.
Frankly if you're at all unsure about the bags just replace them. They're far more likely to leak than the block.
Agree with gordon about doing airbags. Treat as a service item. Anything over 70,000 miles on them means seriously on borrowed time. Personally unless I was sure the bags were less than 7 years and 50,000 miles old I'd replace automatically. But then I'm the guy who changes coolant hoses, belts and similar unless he is sure they are under a year old.
At my age I can't be doing with the hassle of fixing stuff on the fly. If its things I know I'll have to replace then doing it early means I get my moneys worth. But I'm low mileage guy, 3 or 4,000 a year.
Clive
I checked the bags for leaks and they seem to be all fine. I’m going to re-plumb the whole system too as I’ve come across about 4 repair sections on various hoses while I’ve been leak finding. Just waiting for a nice weekend and the pipe to turn up
just trying to replace all the cheap stuff first before moving on to doing the bags. They are on my list, just want to make sure the system is 100% before doing them.
If it’s taking time to raise, sounds like your tank is empty, don’t forget when empty it can take 5 minutes of running with door open, I’d also check all electrical connections at the EAS box
At the Driver or the ECU? Or both?
Got a Nanocom in the post so I will do some proper fault diagnosis next week I think. Might jut do all the bags, seals and re-plumb the airlines once I’ve been paid
They do look like they could be the original bags. And the cars got 137K on it
If the pipes have got joints in them, especially the blue ended ones, then replacing them is a very good idea but also what you need to remember is that the car is now 19 years old. The air springs are made of exactly the same materials as tyres and you wouldn't want to run around on 19 year old tyres. If they look original they may well be and even if they aren't, they are likely to be ready for replacement. At £200 for a set of four from Island 4x4, it's probably the best 200 quid you'll ever spend. If it is dropping, even slightly, overnight, take the timer relay out from under the passenger seat when you park it. If it has dropped in the morning, chances are the springs are leaking.
It’s hard to diagnose if the systems 100% if any of your bags are leaking, do the soap test on the bags, at all heights.
As Gilbert has said, removing the timer will help
Cheers for the advice guys, going to wait for my Nanocom to arrive next week then order 4 new bags and a 30m roll of piping then renew the whole system then Its all sorted for the time I will be owning the car!
Are the Dunlop bags what was fitted originally?
And do you guys know if it’s 6mm or 4mm airline to the bags / reservoir?
Plus while I think about it is there any other “while your in there” jobs that I could get done while I’m working?
I'd suggest ordering new retaining clips for the air bags. They can get very, very corroded and end up unusable - they're nice and cheap though.
https://www.island-4x4.co.uk/spring-fitting-full-isl003-p-5234.html
There's also an air dryer (cheap - https://www.island-4x4.co.uk/suspension-compressor-filter-stc2759-p-592.html) and a small filter for the compressor (not so cheap - https://www.island-4x4.co.uk/suspension-dryer-dunlop-ntc9812-p-591.html)
They came with Dunlop bags. If you order new ones now, they will be Dunlop bags in a Britpart box, presumably because Britpart are happy to buy them in the sort of quantities Dunlop want to sell them in :-)