How low does the tank need to be before trims are locked OB? Quite a few LPG users run with very little petrol in the tank lol!

That's a question to which there is no one answer unfortunately. The GEMS ECU is fed with a fuel level input on pin 7 of C507 (the big red plug) from the BECM pin 16 C112. The BECM SID shows that as Fuel Level signal to ECM. GND when fuel level low, otherwise vBatt.

I've not been able to find out exactly what volume is "fuel level low". The only way to know for sure is to check the voltage at the ECU. If you've got 12v the trims are enabled, GND they're inhibited.
I know from measuring mine whilst digging deep into fault-finding rich petrol idling that it's not a direct link to the low fuel light unfortunately. I do keep the old girl above 1/3 tank of petrol (below which that input went to GND on my car) at all times now though, even though I start and run 100% on gas.

Hi All.

Got busy with other stuff, pardon the 1-month absence from my own thread...

Backread all of the posts, thanks for all the tips! I did come across the drive cycles when researching error codes I got from an OBD2 scanner. Will have to verse myself some more on them to see if and how I might employ them.

Just as an update, I haven't fitted in the new MAF. I'm still bogged down by the valve block issue, and my 8.1mpg problem is "just" on fuel economy as far as I can tell, that is, it's not debilitating (I don't experience rough starting or idling; acceleration is smooth albeit not as powerful as I think it should be). I'm also still awaiting delivery of the MAF o-rings I ordered -- should get those this week or next.

On the EAS, I've checked and re-checked the airlines with the soapy water test and they seem to be okay. So I'm really suspecting the solenoid/s; the NRVs looked fine to me when I did the rebuild. I've ordered a couple more o-ring rebuild kits and fresh dessicant for the dryer. I should be getting those tomorrow, so Friday looks like rebuild an EAS valve block day. My plan is to rebuild one of my spare blocks -- as mentioned, I have 3: valve block A which was in the car when I bought it in 2014, B which I purchased off eBay because my original drive pack was faulty, and C which I purchased off eBay and was supposedly "pulled from a working vehicle" and came complete with a pump (which works well I must say). After taking the drive pack from B for use with A, the EAS worked well for a short while. I rebuilt B, but on installing it, it proved to be worse than (un-rebuilt) A was -- it would be on bump stops within an hour of parking. So I put A back in. When I acquired C, I put it in lock, stock and barrel. It worked fairly okay, but it was leaky -- my fault, I didn't replace the airline o-rings. Found substitute o-rings, and then got more or less sure that airlines were okay. Car was usable, though car would drop sometimes, and I would get soft faults 1 out of 3 times. Situation deteriorated so I rebuilt A, put it in, and here we are. My plan now is to rebuild C -- and pay extra special attention to the solenoid plungers. With 3 valve blocks I'm hoping I can put together a combination of all good solenoid plungers.

Dedicated myself to rebuilding my valve block today; I did my 2nd spare (and 3rd valve block) as planned. This was my 3rd time, tried to be extra careful and methodical, took lots of time. I used the original solenoid plungers for the air spring solenoids, but for the diaphragm, inlet, and exhaust valves, I ended up using the plungers from valve block 'B' (my 1st spare). B's plungers had less wear.

https://s5.postimg.org/vmbn5akdz/IMG_5328.jpg

I also replaced the dessicant in my drier. It was my first time doing so. Although the original dessicant looked okay. It actually looked exactly like the dessicant I was replacing it with. I ran my finger through it and there was some 'dust', but when I did the same with the new dessicant, I got the same thing. In any case, I bought myself some peace of mind.

And the good news is that well, so far (fingers crossed), it seems it worked, for the most part. Soapy water leak test failed only for the top of the drier (I didn't get to test the bottom, though...). Will need to figure that out. Even before today, I've tried putting in new o-rings and I'd still get leaks. Must be abrasions on the hose?

Bad news is I'm STILL getting the soft faults. Drove the car some 5 km after the rebuild. Got a soft fault immediately on starting (and re-starting). Then after about an hour and a half at my 1st destination, upon starting, lo and behold, no fault (I got used to getting the annoying beeping a couple of seconds after start). Drove fault-free about another 5km to destination 2. After an hour or so there, another fault-free 5km, but then, as I was pulling into the car wash, beep beep beep beep beep beep... After the car wash, back to the fault a few seconds after starting.

The EAS Unlock Suite (RSW Solutions) reports "FL signal incorrect" -- which I've been getting for as long as I can remember. Whenever I think I've got things licked, enjoy a few days fault-free, the faults come back with vengeance and the software invariably reports "FL signal incorrect". This is across valve blocks, drive packs, replacement height sensors (used), L-R height sensor swaps, even new airbags and last year, new front height sensors. I tried seating and re-seating connector C117 in the EAS ECU. Still no dice. If the valve block rebuild holds, I'll try swapping the front height sensors left to right (re-calibrating ride height though can be a hassle). Then yet another set of o-rings for the top drier line.

