As well as shifting cars around Europe this weekend I took the opportunity to give my mate a hand in getting his EAS working. He's only just got the car and when he sent me a few pictures of it when he got it, I could easily spot why the EAS switch did nothing and the suspension didn't drop at speed despite the previous owner having spent a fortune on it. The biggest clue was in this picture

Errm, that's not original.....

As well, there were signs that somebody had been in there from the fact that the valve block appeared to be complete but there was a reason why the pump wouldn't run, it was disconnected

Although the pump looked OK, I suspect it had been replaced as the lid of the EAS box suggested that it had got a little bit warm at some time in the past

I pointed him in the right direction and he got a rebuild kit for the pump and a set of O rings to rebuild the valve block and did those. So, in theory, all I had to do when I got there was connect everything up and maybe clear the odd fault or two with the Nanocom or the RSW EASUnlock software (as the cable and an old laptop live in the car anyway). The dash was showing EAS Manual when he first started it up so that said the jumpers had been fitted in the EAS ECU plug.

Fairly simple you might think but in anticipation of any possible problems I removed the valve block and compressor from my SE and bunged them in the boot just in case. We started off by getting rid of the Schrader valves and putting the pipes back where they belonged in the valve block. We then turned our attention to the electrical side of the system. Fitted the delay relay which he'd found in the glovebox, removed about 3 feet of insulating tape from the plug for the EAS ECU, checked to see if it had any jumpers in there (which it hadn't) and plugged it back into the ECU. Then removed the EAS bypass harness fitted to the BeCM (the expensive alternative to a pair of jumpers at the EAS ECU plug), refitted relay 20 which had been removed and figured that it might work. Started the engine and nothing. No lights on the display, pump not running, zilch. Pulled the display and rocker switch out of the dash and found that had also been disconnected, so plugged that in. At least that now lit up but the pump still didn't run. Use the Nanocom to force it to run and it did. Checked and found that not only had the pump needed a new piston and sleeve, a replacement reed valve he'd had to make from an old feeler gauge fitting (as the original one was split) but it seemed the thermal switch was open circuit too. Fitted the pump from the boot of my car.

Now it ran, it sounded a bit noisy but it was generating air, so much air that after a couple of minutes there was a pop and the sound of air hissing out. The collet on the large pipe just beneath the exhaust silencer had obviously fallen out so the pipe had popped out. Pulled the collet from the valve block in the boot of my car. Left it running with doors open for about 10 minutes then closed the doors to see if it would lift. It all appeared to be doing the right things, no fault messages, bottom light on with the standard height light flashing. That's about all it did though, the suspension was still doing nothing. Seems that although the pump was running, it wasn't filling the tank for some reason. Maybe a problem inside the valve block, maybe he'd mucked something up when fitting the O ring kit, we didn't know, but it didn't work. So, pull it out and fit the one from my boot. So now it has my pump and valve block in it. Fired it up again, pump runs, left it for a while and slowly it started to lift up off it's knees. It bloody works! A squirt of the soapy water showed leaks from just about every one of the multiple connectors in the air lines but I keep some of those (along with a length of pipe and a set of Schrader valves) in my emergency get me home if something goes horribly wrong kit in the boot. Swapped the cheapo pipe connectors for decent quality ones and no more leaks, or at least none of any immediate concern, those that were left were at the valve block where a couple of the pipes went in and they were cured by trimming a couple of mm off the end of the pipe so the O rings sat at a different place and not in a groove in the pipe. It was all working although appeared to be sitting a bit high. Admittedly it wasn't on flat ground so we took it down the road to a nice new, flat car park to put it next to mine and measure the heights at each setting. Spot on, no tweaking of heights needed. The only thing we hadn't checked was if it lowered to motorway height at 50 mph but that would need a run down to the Autoroute, even 50 kph is pushing it on the mountain roads around where he lives.

The pump still seemed noisy though. It could be heard easily inside the car whereas on mine the only way I can tell if it is running is by opening the bonnet and putting my hand on the box lid. I've also heard other people say they can hear their pump running too. We had another look at it and compared it with mine. The pump sits on 3 rubber mountings with a washer above and below them. These washers are dished and they were on upside down. The bottom ones need to go with the concave side downwards and the top ones with the concave side upwards. With them like that the engine was fired up and to see if the pump was running I had to put my hand on it to feel the vibration, it was completely silent.

