuilt. I guess it's a matter of getting underneath with some soapy water and a paintbrush then checking out the air spring and any joints then I have disturbed.

Anything else that I should look for?

It may just be where it came apart and hasn't seated fully yet. Might be worth putting it on high and seeing if that lets it seal.

Everything seems to be working well, all positions when switched.

Unfortunately, when I park up, within about an hour or thereabouts it settles down to approximately the access height, definitely not down on the stops.

When you start it it instantly rises to the normal setting but when engine switched off, it will slowly settle down whereas I'm sure it remained at normal ride height give or take.

Any ideas please.?

With no leaks it should stay at the height it was at when switched off. You might hear a tick, tick, tick from the valve block as it settles to the correct height but after that it shouldn't move. It sounds like you have a leak somewhere, only slight, but enough to let the air out.

As said previously, external areas checked and all okay.

Pump connection checked and okay.

Could it be leaking from the valve block? I renewed all the O rings all as the tuitorial.

Another thing. I parked up a good hour ago and the rear has settled right down.
I opened and closed the passenger door a couple of times and each time with the ignition off, the valve block clicked a few times, obviously let out air and the front dropped as well! How does that work?

It's self levelling. When parked it will always lower the other 3 corners to match the lowest one. This is why people say to take the timer relay out as that causes it to self level every 6 hours or so. So if you have a leak on one corner, by the time it has been left overnight, it is down on it's knees. With the timer relay out, only the corner with the leak drops so you know which one it is. There's some small, very thin, O rings on the valve block that go round the base of the solenoid spindle and these can pop out of their grooves when you put it together. That will cause it to drop on one corner. You will be able to see which one with your soapy water as you'll see bubbles from the base of the solenoid. Only problem is, if it is the rear right, that is one of the two on the bottom of the valve block.

I always test for leaks before putting the valve block in. Short length of 6mm pipe with one of my emergency Schrader valve fittings on the end, put that in the output hole that would go to the air spring and put a tyre pump on it. Run that for a couple of seconds and it'll be up to 150 psi (or whatever your pump can manage), then see if it holds the pressure or if it drops. In fact you can do that test with the valve block in place, you just need to put pressure into it through the hole where the pipe to the right rear should go.

Very useful information. Thank you very much for that.

I will get onto that soonest . It didn’t have this problem before I rebuilt the valve block so I’m assuming something has gone amiss there. For what it’s worth, I might take the whole block out and then just check those spindle seals. Very annoying!

Can I remove the timer relay?

I seem to remember reading a difference in between 4 pin and 5 pin relays . Does that mean I need to find a four pin relay to replace existing five pin or have I got my relays crossed!

I don't think a 5 pin will fit but a 4 pin will. What that does is stop the EAS from waking up every so often and self levelling as it will only be powered up while the ignition is on. It also stops diagnostics from connecting.

After a bit more testing on the valve block in situ I can see some bubbles rising from numbers two and three top ones as numbered from the rear of the car working forwards.

I’m in the process of stripping it down checking all seals and making sure all are lubricated prior to installing again. Nearly finished and all have been in place, Strange.

Hopefully will refit later this evening.

Working from the back of the car, on the top you have the diaphragm valve, Left Rear, Front Right, Inlet Valve, Exhaust Valve while on the underside you have Right Rear at the back and Left Front next to the relief valve and pressure switch.

The ones that can cause problems are the very thin ones around the base of the plungers. They should be assembled dry though.....

It's this one that can often leak when you do a rebuild.

Ah! Why dry?

Dunno, but they always say to put them in dry.

Mine are assembled with a slight smear. All ready to go in for first thing in the morning so will see.

What's the worst that can happen.....