Gordon popped down this evening to get his P38 plugged into Testbook so I had an evening off house move stuff to tinker.

We sorted out his high idle and then had a look at the EAS on the VSE. I put an inline pressure gauge between the compressor and the tank and left it running with the door open, about 10 minutes later the compressor cut out as the pressure gauge was reading 150psi. We then shut the door and the rear of the car went straight up and when the valve block opened the solenoids for the front you could hear air escaping and the pressure gauge was dropping rapidly.

We slid under the car and Gordon spotted that the airbag had become separated from the top part that the airline goes into. We removed the bag from the car and used a little bit of tyre lubricant on it as it dries out rather then staying slippery and slipped the bag back together. We put the airbag back on the car, reconnected the airline and started the car and the front end raised from the dead.

I've disconnected the battery over night and left the car in the air and left the pressure gauge connected so that I can monitor the system for leaks. I rebuilt the valve block with new o-rings last week so that's one less thing to worry about.

This car has a bill for €1300 for a new compressor and reconditioned valve block in 2011. Some of the o-rings split when I squeezed them so it obviously needed a rebuild.

Anyway, fingers crossed it behaves.

On a separate note, does anyone have a spare copy of the sat nav disc for the factory system? The disc is missing from mine.

David.

Good that the EAS was a simple fix!

I can do a copy of the original nav disc if you like, I have a 2011/2012 one, and a 2015? One which I haven't actually had the chance to test on a working system yet.

Marty, I think I'm sorted for a disc at the moment, many thanks for the offer though :)

Last night I left the suspension up in the air with the battery disconnected to see what happened over night.

The pressure gauge when I called it a night was at circa 9 bar.

This morning I'd lost nearly 3 bar overnight.

All 4 corners of the car however were nice and level:

Originally I'd always said I was going to get the front bumper resprayed before refitting it as it was very scruffy. I had to move a trailer in a field today so ended up putting it back together anyway:

As the car has no MOT or Tax at the moment I figured that testing it off road was the easiest way of giving it a run. There were no signs at all of overheating, gear change is smooth and the brake pedal feels nice.

Interestingly though, I do have an ABS Fault and Traction Failure displayed on the screen. The two faults shown on Testbook are:

11,6: Pressure Switch Failure
12,5: Rear Left sensor short to another sensor

Interestingly though, if I try and clear the faults with Testbook, Testbook crashes. I'll need to do some digging and see what's what there at the weekend. Hopefully it won't be the ECU!

David.

Hi David
I've covered it in more depth in an email before I saw this post, but briefly
SAAB Pressure switch-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ACDelco-25530882-Original-Equipment-Pressure/dp/B0010GFRD8/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1495170167&sr=1-1&keywords=AC+DELCO+25530882
Sensor short- wait for Marty to drop by. I think he's got a rabbit to pull out of the hat on that one :)

The rear left sensor short to another sensor is a fault in the ABS ECU.

I've managed to repair 4 or 5 of these ECUs now, and have 2 which are ready for road testing next week when in home.

Funnily enough, if they pass road test, then they'll be up for sale on exchange for the faulty one... much like most of the other parts I work on these days!!

That's good to know Marty, what is it in the ECU that actually fails?

The EAS on this car seems to be higher then usual on standard height so I've just ordered 4 new bump stops and I'll get Testbook and my calibration blocks out and calibrate it and see if that makes much difference.

She's sat with the battery connected for over 24 hours now, there's been no fires, no flat batteries and no funny goings on so fingers crossed that she's going to behave herself!

David.

So far it seems to be a common failure in some of the SMD components on the input stage of the ECU from the sensor.

I don't know why it's always rear/left, but on the units I repair, I replace the components on all 4 corners just to be sure! Given how fiddly some of them are to replace being surface mount, it makes sense to do all 4 corners at once whist I have the tools to hand!

I'm not sure I'd there are other failure points in the ECU, as all the ones I've looked at so far have all shown the Rear Left short to another sensor fault, and been working properly again once this has been rectified.