A pretty good half days work in all, even if we did end up having to use the valve block and compressor from my SE which I now have to replace. All that was left was to get it running properly on LPG but that is a whole different story.......

Sort of Busmans Holiday then?!
In my old RR I can easily hear the EAS and brake pumps running. It's reassuring, or fuels my paranoia, depending on my mood.
In the new one I can just about hear the EAS, mainly because my ears are tuned to it by now. I can hear the brake pump easily though- mainly because it's running too often.
New accumulator and a fluid flush will sort that out though.

I always have busmans holidays, even when I went to Latvia the first thing I had to do when I got there was fit a new set of discs and pads to Dina's father's car. I'd only get bored if I had nothing to play with and would end up taking my own car to bits for the hell of it.

I can hear the brake pump on mine but the EAS pump is virtually silent, there's no way I would be able to hear it with the engine running.

Nice work :) That pump looks like it got just a bit toasty!

I can hear my EAS pump, because the bushings aren't doing much, and the lid is vibrating on the box. I can hear it at idle inside the car, doors closed, and even with no middle silencer. Oh, and it keeps running for 20 seconds, stopping for 10, then starting again... not entirely sure why, yet. Rather irritating!

If the lid is vibrating, check those washers are fitted correctly. The rubber bushings should stop any vibration getting as far as the box. His seemed to do the same when we first got it working, running for a while then stopping only to start up again shortly afterwards but seemed to run less and less the longer it was used.

I haven't tried much with it yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if they're upside down or missing completely.

I think it does stop running as often after a while. I mainly noticed the other day when I was playing with the heater... I pulled the timer out in the end.

By the way, Gilbert, you fukking star!!!
Once again you was bloody right .................... one new CPS fitted and problems solved (so far, so good).
I took it to my tame mechanic and bugger me, if 1 mile away form his workshop, I got the 'limp mode' on the box and top gear only. It also wouldn't start outside his shop. Just what I wanted as it made his job a lot easier and quicker to find the fault. He put it on the puter and it called the CPS up straight away.

Good going with the mates P38 Gilbert. Out of curiosity (no need at the moment), does anyone have the scan tool for setting / initialising suspension on P38s and Disco's? I once changed bags and height sensors on a Disco but then had to take it to a local Landrover specialist (whom I do all the LPG work for) for them to do the setting up with the tool. Did a bit of research before going there, apparently such tool for P38s is cheap and easily available (Ebay etc) but the different tool for a Disco is a lot more expensive to the extent wouldn't buy one unless using it regularly for paying customers?

Simon

A P38 can be done with a Nanocom, or the free RSW software and a DIY cable (or eBay), not sure on Discos though. Might be able to get it as a license for a Nanocom?

For a P38 all you need is the free RSW Solutions EASUnlock software and a suitable cable (around £15 on eBay or make one up yourself) but RSW don't list anything for the Disco so you are stuck with needing to use the LR dealer.

I've just finished my saga on the LPG system on the Etagas thread on the LPG forum if you fancy a chuckle.

I think when I looked into it, like you said, I found cheap gear for the P38, equipment for the Disco started at about £1k.. I let 'Simons Services' use their tool, same name as myself, unrelated except I do their LPG work!

Thanks Gilbert, Yes I've replied on the Etagas thread.

Cheers.

Looks like Tony has just caused someone on the other side to make his humming even worse. The EAS compressor washers have to go concave side DOWn at the bottom and concave side UP on the top so they only bear against the metal centre leaving the compressor to float on the rubber but with the rubber not in contact with anything.

These days I'd ignore any incorrect info on there (if they don't want me, then why should they have the benefit of my info?) but when it comes from someone on here, I felt it needed to be corrected.

Looks like my English isn't well enough or read again, what I tried to explain to the guy is exactly the way you discribe it.
Tony.

After rebuilding my compressor last weekend it was noisy as all hell. Of course I had the bottom washers upside down! What can I say, it was dark by the time I was putting it back together...

I was amazed at the difference it made. My mate bolted the compressor in with both top and bottom washers the wrong way round and you could hear the EAS compressor over the sound of the engine when driving along. Had a look at mine, swapped them over so they were the same and I had to put my hand on the compressor to see if it was running. You wouldn't think something so simple was so critical.

Reading this thread made me decide to fix my noisy EAS compressor. For some reason mine was sitting on flat washers so I bought some of the dished washers and new rubber mounts for the compressor. Fitted them today and it's completely silent inside the cabin now, yay.