P38A EAS air pipe routing rear suspension-get me off the bump stops before my kidney stones pass

2000 P38 Range Rover, petrol 4.6l HSE on the bump stops...

I have searched diligently, I believe, for a diagram or schematic that shows the routing of the EAS air pipes for the rear suspension. All to no avail. More importantly does anyone have any experience or tips on how to patch a leak in one of the airlines that appears to be unreachable. The pipes or tubing run along a transverse chassis member, and seem to be to be quite inaccessible. Further, I haven't confidently identified how many air pipes are involved (2, it seems) or their points of origin and connection. When probing around with the air pump running I can clearly hear a leak above the transverse meter and my fingers can just barely touch two of what I believe are air pipes on the topside of that member. But I cannot get to the leak itself. I don't see any way to resolve this short of running new air pipes and securing them as best I can. However, I am at very much of a loss as to how to get this done properly. Your suggestions are greatly appreciated.
I am awaiting the arrival of 6mm push fit connectors and 6mm tubing, but getting to the leak seems to require the help of a rover magician...

Your model is a bit new for me but I THINK for your year the lines go along the chassis rails and may swap over the rear axle at some stage before going into the bags. @wammers will know for sure. It they are leaking back there then more than likely the exhaust has a hole and melted the lines so you need to check and fix that first.

By the way, you can get straight connectors and cut out the bad section of pipe and join in a new section with said connectors but probably better to do the whole line. That way you know the joints aren't leaking!

Grrrrrr said:

Your model is a bit new for me but I THINK for your year the lines go along the chassis rails and may swap over the rear axle at some stage before going into the bags. @wammers will know for sure. It they are leaking back there then more than likely the exhaust has a hole and melted the lines so you need to check and fix that first.

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Thanks Grrrrr. I failed to mention that this was preceded by a leaking exhaust. Be that as it may be, getting to the lines as they transverse from left to right seems to be impossible from underneath. Tonight I will remove the wheel well liners to see what I can see... blindly probing with my fingers did not find the leak although I was close enough to feel the air flow from the leak. A drawing would certainly help me sort this mess out. But the offending exhaust leak is fixed now.

Grrrrrr said:

By the way, you can get straight connectors and cut out the bad section of pipe and join in a new section with said connectors but probably better to do the whole line. That way you know the joints aren't leaking!

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I ordered the connectors and 10 ft of line. Should be here by weekend. But I’m still trying to figure out the routing and the connection points. Thanks much.

The rear pipes run on top of the left side chassis rail straight to left rear bag, the right side pipe follows same route to near left bag then across near rear cross member to right side bag, think the third pipe is feed to tank but cant remember where it crosses over hope that helps a bit.

kds said:

The rear pipes run on top of the left side chassis rail straight to left rear bag, the right side pipe follows same route to near left bag then across near rear cross member to right side bag, think the third pipe is feed to tank but cant remember where it crosses over hope that helps a bit.

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Thank you for this tidbit. Was not aware of third pipe but will attempt to determine its whereabouts as I proceed. Thanks.

I spent another hour or so with bright lights and forceps poking around the slit that the Rover folks gave us to access the top air pipe connection on the rear airbags...
Having made little progress I took a break and flipped through several images I had downloaded while searching for a schematic and lo and behold I had captured a drawing that helps a great deal.

If that bottom pipe is the brake line it looks a bit to crusty for comfort.

I forgot to ask if you had downloaded RAVE in case there was a diagram and pictures in there? I cannot check on this computer as I haven't installed it yet.

Glad you are getting there, I got the hose pipe out on jet to wash some of the crap out from on top of rear bags then shoot some releasing fluid in there round the collet before pushing it in and I know every one says use a pencil sharpener to chamfer the pipe but I found it better to turn the sharpener backwards to like roll the edge of the pipe in slightly but that might just be me of course.

kds said:

Glad you are getting there, I got the hose pipe out on jet to wash some of the crap out from on top of rear bags then shoot some releasing fluid in there round the collet before pushing it in and I know every one says use a pencil sharpener to chamfer the pipe but I found it better to turn the sharpener backwards to like roll the edge of the pipe in slightly but that might just be me of course.

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I just pushed the pipe back in. I think the pencil sharpener is only required if the end doesn't look smooth.

And make sure to cut the pipe square, Best to use a pipe cutter rather than a Stanley knife or snips.
Is it worth repairing the pipe? Why not just replace it and then you know the exhaust hasnt made any weak bits in addition to the hole.

Great suggestion on the pipe cutter. And, yes, I will be replacing the transverse pipes, not patching.

I used a pipe cutter, you do get truly square sharp edges