After a few months of inactivity its time to get down to a few jobs before winter.
First up being replacing the suspension air bags.
Is there a step by step process written down somewhere? I have watched a couple of Youtube videos, but they show different approaches, so a few questions.
Do you need to deflate the bags before removal, or is removing the pipe sufficient? I cannot get the software to work, so using the laptop to deflate them is out of the question.
Is it much easier if you remove the wheel arch liner, & is it necessary?
Are the front or rear bags easier?
Are the none OE parts OK, as they are about 20% of the cost of the OE parts?
Any things I should be aware of, or things I should replace at the same time as the bags?
Whilst no mechanic I have an engineering background, so is this a job that should be 'fairly' straightforward to someone who has a reasonable working mechanical knowledge & understanding.
Thanks
John
Hi when you say---
make sure the grub screw bears against the flat on the shaft
I am not sure what you are referring to. Do you mean the grub screw that you remove to take out the piston? I presume that there is a round part of the shaft & a flat part, & if you screw it to the flat side it holds it in position.
This may be more obvious when I get it off?
John
Many thanks
John
Hi I am thinking of overhauling the EAS pump & I watched ED China ON WD's, & it looked straightforward.
So is it as straightforward as it looks?
Anything i should be aware of?
Is it OK to just undo the outlet pipe, or do I need to release pressure from the system via some other way?
Where is the best place to get the kit to refurbish the pump?
Always a good site with some great reads.
Thanks
John
Thanks for that, much appreciated.
John
Hi
In looking over the engine I noticed that it has twin [I presume] electric fans just behind the front grill. Having looked at RAVE there is no mention of them. The car runs perfectly, gets up to temp & then the gauge never moves. I have never noticed the sound of these fans engaging [I once fitted a Kenlowe fan to a Capri 3.0 & a manual switch in the car, when operated you could hear it start up.
So is this an after market fit, or did some car get the twin fans?
How do i find out if they work as the car never gets hot [it has the normal viscous fan fitted]?
Would I be better doing what i did with the Capri & just fitting a manual switch with an in line fuse?
Thanks John 4.0 Westminster 2002 model on LPG
Maybe this was why I could not get a decent connection to the laptop?
Anyway I now have a 2002 Westminster on LPG running great. In fact I am so impressed with this car [& I have had a few great older cars over the years], that I have thought of selling the 17 plate Volvo & just running the RR. It is my preferred drive to be honest.
By chance as i am stuck at home I bought a copy of Classic Car Weekly, & there is a double page spread on the P38, it gets a good write up.
At the end of the messing about & getting nowhere I took it to an excellent independent garage. £120 later I had in my hands 2 connecting blocks with most of the connections showing signs of going green, & a car that has been perfect ever since. It is a different car, running as it should be.
Sometimes there is no substitute for trusting someone who knows their stuff!
Been busy with work so not had the time to follow up on the RR. My apologies for my lack of response.
I bought the cable & software from RSW solutions. I think it just covers the EAS, so from what has been said that is V2.
When I connect it shows up in a comms port [4 or 5 i think?]
I shall try your idea below.....
'Then look into the Properties further and somewhere (maybe under Advanced) you should find the port properties. One of these will be for baud rate which will probably be set at 9600 baud, change that to 4800 baud. Then try to use the cable to connect to the EAS system. Ignition needs to be on (with or without engine running) and you need to set the Comm port that you previously noted in the software.'.
..when I get the car back, it is currently having the crankshaft oil seal replaced.
The EAS is permanently not happy at the moment, all 4 lights on the dash & the car is sitting low.
Surely it must be possible to buy a cable that is OBD to USB?
Not being sure of the connection means that I cannot even get to stage 1 in finding out the fault.
So it looks like a 5 pin [6 actually, but i think 1 is a guide].
Same connection problems as last time & i do not have the time know how to start making cables up!
So i need to find someone near who can have a look at this & find the fault, & if possible tell me if my cable is any good & why i cannot get a connection.
