enery8

Active Member

• Feb 9, 2011

• #1

I am pretty sure I have a leak and have bought new rear airbags (fronts are less than a year old) and they are to be fitted Thursday. My question is; does temperature effect the air system? My dhse seems to loose pressure more if it is cold that if the temperature is warmer. i.e. if it is frosty the car seems to loose more height. Is this my imagination

 

R

Ridesafe

New Member

• Feb 9, 2011

• #2

No Bill....extremes of temperature affect them badly; if it's a really cold sharp frost I really see a difference in mine - very cold = on the bump stops
So long as it rises when started I'm not fussed at the moment, be a job for the spring & replace all four. I'll be doing mine myself, (copied Datatek's idiot guide )

Paul

 

Golan

Active Member

• Feb 9, 2011

• #3

I've not long had all 4 air bags and the pump re-built and it is a little slower on a cold morning but like says as long as it comes up no worries

 

Datatek

Well-Known Member

• Feb 9, 2011

• #4

Air contracts with cooling or conversely expands with heat so there will be some drop on cold nights simply because the air in the bags has contracted. Same happens with tyres, that's why tyre pressures are always done cold.

 

enery8

Active Member

• Feb 9, 2011

• #5

Thanks again chaps. A little more knowledge every day might lead to me helping others in the future.

 

dogsbody

Very senior member

• Feb 10, 2011

• #6

The other item that I am now convinced is affected by the cold is the compressor.

I think that some of the piston seals available go hard and don't seal as well. I had rebuilt mine with the Dutch kit only about six months before the big freeze and I noticed that my Rangie was taking longer and longer to settle in the mornings until one morning it went into fault mode.

How a seal can stay cold and hard when it's being whacked up and down in the barrel I can't explain so maybe they're just not that good in the first place, but a replacement, fitted in a -4 temperature instantly cured the problem.