P38A A series of faults

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My tyre of choice for the Series has been BF Goodrich Trac-edge, last forever and take some serious abuse, unfortunately they no longer make them in the original pattern or compound, because they lasted forever and people never needed to replace them!
 
Last couple of evenings I've been cleaning, striping down and fitting new seals and a diaphragm to the EAS valve block (while listening to Smiff and Sniff pod casts on YouTube where ironically P38's and EAS faults got a mention) and something I found on a couple of the solenoid pistons bothered me. On the ones that are a two piece design with a spring around the outside they have 'rubber' plugs at each end, the lower one to seal against an orifice, while the upper one doesn't seem to have a job, and on some of these this upper plug wasn't secure, could this be a problem?
 
Slooby said:
Last couple of evenings I've been cleaning, striping down and fitting new seals and a diaphragm to the EAS valve block (while listening to Smiff and Sniff pod casts on YouTube where ironically P38's and EAS faults got a mention) and something I found on a couple of the solenoid pistons bothered me. On the ones that are a two piece design with a spring around the outside they have 'rubber' plugs at each end, the lower one to seal against an orifice, while the upper one doesn't seem to have a job, and on some of these this upper plug wasn't secure, could this be a problem?
Click to expand...

Those rubber ends on the pistons can wear (and go hard) over time so they don't seal properly. @kurtjohnson10 is the man to talk to about valve blocks.
 
Grrrrrr said:
Those rubber ends on the pistons can wear (and go hard) over time so they don't seal properly. @kurtjohnson10 is the man to talk to about valve blocks.
Click to expand...

Hum, yeah the seals on the orifice ends of the pistons had certainly seen better days on at least 5 of the solenoids, and the ones on the ends that live in the bore end certainly didn't look happy either. Are replacement piston available from anywhere as all I can find are complete solenoids?
 
Last edited:
Dunlop can probably supply new plungers. They responded to me about replacement NRV's for the valve block, but minimum order of 50 !!

Screenshot 2021-05-31 at 09.52.18.png
 
Ah, took me a while to figure out what you were saying there...

I've seen the price of the Dunlop refurbished units, and they're more than I paid for the car! So far all my internet digging has come up with are the standard O ring replacement kits and new Solenoids, and even then those solenoids are just the magnetic coil, not the pistons or valve body itself

From looking at the guide on PaulP38A's page http://paulp38a.com/content/EAS-ValveBlock-v1.6.pdf

The 'piston' I've been describing the 'Type 2 Plunger' for the Air Spring Solenoids in his photos on that pdf

What I'm trying to find out is whether the two rubber inserts at either end of the plunger need to be secured in place or if the design of the airflow through the valve unit is such that either side of the insert is at equilibrium pressure and therefore doesn't move
 
1m of 5.33mm diameter Nitrile Rubber cord ordered, £5.39 inc delivery from Simply Bearings

Hopefully that will do the trick to make up new back end plunger seals
 
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