Cheers,
Marty

dhallworth wrote:

The EAS on this car seems to be higher then usual on standard height so I've just ordered 4 new bump stops and I'll get Testbook and my calibration blocks out and calibrate it and see if that makes much difference.

---

That's interesting David. Ever since I got the VSE I've had the feeling that it sits higher than the HSE on standard. Certainly when parked side by side there's a much bigger gap between tyre and wing.
I'd just vaguely put it down to the VSE being on standard 18's and the HSE being on standard 16's (both on Grabber AT's) and hadn't really thought more about it, other than I quite like the taller look.
I've never bothered to actually check it with the blocks though and, as it drives/ handles nicely and I haven't had any EAS problems, I've left well alone. I will make a note of the numbers next time I've got the Nano plugged in though.

Orangebean wrote:

I will make a note of the numbers next time I've got the Nano plugged in though.

Don't forget that the numbers are just that though, numbers. They are not specific heights but a number between 0 and 255 which corresponds to the angle of the height sensor lever arm at any specific height. So they will almost always differ between two different cars. The difference may be even greater between your two as they have different height sensors and height sensor mounts.

Gilbertd wrote:

Orangebean wrote:

I will make a note of the numbers next time I've got the Nano plugged in though.

Don't forget that the numbers are just that though, numbers. They are not specific heights but a number between 0 and 255 which corresponds to the angle of the height sensor lever arm at any specific height. So they will almost always differ between two different cars. The difference may be even greater between your two as they have different height sensors and height sensor mounts.

---

That's very true Gilbertd. I'm going to make a note of the numbers just so I have them to hand for my car (the VSE as it looks "different") and my Nano, just so I can monitor change or in the future if I need to!

If you are getting a drop in the tank pressure overnight, then could be internal leak of the NRV in the VB which is letting the air pressure bleed down.

It is also worth checking however the O-rings on the tank air connection. I chased a bit of a leak down to where the air line goes into the tank, so replaced the O-rings. I have a feeling that even with new rings, I still got a slight leak when I wiggled the pipe (trimmed/chamfered the end too), and I ended up stuffing an extra O-ring in the tank connection and that sorted it.

Just out of interest, gives Nano the same readings compared to RSW when using on the same car in the same session? (it should be)

Mine sits really high on normal, think the idiot before me played around, I use manual and drop it to motorway.. another thing to do when laptop decides to recognise my lead,,

Well, I've not finished the DSE, I've barely touched the VSE, yet tomorrow I am collecting another VSE.

I found it locally... it's a 2002 in Alveston Red, cream leather with red piping, and the gorgeous Rowan Cherry wood. At the moment, I've got 4 P38's... none of them work, so, the sensible thing do seemed like buying another one!

Our 97 4.6 decided to set fire to it's fuse box, thankfully we caught it before it did any more then char a wire. The DSE now has a new gearbox fitted but isn't put back together, I've no other excuse apart from me being lazy... the Oslo Blue VSE hasn't been done yet because the DSE hasn't been finished and the 95 4.6 has had so many bits removed from it that it's never going near the road again...

So, tomorrow we welcome P38 number 5!

I must be mad...

David.

What are your intentions?

Restore the 5 or start a scrapyard?

Intentions...

95 HSE - This car was always bought as a breaker.
97 HSE - Sort the electrics out and either keep and use or rehome. We've done everything mechanically to this car in the last 9 years.
99 DSE - Finish gearbox replacement and rehome.
02 VSE's - Keep and restore to concours.

David.

Pics of your newest acquisition would be nice.

Will take some when I get it home. :)

David.

Not Simon Farmer's £15k Alveston one, currently up for sale, was it David?!
Nice to see another VSE about to get some love. Good luck with it.

It certainly isn’t Simons. I know the history of his car and it’s condition but I think the price is optimistic given that it’s ready to tick over 100k.

The blue VSE with 50k didn’t sell for months on end at 12k and was eventually reduced to under 10k.

As much as I enjoy tinkering with a P38, I’m afraid I just don’t see them as a £15k car. If I was spending anywhere near that I’d be buying another Supercharged L322.