Sorry, more EAS!!

Hello all

The harsh temperatures that we've been having lately, seem to be causing havoc with my (once perfectly working) EAS. The first problem i have found is a leaky O/S front airbag, which isn't the main problem and at least i know how to fix that! As of today, the compressor doesn't come on. i have checked fuses and relays and they are fine. Also, the ride height indicator, will now just flash, to the next selected height (up or down) and the suspension won't go up or down at all. when i first got the car 6 months ago, the only problem with the ride hide indicator was that sometimes when i selected a height, instead of flashing until the height was reached, it would go straight to a steady light and then the suspension would move! Anyway, i plugged the laptop in today with the EAS software and there were no faults. I can manually turn the pump on and off and it puts air in the system, so i can move each corner up and down as required. Obviously the O/S front corner comes back down on its own, due to the air leak. The other problem is, is that when i go to get the heights through the laptop, there is no change in the values (they are not above 255). I have always been able to get them before. I know they are incorrect, because of manually moving the corners with the software and the values not changing. I am thinking this has got something to do with the ride height selector not working, as it's not getting readings from the height sensors. I could get all the heights before and i can't believe all 4 height sensors have failed at the same time. So in a nutshell, the compressor won't come on and the suspension won't move up or down with the ride height selector.

Thanks in advance
Kev

If the front bag's been leaking a while forcing the pump to run overtime, it's probably either burnt out the motor or the temperature sensor in the motor. Do a continuity test between the black and orange wires on the motor, the temp switch should be normally closed allowing pump to run.

Hi Kernowdragon

The pump is fine, as i have got it to run with the software and i have left it running without any problems. The whole EAS system seems to have frozen. all the lights come on as normal with igntion on and engine running, it's just that the car won't go up or down or the pump come on! It was fine a couple of days ago.

Thanks Kev

Little Kev said:

Hi Kernowdragon

The pump is fine, as i have got it to run with the software and i have left it running without any problems. The whole EAS system seems to have frozen. all the lights come on as normal with igntion on and engine running, it's just that the car won't go up or down or the pump come on! It was fine a couple of days ago.

Thanks Kev

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the software is able to bypass the thermal cutout, and allow the compressor to run, however, when you try to let the ecu do it, it uses another circuit and hence why the pump will not run. It just maybe that the compressor has a worn seal on the piston and is making very little air and is taking forever to fill the tank before ecu signals open solenoids

Hi ssmn1234

I will double-check the wiring on Wednesday. The pump always used to come on, on start-up, but until yesterday nothing, not even from cold and when the car has stood overnight. I have taken the inlet filter off, when the pump was running (today) and it has very good suction. My other concern is why i can't get any info now, from the height sensors and why the car won't even come down.

Kev

Little Kev said:

Hi ssmn1234

I will double-check the wiring on Wednesday. The pump always used to come on, on start-up, but until yesterday nothing, not even from cold and when the car has stood overnight. I have taken the inlet filter off, when the pump was running (today) and it has very good suction. My other concern is why i can't get any info now, from the height sensors and why the car won't even come down.

Kev

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This probly no help to you now but, do you know that you can swap the height sensors over to other side of vehicle when they are faulty and they function again, cause the windings inside form a complete ring and once on the other side of car, they are reading from the unworn area of the ring. just something to keep in mind if your stuck for a part.

Thanks ssmn1234

Any info is greatly appreciated, just can't understand why this has suddenly happened?! the joys of owning a P38, i suppose! I can understand the airbag playing up, cold weather an all, but not the compressor and all the sensors, just like that (not in a tommy cooper styley!)

Kev

Little Kev said:

Thanks ssmn1234

Any info is greatly appreciated, just can't understand why this has suddenly happened?! the joys of owning a P38, i suppose! I can understand the airbag playing up, cold weather an all, but not the compressor and all the sensors, just like that (not in a tommy cooper styley!)

Kev

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Only a guess, have a look at the timer relay under the passenger seat, pull it out & put it back in case there is a bad connection.

Datatek, Stupid question time....What exactly does the timer relay do?

Thanks

Little Kev said:

Datatek, Stupid question time....What exactly does the timer relay do?

Thanks

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I would have to look at RAVE to give you an exact answer, but if you remove it the suspension does not work

Thanks Datatek, Will do that and i will check the pressure sensor and overtemp sensor as well. Easy and quick checks to do.

let me know if you get it fixed, coz my eas is still broken, and i have sort of given up on it.

I've got it pumped up bridging the pins on the Suspension control ECU to manually operate compressor and opening the induvidual solinoids for each corner. seems to stay uo when pumped up 2.