Hoping to beat this once and for all, then move on to the next (MAF replacement)...

FL Signal Incorrect suggests that the ECU is just not seeing the right voltage from that sensor. Check the plug is in good condition and compare its voltage with the others at the ECU plug under the seat.

Thanks, gordonjcp. Which plug do you refer to, the plug of the sensor itself, or the C117 connector under the seat?

I'm not discounting that it could be a faulty front left sensor -- entirely possible even if it's maybe just about a year or not even since I replaced the fronts with new ones. One theory of why I've enjoyed some short spells of fault-free driving is that with the valve block (touch wood) now okay, the front left spring is at it's correct height while driving. So the sensor is extended (at least to normal drive height), whereas previously it was always lower (due to leaks causing the FL airspring to almost always be below normal ride height). If a problem developed in the sensor, it could be at that "lower than normal ride height" position. Now that it's seeing some action at normal ride height, it's possible that that region of the potentiometer is more okay than the lower regions where it's always incorrect. I'll need some time and patience, but I hope to swap front height sensors left to right, and see if that solves the FL signal incorrect problem. Recalibrating heights is a bit of a hassle though...

I'd check it both at the sensor and at the ECU plug under the seat, just to be sure.

So I swapped the front height sensors yesterday. This is what I found:

(Excuse my grimy hands.)

That's what my less than year-old front left sensor looked like. The reason it broke is because the sensor wouldn't rotate freely at the 'knee'. I actually noticed this when I first got these sensors new last year, they didn't rotate as much as my old sensors. In fact, the rubber would bend a bit first before rotating. But they had the Dunlop mark on them and they looked like the old ones; and I had no choice besides (sensors shipped from the UK).

Good think I kept my old sensors (my original set plus a set that I purchased used). I swapped out the 'leg', also applied some silicone grease for good measure. The front left (and remember I was getting FL signal incorrect) sensor was actually okay (not broken like the left one above), but since it was of the same vintage and origin as the hard-rotating one, I replaced the leg as well.

With the new old legs, I installed them in the vehicle, swapping left to right. I was hoping to calibrate the heights (after the swap, my FR is 1cm to high and RR 1cm too low; left are w/in the supposed +/- 7mm tolerance), but since Murphy is a good friend, my EAS Unlock Suite suddenly wouldn't connect. Might be my cable. Anyhow, touch wood, after a total of about a couple of hours on the road, no soft faults yet. Just need to sort out the leak on the top of the dryer even after installing new o-rings.

While under, I noticed that one of the bushings in the FR anti roll bar link is cracked. FL bump stop is also ratty (before my latest valve block rebuild, FL was leaking badly and on some drives FL would drop to bump stops). So I ordered new Moog links and a pair of new bump stops for the fronts along with a full set of BOGE shock absorbers (my current ones need replacing).

The EAS and suspension bits have demanded my attention these past weeks. But MAF should be next (already have the new MAF as mentioned; MAF o-ring should arrive any day now).

Summer is upon us in these parts, hope to get the rig reliably roadworthy soon!

My P38 decided to be true to the stereotype today and gave me a new problem after I thought I'd licked a long-persistent one. So yesterday I had the best EAS ride I've had in months. Zero soft faults through a combined 4 or so hours of city (traffic) driving. She stayed quite level even after a few hours in outdoor mall parking (whereas before in busy parking lots she'd lose quite a few cm), absolutely no bobbing up and down in standstill traffic, etc. I was happily looking forward to getting my suspension bits tomorrow or Saturday, and installing them early next week.

But the car had other plans. This morning I wake up to her dropped to access height -- or was it bump stops? No matter, I started her up and expected to be up in a few seconds. Nothing. Okay, so the tank was drained somehow. Resigned myself to the usual 7 or so minute wait. But after a minute I decided to check under the hood -- pump wasn't running.

Long story short, indications are the pump is okay -- it would run with a jumpered relay 20. I couldn't find my multimeter and figured if it was the thermal cutoff switch then I'd need to take out the pump anyway, so I went ahead and just put in my other known working pump. Still nothing. The odds of both having duff temp switches when both were last known working within the last few days I'd say is nil so unfortunately it's something worse.

Pressure sensor? But aren't those supposed to be pretty hardy? I'll check tomorrow when I get a new multimeter (if I don't find my old one). Drive pack? Would that be the reason the car -- which after my valve block rebuild the other day was behaving like a model scout -- was on access/bujmp stops this morning (instructions from a faulty drive pack)? Do they just out and die on you from one day to the next? Something else?

