Buying a P38a

Needing a little more risk in my life, so thinking of buying a P38a
4.6.

Can someone tell me what to expect from the air suspension.

I have only looked at one so far. When asking the suspension to rise
from normal to high (engine had been running for about 5 minutes), the
upper of the 4 lights on the switch blinked for a long time. Whilst it
was blinking, further prods at the switch seemed to have no effect.

After taking the car for a spin, suspension behaved more as I
expected, raising and lowering the car more or less instantly the
switch was pressed. However, after a couple of cycles, it seemed to
run out of puff and went back to its blinking stage.

To me, this sounds like the compressor isn't delivering enough air
quickly enough, but never having seen a good one in operation, can
someone tell me what to expect? Is there a maximum number of times
which the system can go from low to high before the reciever is
depleted, and when running off the compressor, how long should it take
to go from low to high?

TIA

David

In article <[email protected]>,
rads <[email protected]> wrote:

> Needing a little more risk in my life, so thinking of buying a P38a
> 4.6.

Ah, a man who likes large main dealer repair bills Been there...

> Can someone tell me what to expect from the air suspension.

A lighter wallet?

> I have only looked at one so far. When asking the suspension to rise
> from normal to high (engine had been running for about 5 minutes), the
> upper of the 4 lights on the switch blinked for a long time. Whilst it
> was blinking, further prods at the switch seemed to have no effect.

That's about right, depending on how long it took to rise. It should
take something like 10 seconds.

> After taking the car for a spin, suspension behaved more as I
> expected, raising and lowering the car more or less instantly the
> switch was pressed. However, after a couple of cycles, it seemed to
> run out of puff and went back to its blinking stage.
>
> To me, this sounds like the compressor isn't delivering enough air
> quickly enough, but never having seen a good one in operation, can
> someone tell me what to expect? Is there a maximum number of times
> which the system can go from low to high before the reciever is
> depleted, and when running off the compressor, how long should it take
> to go from low to high?

The compressor charges a reservoir (under the RHS sill), so normally
you're raising the vehicle on the reservoir, and lowering it by venting.
Once you've done this a couple of times, there will be no more air in
the reservoir, so you'll be running directly off the pump, which will
take a lot longer to raise the vehicle - I wouldn't be surprised if it
took a minute or more.

What you describe sounds perfectly normal to me. What I'd watch out for
is:

- noisy compressor - sometimes it's just the mounts, sometimes it's a
new compressor, and they're not cheap. You should be able to just about
hear it when it's running

- compressor running noticeably frequently when driving - if it's
running every few minutes, you probably have a leak somewhere. Remember
though that when you go >50mph for a short while, the EAS will lower
itself to motorway ride height, and lift up again as you drop below 50,
so once you've done this a couple of times, you can expect the
compressor to kick in

- also, when left overnight the vehicle shouldn't settle noticeably on
any corner - this would also indicate a leak. However, in reality, the
EAS self-levels, so this can be tricky to spot, unless you can leave it
overnight with the tailgate open, which will inhibit the EAS

- you can also raise the car to extended ride height, and eyeball the
tops of the airsprings for damage / cracking etc. Be careful not to let
the body crush you though if it self-levels

Andy Cunningham's website used to have lots of useful info on the P38a
air suspension. www.p38a.co.uk

David

>>>>> "David" == David French <[email protected]> writes:

David> That's about right, depending on how long it took to rise.
David> It should take something like 10 seconds.

If the vehicle hasn't been used for some time and has a slow air leak
(or work done on the Air Suspension) it may have to recharge the
reservoir

David> What you describe sounds perfectly normal to me. What I'd
David> watch out for is:

Agreed. If it does it EVERY time then it's a problem.


David> Andy Cunningham's website used to have lots of useful info
David> on the P38a air suspension. www.p38a.co.uk

It still does!

Andy

--
Andy Cunningham -- www.vehicle-diagnostics.co.uk
Karmageddon: n. It's like, when everybody is sending off all these
really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and
it's, like, a serious bummer.