R.rover, will do. Car is going into the garage tomorrow to have the airbag done, so i will see what happens after that! I will be checking the pressure and temp sensors and pulling the delay relay for the EAS. Here's hoping!

Kev

Well, i have checked the temperature and pressure sensors on the compressor, which work as they should. I have pulled the Relay delay from under the passenger seat and put it back in, but the compressor won't start up and the car still won't self level, up or down. It's going in to have the air bag done in the next couple of days, so i will try after that. I still don't get proper height sensor readings. both the fronts read "123" and both backs read "109", although the front is sitting lower than the back! Could there be a problem with the ECU or a faulty ride height control?

Thanks Kev

Little Kev said:

Well, i have checked the temperature and pressure sensors on the compressor, which work as they should. I have pulled the Relay delay from under the passenger seat and put it back in, but the compressor won't start up and the car still won't self level, up or down. It's going in to have the air bag done in the next couple of days, so i will try after that. I still don't get proper height sensor readings. both the fronts read "123" and both backs read "109", although the front is sitting lower than the back! Could there be a problem with the ECU or a faulty ride height control?

Thanks Kev

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The numbers you see for front & back have very little to do with the "actual height", you are best ignoring them and adjusting the height by measuring the distance from the lip of your wheel rim at the bottom, upto the underneath rolled edge of your mudguard, and as long as all are within 1/4 inch of each other should be close enough. I am very surprised that you getting equal values across the axles, cause generally they will be all different.

You have put a multimeter on all wires, 2 at a time on the compressor with your multimeter to the ohms setting and got a reading an all 3 wires?

ssmn1234 said:

you can swap the height sensors over to other side of vehicle when they are faulty and they function again, cause the windings inside form a complete ring and once on the other side of car, they are reading from the unworn area of the ring.

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Just straight across? FR > FL, RR > RL? DO they just bolt straight in? Inverted I suppose. Interesting!

rasheed said:

Just straight across? FR > FL, RR > RL? DO they just bolt straight in? Inverted I suppose. Interesting!

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Yes, straight across same axle. on earlier models you could'nt mix front for back cause the electrical cable were odd lengths, but I fairly certain that latter models you can change out the cable so that restriction may not apply.

But before you go changing them, I'd be exhausting all other possibilities as it is very odd that all would be faulty at same time.

Hi ssmn1234

I understand what you're saying about the values, but whenever i used the software before and checked the heights, as you say all the values would be different, but relevant to the height of the vehicle, so if the front was lower than the back, the front valuse would be lower. I don't mean to sound patronising, but since i had the leak, the EAS seems to have gone into meltdown. When i raised or lowered a corner, the values would also change respectively, but now they have frozen on those values and i find it hard to believe all 4 sensors have failed at the same time.

Regarding the Compressor checks, i have done them as per RSW solution "you tube" videos.

Thanks
Kev

Little Kev said:

Hi ssmn1234

I understand what you're saying about the values, but whenever i used the software before and checked the heights, as you say all the values would be different, but relevant to the height of the vehicle, so if the front was lower than the back, the front valuse would be lower. I don't mean to sound patronising, but since i had the leak, the EAS seems to have gone into meltdown. When i raised or lowered a corner, the values would also change respectively, but now they have frozen on those values and i find it hard to believe all 4 sensors have failed at the same time.

Regarding the Compressor checks, i have done them as per RSW solution "you tube" videos.

Thanks
Kev

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Got me stumped, maybe it's something gone amiss with the chip in eas control unit, have you taken it out left it without power for a while, dont know if it make a difference but just something else to try. if you do remove the control unit, be very careful when you remove the 35 pin terminal from front as it's easy to snap the keeper off of it on the end where the cable feeds in. Maybe a connection somewhere in the system is oxidised and needs cleaning.

Hi ssmn1234

I haven't managed to do anything else to the car, as it is currently having/had a new airbag at the garage. I was due to pick it up today, but there are still problems with the suspension not budging. i was hoping having a new airbag, might've had some effect. They have run a load of tests, with their software and we seem to be coming to the same conclusion, that somehow the ECU thinks that whatever the height sensor readings are (which seem to be the same ones stuck on all 4), are correct for any height, no matter what ride height is selected. In turn the compressor isn't fired up, because it doesn't think it needs to raise it, if that makes sense?! these are only guesses at the moment, but i could do with borrowing a EAS ECU from a working Rover to narrow down the options a bit. Any ideas,help or suggestions from anyone are still appreciated.

thanks
Kev