Sigh. If it's the drive pack, I'll need to uninstall the valve block again to replace the drive pack with my other (known good, or at least not known bad, from a few days ago). Maybe that'd be quicker and more time (and cost) efficient than waiting to get a new multimeter -- if the pressure sensor is bad, then I'd STILL need to uninstall the valve block anyway. Hmmm.

The driver pack doesn't affect whether the compressor runs or not, it'll run just fine with no driver pack at all.

If you start running out of height sensors, Fritz at Eurospec has a set that I was sent in error. Apparently early ones differ and are handed (so I'm led to believe) anyway, they wouldn't calibrate either with his LR kit or Nanocom. We located another set here (at twice the UK price - of course) and I left my old (new) ones with him to sell.

He may still have them, but will they do for a 1997 NAS? I think '97 was when they changed but I've really no idea if they'll be okay for you.

@gordonjcp, thanks for the input. In any case, April Fool's joke on me yesterday. Started to work on the EAS again yesterday afternoon. Long story short, turns out the system was okay. Used the car today, no problem. Face palm.

@GeorgeB, thanks, I'll keep that in mind! Yes I was likewise informed and I did read about the 2 different versions. The earlier ones had a bracket of some sort and/or had the connectors at the end of wires as opposed to the latter version where the connector was part of the sensor itself. My '97 uses the latter one. So far so good with the sensors swapped L-R, and transplanted lower legs from old sensors.

Oh and as an aside, the order I mentioned a couple of posts back that I placed on March 29 ~10.30am Manila time, arrived March 31 ~3.30pm. That's from ordering to order preparation and shipping from the UK to my Philippine doorstep. Must be some sort of record.

Where was that from, Aero?

OldShep56 wrote:

Where was that from, Aero?

Hello OldShep56, from island4x4 -- after they sorted out the MAF replacement issue, I've purchased from them twice (this being the 2nd time). Funny thing is the 1st order hasn't arrived yet haha. It was composed of small bits, e.g., MAF o-rings + a couple other things, surely would fit in a small parcel/envelope. I requested they send it via Royal Mail instead of the usual UPS, to save on shipping and UPS's penchant for applying all sorts of other fees. It was ordered March 15 and was marked shipped a couple of days later -- that delivery must be somewhere in the Philippine postal system. The order I refer to above which came to a 14.5kg box, was delivered by UPS. Pleasantly surprised at the speed. It's up to me now to find the time to get to a garage to install the shock absorbers and drop links.

The shocks are just an unbolt/ bolt on job, same with the drop links, they have a spanner holding point to stop the UJ turning, making removal/installation easy, I would think 1-1.5 hours tops doing yourself

Sounds like you have been 'flagged', Aero. Bet you get good service from them from now on after the MAF episode. Might I be so bold as to suggest it could be worth mailing them and thanking them for the good service just to keep them 'onside' for the future?

no10chris wrote:

The shocks are just an unbolt/ bolt on job, same with the drop links, they have a spanner holding point to stop the UJ turning, making removal/installation easy, I would think 1-1.5 hours tops doing yourself

I did read Internet accounts, particularly this one: P38 Shock Replacement, which suggests it might even be easier than changing a tire. I admit I'd prefer to do this myself, especially since I've been successfully DIY-ing more and more. However, the fact that I don't have jack stands, and the bit about using an "18 inch extension" (which I don't have either, by the way) threaded "between the plastic fender well lining and the frame on the forward side of the rear wheel wells," and especially that "care is needed to avoid damaging the EAS wires and tubing" sort of daunt me. Perhaps on a lifter there'd be easier access to the upper shock mount bolt? I think I can properly guide an underchassis mechanic, even a non-LR specialist one, in the process.

OldShep56 wrote:

Sounds like you have been 'flagged', Aero. Bet you get good service from them from now on after the MAF episode. Might I be so bold as to suggest it could be worth mailing them and thanking them for the good service just to keep them 'onside' for the future?

That's an excellent suggestion, and in fact I've just emailed them. :-) Thanks again for the assistance from before!

I should take out the inner plastic wheelwell, just for clarity and makes it easier to stay away from EAS lines.
Tony.

aero wrote:

Oh and as an aside, the order I mentioned a couple of posts back that I placed on March 29 ~10.30am Manila time, arrived March 31 ~3.30pm. That's from ordering to order preparation and shipping from the UK to my Philippine doorstep. Must be some sort of record.

I normally expect 3-5 days form the likes of Rimmers, Island, etc but if we're looking at records...

The brake hoses I'd waited so long for took 42 days to get from Manila International Airport to the Central Post Office, via PHLPost. A whole 11kms!

The brake hoses I'd waited so long for took 42 days to get from Manila International Airport to the Central Post Office, via PHLPost. A whole 11kms!

I've heard of snail mail, but that is just ridiculous