P38 eas valve block

Hi, after taking a trip to eas hell last winter with my 97 P38, the old girl performed faultlessly all year including a 2000 mile trip from Dunfermline to Paris and back. Any way last week it showed a hard eas fault which I ran the software on and reset the system. The fault displayed was "RR valve stuck closed" or similar. I didn't write it down which I should have done. It then worked well for a couple of days until this morning when although no hard fault is shown the suspension, it is incapable of raising to normal height.

1 how accurate is the diagnostic software? Is the fault likely to lie with the right rear valve or could it be anywhere in the right rear system?

2 are the valves actuated by the 4 solenoids in the eas compresssor box?

3 if so, which outlet supplies which airbag?

and lastly

4 is there an accepted way of lubricating said solenoids/valves to prevent recurrence

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated,

Andy

The valves almost never stick and should never be lubricated. That fault is almost certainly due either to a leak or the compressor not making enough pressure.
For leaks, if the airsprings are original, suspect them. Otherwise diaphragm failure in the valve block.
If you look, there are more than 4 solenoids in the valve block.
Look at the www,rswsolutions.com web site for a full explanation of the meaning of fault messages which cannot always be taken literaly.

Thanks datatek, airbags are all sub-10000 miles old, I did them and the compressor seal last year. When the system was working ok it was holding air well ie not dropping right down overnight etc so I'm liking the idea of overhauling the valve block seals and diaphragm. While I have the compressor out I'm going to do the seal again, to be honest I reckon it has been working more than would expect it to and although there seems to be plenty of suction at the airfilter I suspect it has been thrashing itself to death which again points to valve block seals or diaphragm. I take your point of using no lubricant on the valves but is it ok to smear o-ring grease on the o-rings or are they to be fitted absolutely dry?
Thanks again

No lubricant is needed anywhere in the valve block. Valves do not stick. It is a fault thrown up when something ECU has commanded did not happen in a time period. Most likely cause is lack of air pressure or a out of sorts corner sensor.

Lubrication (or not) thing received and understood. Regarding the possible corner height sensor issue, are the sometimes ambiguous error messages accurate enough with their indication of which corner the problem is located at ie RR?

frankenbus said:

Lubrication (or not) thing received and understood. Regarding the possible corner height sensor issue, are the sometimes ambiguous error messages accurate enough with their indication of which corner the problem is located at ie RR?

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It would indicate that the RR sensor did not change value when the ECU thought it should, or a different value than the ECU thought it should see was present. If you have no air that is the most likely cause, sort that out and see what you get when it's done. RR fault may go away.

Thanks for that Wammers.When the system is holding air when the car isn't being used it would tend (to me) to indicate the air is being lost prior to the outlet ports of the valve block and with the pump been going ten to the dozen for so long I'll refurb the seals in them both and, like you say, see what happens. at least I'll have removed some of the variables. Thanks

frankenbus said:

Thanks for that Wammers.When the system is holding air when the car isn't being used it would tend (to me) to indicate the air is being lost prior to the outlet ports of the valve block and with the pump been going ten to the dozen for so long I'll refurb the seals in them both and, like you say, see what happens. at least I'll have removed some of the variables. Thanks

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If the compressor is running and not making air it either needs looking at or diaphragm valve is split. Just remove exhaust filter, put your finger over outlet, if air is coming out with pump running renew diaphragm. If diaphragm is not leaking, you need to check compressor is making good air by removing blue pipe from it, and seeing if you can seal outlet with your finger if you can compressor needs looking at. Air should blow past your finger no matter how much presssure you apply.

wammers said:

If the compressor is running and not making air it either needs looking at or diaphragm valve is split. Just remove exhaust filter, put your finger over outlet, if air is coming out with pump running renew diaphragm. If diaphragm is not leaking, you need to check compressor is making good air by removing blue pipe from it, and seeing if you can seal outlet with your finger if you can compressor needs looking at. Air should blow past your finger no matter how much presssure you apply.

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The only air filter I know of on the compressor is the fwd facing one on the end of the pump and if I remove that and put finger over the hole it is drawing air in and sucking my finger onto the hole which I would expect. Can you advise if there is another filter. I'll pull the pump tomorrow and check the blue pipe output because, to be honest, while there is suction at the inlet filter, I'm not sure it is sufficient to equate to decent positive pressure on the outlet. Be grateful if you could shed light on whether there is a filter in the exhaust side of the pump though.

