P38A Air suspension collapsed, alternator not working properly

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Maat

Maat

Active Member
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Hi all,

The air suspension dropped completely this morning on this P38 2.5dse auto from 1999. I've been trying all the tricks in the nanocom, but I can't get it to raise back. Compressor is on, according to nanocom. I just accidentally noticed that the battery voltage is 13V at best with the engine running and 12.8V with engine off. This is an issue that needs fixing either way, but can this be related to my problem?

Kind regards,
Matt
 
To add about the same P38: we have soldered the wires on one of the white connectors (the other one didn't look as corroded). The fault codes before erasing them were:

Front left sensor is out of range
Rear right valve permanently stuck closed
Invalid fault
 
Maat said:
Hi all,

The air suspension dropped completely this morning on this P38 2.5dse auto from 1999. I've been trying all the tricks in the nanocom, but I can't get it to raise back. Compressor is on, according to nanocom. I just accidentally noticed that the battery voltage is 13V at best with the engine running and 12.8V with engine off. This is an issue that needs fixing either way, but can this be related to my problem?

Kind regards,
Matt
Click to expand...
The alternator voltage and the EAS problem are not related. To cure the low alternator output fit a new regulator from Mobiletron, I can't access the part number at the moment but it has been posted many times.
If the compressor is ON, is it actually running? If it is running, is it producing any pressure? Check by removing one end of the blue pipe in the EAS box and putting a finger over the end with it running. You should not be able to stop the air. If the compressor has failed, it's likely there is a leak, probably an airbag if they are more than 8 years old.
What faults are recorded on Nanocom for the EAS?
 
Also take the silencer off the valve block & check there's no air coming out when compressor is running. If there is then diaphragm valve is bad.

If that's ok, then quick way to check compressor (rather than the blue airline underneath), is to take out the 8mm airline next to the silencer. This one feeds the dryer first & then the tank.

But as Keith says above the correct way is to unbolt the compressor & check the outlet directly - just takes longer !!
 
feyniriel said:
To add about the same P38: we have soldered the wires on one of the white connectors (the other one didn't look as corroded). The fault codes before erasing them were:

Front left sensor is out of range
Rear right valve permanently stuck closed
Invalid fault
Click to expand...
@Datatek these were the faults before erasing them. This post is about the same P38 - it's mine. I made posts about the EAS before, we soldered some of the white connector wires.
 
Datatek said:
The alternator voltage and the EAS problem are not related. To cure the low alternator output fit a new regulator from Mobiletron, I can't access the part number at the moment but it has been posted many times.
If the compressor is ON, is it actually running? If it is running, is it producing any pressure? Check by removing one end of the blue pipe in the EAS box and putting a finger over the end with it running. You should not be able to stop the air. If the compressor has failed, it's likely there is a leak, probably an airbag if they are more than 8 years old.
What faults are recorded on Nanocom for the EAS?
Click to expand...
Compressor is running, but if I try hard enough I am more or less able to stop the airflow. There are currently no faults on Nanocom for the EAS.
 
Datatek said:
So the compressor needs an overhaul.
Click to expand...
Tomorrow I'll let the car running with the door open for 15+ minutes to see if it builds up enough pressure. At the last workshop I worked at the compressor must have worked at around 8 bar, but if I tried, I could stop the airflow with a finger at the tip of the airline. How hard is our EAS compressor supposed to operate?
 
Maat said:
Tomorrow I'll let the car running with the door open for 15+ minutes to see if it builds up enough pressure. At the last workshop I worked at the compressor must have worked at around 8 bar, but if I tried, I could stop the airflow with a finger at the tip of the airline. How hard is our EAS compressor supposed to operate?
Click to expand...
More than 8 bar
 
Hi. So we waited a week to get the seals from England, they finally arrived today. Did a compressor overhaul and the car is still not lifting from the bumpstops. Any ideas?
 
When we press a finger against the air outlet of the compressor, we can manage to cover it completely, but some air still comes through from the sides. Being able to stop the airflow means no air coming through at all, right? In which case it seems the compressor is working strong enough.
 
feyniriel said:
When we press a finger against the air outlet of the compressor, we can manage to cover it completely, but some air still comes through from the sides. Being able to stop the airflow means no air coming through at all, right? In which case it seems the compressor is working strong enough.
Click to expand...
If you can stop the air as you describe, the pump is not making enough pressure.
 
Datatek said:
The compressor should be an easy rebuild. Did you change the cylinder liner, if not is it scored? Are the butterfly valves in the head OK?
Click to expand...
They were all changed, the pump has a new cylinder liner and piston ring and the butterfly valves are clean and unbent. It looks like everything is fine.
 
It was changed. Today we also changed the seals of the valve block and the car did lift. So perhaps there was a leak there?

Nanocom can send the car to any profile now. So we can drive again. However there is a constant EAS fault on the dash and the profile lights start flashing for a minute before staying orange all four. Only fault codes Nanocom reads are "front left height sensor out of range" and "invalid fault". I calibrated the EAS a while ago with a cm difference on right and left side, but the front left and right units were quite a bit apart. So I set them now to be max 5 units apart, so the car wouldn't try to constantly level itself and get faults. I'm not sure if that's the issue though.
 
with ignition on & engine not running, clear the faults with Nanocom. Then exit back to main menu, and go back in to read faults again. If there's anything there, they will need sorting first. Next exit EAS menus & cycle the ignition off & start the car.

If it does adjust heights, but goes to fault mode soon after, then this suggests it's not reaching target height ? Usually not enough air in the tank, but could be a bad sensor.
 
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