Red hot compressor

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Radar1946

Active Member
Posts
349
Location
Lichfield, Staffordshire
Fitted a new compressor, refurbished the vale block, now it moves to the varios heights and the lights on the switch are working, but takes a long time to Change when driving and the compressor is very hot.
 
The compressor should only take about 5 mins to fill the air tank. If it's running a long time it's either feeding a leak or the piston and sleeve are worn and it's not putting much out.. hence running long to fill the volume... if it's feeding a leak... it will never fill the volume
 
Leak hunting time.

Find a local pond. Park it in the pond, put some swimming goggles on with a snorkel and have a look to see if there are any bubbles.

Don't eat a spicy bean burrito before hand...it will confuse the inspection findings.
 
I've fitted the schrader tyre valves T-eed inbetween the valve block and bags, as is quite common, but also with the valves that can be manually closed between the schraders and the valve block. My first port of call is then to close all the valves and leave it. If it stays up you know the bags are fine and it's the valve block and if not it's either the bags, the piping from the bags or the connectors. It reduces the amount of soapy water squirting and aids in diagnosis but also means you can pump them up manually to not drive back on the bump stops.
 
I've fitted the schrader tyre valves T-eed inbetween the valve block and bags, as is quite common, but also with the valves that can be manually closed between the schraders and the valve block. My first port of call is then to close all the valves and leave it. If it stays up you know the bags are fine and it's the valve block and if not it's either the bags, the piping from the bags or the connectors. It reduces the amount of soapy water squirting and aids in diagnosis but also means you can pump them up manually to not drive back on the bump stops.

Mine had that when I got it. Turned out the T pieces were cheap **** and leaking! I still have the Scrader valves there but not plumbed in. In an emergency I could in theory connect them up (they have decent straight couplers on now from Activ-Air) but I always carry a spare compressor so not really an issue.
 
Mine had that when I got it. Turned out the T pieces were cheap **** and leaking! I still have the Scrader valves there but not plumbed in. In an emergency I could in theory connect them up (they have decent straight couplers on now from Activ-Air) but I always carry a spare compressor so not really an issue.

I replaced all the piping from the same source as the push fit connectors when I did mine which I thought might be a sensible to minimise leaks.

I work on trucks and trailers and their air systems are basically the same with larger bore piping and similar ride height sensors. They do stay less and less air tight as they age but if they are leaking air they don’t tend to suffer so much with looking like a wounded animal after being sat overnight as the RR does. The main thing is the compressor on them is so much more suitable for the task being engine driven, oil fed and water cooled that an air leak doesn’t cause it to promptly fail.
 
If the airsprings are original, most likely it will be one or more of them leaking, they have a 7/8 year 80K mile design life.
Adding lots of extra potential leaks with Schrader valves etc is IMO pointless. I overhauled mine when I bought the car 9 years ago and since then the only prblems I've had with the EAS was a dodgy driver pack and a new air dryer the contents of which decided to disintegrate.
I do carry 4 Schrader valves that I can put on the ends of the valve block lines and a compressor, never had to use them though.
 
Last edited:
Leak hunting time.

Find a local pond. Park it in the pond, put some swimming goggles on with a snorkel and have a look to see if there are any bubbles.

Don't eat a spicy bean burrito before hand...it will confuse the inspection findings.

Like this..... I found it easy



upload_2018-5-16_20-18-4.jpeg
 
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