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.
It’s a few days later and the car is still up on all fours!
Just to put this one to bed.
Yesterday I fitted a set of Billies supplied by Paddock spares at a very sensible price!
Easy to fit. Quality looked good and when I compared the amount of damping on the bench side-by-side, the originals were definitely less and therefore did give a bit of a roly-poly ride.
Testing these on the road, my wife instantly gave the thumbs up for a less sickening ride! It really did feel that much better on the road.
While we were out today, I drove a couple of well-known byways in the Surrey Hills. The suspension was just super compliant even on the higher off road setting. It was that much smoother than my old Discos which had springs on the front and air on the rear.
A definite improvement over the original but of course the original dampers were 19 years old!
Recommended.
Just to finish off. I rebuilt the valve block the second time with the seals recommended by David above. The first set I had for one reason or another it seems were letting by at the very thin 1 mm O-rings around the spindles of the solenoid's.
I fitted the valve block about six hours ago and the car is still sitting level where it should be. Let's see if it's still there in the morning and then I will put a bottle in the fridge to celebrate!
Hopefully……….Happy days and thanks for everyone's advice. !
All seals renewed again this afternoon.
Got sometime free tomorrow so will be fitting it and fingers crossed.
All my discos were ES models. These were all fitted with self-levelling suspension at the rear and the ACE system.
I covered well over 100,000 miles in total on the three vehicles, most of that on the TD5 model. I never had any problems with the ACE System although when I sold that car it was a mere 14 years old and had covered 170 K. So reliable yes In my opinion.
Land Rover Discovery 2 ACE System
ACE is an abbreviation for Active Cornering Enhancement, this is part of the suspension system.
ACE is and electronic and hydraulic system that uses sensors and an ECU to activate a hydraulic cylinder on the front and rear anti roll bars to keep the vehicle level when cornering. When working the ACE system is excellent and makes the ride and road handling more like a normal car rather than the handling of a tall, heavy SUV.
An extract.
The ACE system consists of many components including:
High pressure hydraulic system
Fluid reservoir
Hydraulic pump
Pipes
Control valve
Filters
Rams
There are many parts to the ACE system and all can be troublesome in one way or another. Basic maintenance involves changing the filter every 72,000 miles, part number RVJ100010 and checking the high pressure pipes for corrosion. The metal pipes are prone to corroding and leaking, replacement pipes are expensive and difficult to fit. So much so that many owners prefer to disable the ACE system rather than repair.
I have a disco 1 With a 2 inch lift and it used to roll all over the place.
The disco 2s that were fitted with ACE are far superior in handling and even the one with the 2 inch lift hardly rolled at all. Well worth having in my opinion.
Just what I was going to suggest.
I’ve had 3 with Ace and even with a 2” lift it works a treat.
I’ve given it a lot of thought and have ordered another set of seals as recommended by David. I’m away for the week at the moment but on my return I will strip down the valve block and renew all the seals again with fingers firmly crossed! If the seals are good then all should be fine............
The seal kit turned up at Harwoods. Bit of a laugh, £88 buys you for our rings, a guy friend and f The seal kit turned up at Harwoods. Bit of a laugh, £88 buys you four O rings, a diaphragm and 4 cap bolts!
Hmm. Spoke to a couple of indys,quality can be iffy.
Waiting to hear from Land Rover tomorrow. Apparently they do a valve block repair Kit. They are checking availability and content.
Just spoke to my local indy Land Rover guy. His experience with fitting seals is it can be a bit hit and miss with the quality of seals! He would rather fit a good used secondhand valve block rather than trust a set of seals! Not what I want to hear.
All assembled, all working but.......
Testing with soapy water, there are some bubbles appearing from the base of Left Rear valve and strangely from where the wires exit from third and fourth from rear!
All double checked but as said previously, I have lightly smeared the thin spindle O rings.
What a pain and where to from here? Is it the quality of the O rings?
I noticed that only one of the valves has the "square" O ring on the base, I assume that is correct?
I have new desiccant to put in mine this morning.
Mine are assembled with a slight smear. All ready to go in for first thing in the morning so will see.
What's the worst that can happen.....
Ah! Why dry?
After a bit more testing on the valve block in situ I can see some bubbles rising from numbers two and three top ones as numbered from the rear of the car working forwards.
I’m in the process of stripping it down checking all seals and making sure all are lubricated prior to installing again. Nearly finished and all have been in place, Strange.
Hopefully will refit later this evening.
Can I remove the timer relay?
I seem to remember reading a difference in between 4 pin and 5 pin relays . Does that mean I need to find a four pin relay to replace existing five pin or have I got my relays crossed!