Procrastinated long enough and now pulling the trigger on “Operation Comfort”.
Bought the bags and am putting plans together to put H&H back on bags.
Compressor rebuilt and hoses all in place.
Anyone got suggestions on next steps to take on this project prior to me jacking car and removing springs. I’d like to have all the ancillary items sorted before taking wheels and springs off and putting her away fro the winter work....
Do I need any special equipment, 2 x jacks, etc
Did similar on a 94 Classic LSE last year. Check the valve block for leaks (even if, or especially, if you have rebuilt it), make sure any wiring bodges have been removed, .make sure you have diagnostics that connect and work and cross fingers, toes, arms, legs and anything else you can think of crossing.
Jesus GILBERTD, thats not exactly the College Heave Ho thats gonna get me motivated to take this on....
You need 1 good jack, 2 stands.
I removed each wheel, and jacked the hub up to compress the spring as much as it would go, and used a
ratchet strap to hold the spring under compression whilst I let the jack down.
With the pins and clips removed, the springs were easy to remove. BE CAREFUL releasing the
strap as there is a lot of stored energy there! It took twice as long to get the crappy springs out as it
did to install the bags.
Removing the front wheel arch liners is a pain, but well worth the time invested!
(While the liner is off, is a good time pull the starter and give it a clean up? New brushes perhaps?)
I did this on the Borrego not too long ago.
I had lucked out and found an 02 in a wrecking yard that still had pressure in all 4 bags!
Pulled the bags, compressor, and valve block. Put it all in, fingers crossed, and it worked perfectly!
Took about 2 hours of wrenching, and an hour to remove the bodged bypass wiring.
I have since rebuilt the compressor, but that's it!
Now Into it for about 180 bucks at this point, and have a spare valve block, driver pack and compressor to boot!
I have 4 new Dunlops standing by if needed............
Have fun!
JMCLuimni wrote:
Jesus GILBERTD, thats not exactly the College Heave Ho thats gonna get me motivated to take this on....
Awww, He's just an old stick inna mud!
Go for it! It's easy!
Heck! What could possibly go wrong?
I never said it wasn't easy, just that it almost certainly won't just work first time you fire it up. The mechanical side is pretty simple, hardest part was getting the coil springs compressed enough to get them out, after that it was just a case of fitting the air springs and connecting everything up. Then we fired it up and nothing happened......
Jack the chassis up to get the weight off the springs, should be easy enough using spring compressors
Before expecting it to work, test the valve block. With a short length of 6mm nylon pipe, one of the emergency inflation Schrader valves and a tyre pump, you can check each of the 4 outputs to make sure they are sealing. Pressurise each one in turn and make sure it holds pressure, then open the corresponding solenoid which will check that the valve is opening, the valves will open and release the pressure. This also checks that the driver pack is good.
Use the connector from the ECU to the driver pack, not the one between the driver pack and the valve block, as an initial test for the valve block and driver pack.
Connect 12V to pins 12 and 13 (using a standard 6.3 mm spade terminal you can connect to both pins at once) and ground to pins 10 and 11. Then apply 12v to pins 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8. When you put power to any of them, you should hear the relevant solenoid click and pressure will be released. If the solenoid doesn't click when you put power onto a pin, then you need to check the connection between the driver pack and the valve block. Check for weak tension in the connector.
Holy ... why I like this forum so much. Just helping a good friend at the moment with his RRC on bags, to make his EAS reliable working.
By Richards remark I got to like the first time in my life those additional T-piece Schrader-Valve "emergency-kits" ... checking the opening and closing of the solenoids with a manometer. Nice if You have he system already in the car. I have and had a set of four adaptors with tire valves and a 12V compressor for the cigarette lighter with me ;-)
Does anyone know if I can substitute the timer relay AMR1111 in the classic with the timer relay ANR4652? They seem to have the same function in nearly the same system and look from the images, as they like to have the same connector locations, although looking totally different from the outside?
Would help a lot to know ..!
happy covering KCR
No idea if the timer could be swapped but on the Classic I did we had about 5 goes at it. The valve block had been rebuilt but a couple of the tiny, thin O rings around the base of the solenoid spindles had slipped out of there groove so were leaking. I don't have any Tees, I just have a set of Schrader valves that I keep in the boot that can be fitted should I ever need them. With one of them and a short length of pipe, you can check for leaks before putting the valve block in the car. A couple of seconds run with an electric tyre pump will get the pressure up to around 100 psi and by watching the gauge you can see if it holds pressure or drops. Then, once you are satisfied it is holding it, energise the solenoid to ensure it releases it. Checking it on the car isn't as bad on a P38 as it's reasonably accessible but on a Classic where it lives in a steel box bolted to the chassis rail, it's a real pain to keep taking it out and putting it back. The free EASUnlock works with the Classic if you make up the cable and change the serial port data rate to 4800 baud.
The other problem we found was the air springs being used were new old stock which had obviously been stored somewhere damp so the alloy ends had corroded meaning they leaked where the bladder joined the alloy ends. Classic compressor is identical to the P38 compressor except for the top of the chamber which has a tapped hole in it. You can either drill and tap a P38 top or use a P38 compressor with the Classic top.
I converted mine back to air suspension a couple of months ago.
All went very well and as said, compressing the springs and removing them was a little awkward but otherwise an easy job. All easily completed in a lazy day. Mine had everything left in place apart from the air springs which were discarded. I removed the little wiring loom that was plugged in under the drivers seat and checked all connections everywhere also I thought! When everything was connected up, I started the car and a myriad of messages came up and the car remained on the stops.
After a lot of head scratching, checking all connections and wondering why the pump didn't run I found the idiots guide to P38 ais suspension on the web and noticed that the EAS ECU was under the passenger seat. I removed the trim and exposed this to find that the multipin connector had been disconnected from the ECU. I connected this, started the car and within a very short while the car rose majestically to its normal height.
Good luck with yours.
I reinstated one that still had the air springs but individual Schrader valves to pump each corner up in turn and found the rocker switch on the dash had been unplugged as well.
Ahhhhh, Now you mention it, I recall, I did have to actually replace my rocker switch.
Someone had been into it previously for some reason, and had epoxied it shut.
It was showing either no lights or all lights randomly, and the EAS was not changing up and down.
Swapped in the known good one from Bolt, and all was well!
I got a replacement from the local wreckers for 5 bucks!
I suspect the bad rocker switch assy was the reason EAS was removed in the first place!
Such a simple problem!
I opened the old one.......The Switch is, of course not that simple. It contains a small processor as well as the LEDs.
If erratic display happens to ever be an issue, it could be a place to look.