There seems to be a shortage of people who know what they are doing with these cars in South Yorks!
Starting to get fed up with this.
Well as i bought the cable with the CD rom I presumed that it would be the correct one for the car. The cable he is making up in the vid is the cable i have.
The computer is running an Interon celeron [R] CPU 560 @ 2.13ghz.
I am going to have a look & see if i have a 4 or 5 pin block first, & then retry the connection to the car.
For 10 days the car was fine then suddenly it has started again - intermittent faults are a pain!
Hi
On the basis that my OBD to 9 pin, to 9 hole to USB is not connecting correctly, is it possible to buy a lead that is OBD to USB?
Forgot to ask where is the best place for spares etc. You mention Island?
Gilbertd wrote:
Yes, there's an a missing, it should have said what sort of area in case someone has experience locally..
When you say it rise and inch or so, do you mean from the position it was left in? It will always drop very slightly as the air in the system cools down, so rising slightly as soon as you start it is correct. Unless you are getting the constant stream in the two boxes as shown on the video, then it isn't connected. Some USB-serial adapters work fine (usually ones using the FTDI chipset) while others can be very flaky. Have you installed the drivers for the adapter? What operating system is your computer running? What Com port is it setting itself up as? Ignition does need to be on or engine running.
It rises an inch or so when i restart it after a few hours or a day, which from what you said sounds like normal.
I installed the drivers for the USB, as the OBD lead connects to the USB lead via the 9 pin adaptor, I presume that is what you mean? No driver for the adaptor specifically came with the CD. If this means that there is something better that I can buy i am happy to do so, I don't want to be wasting time with dodgy equipment. neither do i want to be wasting my money.
The laptop is 11 years old & runs Windows Vista Home basic. It is using COMMS port 4 or 5 [depending on which USB port on laptop I used, I tried both to see if it would make a difference, which it didn't], but shows as something like USB [plus something else which i cannot remember] All the others just said Comms & a number, so i presumed the USB one was correct. Plus i had the ignition on.
As I think this is the UK site do you have recommendations for any independents nearby who I might use in the future?
I will try & locate the relay & check the pins over the next few days.
Where is the best info on changing the bags? I have downloaded RAVE & just had a quick look. It doesn't look like too difficult a job, although the YOUTUBE video intimates that disconnecting & reconnecting the pipes can be tricky? Do you have to depressurise the system? If yes, do you do it via the EAS unlock software?
Also do i presume that if the EAS system comes up with no faults, but the 35 max warning keeps coming on, even after resetting [that is presuming that the EAS etc is installed OK] , that there is likely to be a fault which needs checking out by a RR garage, because the fault will only get worse & potentially more expensive?
Many thanks
Happy new Year
John
I am in South Yorkshire.
Having looked for a late model with LPG & the EAS there is no way i would contemplate changing to coil!
Thanks Richard/Gilbert etc. But your final line does not make sense has something been missed out?
I have looked at the other thread that was posted as well. Thank you.
I managed to get the OBD via USB connected to the laptop & followed the instructions from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=481kvauuOug
But when I pressed Initialise and the TX numbers & FF started, on the RX side all I got was PP [once] and then nothing else. I tried to start from the beginning on 2 separate occasions but all I got was the same. I checked I was on the right Comms [USB]. I had to connect the OBD cable to the USB one [both supplied with CD rom] in order to make it work.
I presume the engine is not on, but key is in position 2 with electrics on? Started car after & for no reason at all all was clear.
I did look under the car & it looked like 1 air bag was quite new, but the others clearly were not as there were clear signs of wear. From start up it generally lifts an inch or so at the front, but even after a few days left it does not go down much, certainly no different to leaving it overnight. There were no faults shown, all the boxes had a 0 in them.
Any ideas why I am getting a PP reading & not a response to the test signal? Also my One & Two Byte delay are set to 375, is this an issue?
Thanks
John
Sorry I forgot to ask but what is the Nano?