Exhaust filter is on the valve block, it's actually primarily a silencer.

Datatek said:

Exhaust filter is on the valve block, it's actually primarily a silencer.

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I had absolutely no idea the thing existed. I'll check it tomorrow with the other stuff on my list. Thanks, I'll update the post with progress.

frankenbus said:

The only air filter I know of on the compressor is the fwd facing one on the end of the pump and if I remove that and put finger over the hole it is drawing air in and sucking my finger onto the hole which I would expect. Can you advise if there is another filter. I'll pull the pump tomorrow and check the blue pipe output because, to be honest, while there is suction at the inlet filter, I'm not sure it is sufficient to equate to decent positive pressure on the outlet. Be grateful if you could shed light on whether there is a filter in the exhaust side of the pump though.

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Towards back of valve block you will see white coloured item screwed into block towards engine just unscrew it. As Data says it's the exhaust silencer if truth be known. Stops your Rangie sounding like a ten ton truck when the gallery is exhausted.

wammers said:

Towards back of valve block you will see white coloured item screwed into block towards engine just unscrew it. As Data says it's the exhaust silencer if truth be known. Stops your Rangie sounding like a ten ton truck when the gallery is exhausted.

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Yep, got it though mines actually black - maybe aftermarket? but anyway, when I unscrewed it and put finger over hole, I'm getting the same pressure pushing out as I was feeling coming out of the output side of the compressor so diaphragm would appear to be leaking. I take it the diaphragm is situated at that end of the block, can you suggest any reference sites to guide me through its replacement and, while I'm in there is it worth replacing the full set of o - rings or follow my gut feeling and leave whats appears to be well alone?

frankenbus said:

Yep, got it though mines actually black - maybe aftermarket? but anyway, when I unscrewed it and put finger over hole, I'm getting the same pressure pushing out as I was feeling coming out of the output side of the compressor so diaphragm would appear to be leaking. I take it the diaphragm is situated at that end of the block, can you suggest any reference sites to guide me through its replacement and, while I'm in there is it worth replacing the full set of o - rings or follow my gut feeling and leave whats appears to be well alone?

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Try this EAS Valve Block

frankenbus said:

Yep, got it though mines actually black - maybe aftermarket? but anyway, when I unscrewed it and put finger over hole, I'm getting the same pressure pushing out as I was feeling coming out of the output side of the compressor so diaphragm would appear to be leaking. I take it the diaphragm is situated at that end of the block, can you suggest any reference sites to guide me through its replacement and, while I'm in there is it worth replacing the full set of o - rings or follow my gut feeling and leave whats appears to be well alone?

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That's that then. Go to the link posted above and follow the directions in that, should not take a lot more than half an hour to do.

I assume most of you guys know this page. If not have a look. If you are planning to renew your valve block or just want to understand how it works this site is what you need:

http://paulp38a.com/99p38a/eas-valve-block-renew/

I renewed my block without problems a couple of weeks ago and now it works as new. Thanks to PaulP38a for is work.

frankenbus said:

Yep, got it though mines actually black - maybe aftermarket? but anyway, when I unscrewed it and put finger over hole, I'm getting the same pressure pushing out as I was feeling coming out of the output side of the compressor so diaphragm would appear to be leaking. I take it the diaphragm is situated at that end of the block, can you suggest any reference sites to guide me through its replacement and, while I'm in there is it worth replacing the full set of o - rings or follow my gut feeling and leave whats appears to be well alone?

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Do the "O" rings while you have got it out of the car and make sure there are no white powdery deposits caused by the dryer dessicant breaking up. Wammers is a bit optimistic with his half hour IMO, takes me a lot longer than that if I do a thorough clean. Cleanliness is absolutely essential when re-assembling

Thats great guys, Thanks to all for your knowledge and patience. O ring and diaphragm kit ordered

Datatek said:

Do the "O" rings while you have got it out of the car and make sure there are no white powdery deposits caused by the dryer dessicant breaking up. Wammers is a bit optimistic with his half hour IMO, takes me a lot longer than that if I do a thorough clean. Cleanliness is absolutely essential when re-assembling

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That was for diaphragm Keith.

wammers said:

That was for diaphragm Keith.

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Aaah that explains it