Air Susp Inactive: Strut out. Airbag seems OK. No air from air-line.

OK - I have the valve body out of the car now.

I was going to take off the alloy air tank too, to see if it had any water in it (jsp apparently got 1.5L of water out of his!) but tapping it gives a very hollow sound, so I am pretty sure it is dry inside.

The valve body has a number of tempting screws that say "undo me", but at this point I am resisting the urge to pull it apart. I am however going to try and find the pin outs and the voltages for the solenoid connectors to see if I can trigger them (am presuming it is 12V).

Here's a few photos of what's come out and where it's come from.

Top view:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...-valve-002.jpg

Bottom view:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...-valve-003.jpg

And this is the hole left behind under the drivers side (under the drivers seat roughtly, looking up):
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...-valve-001.jpg
You can just see that the assembly is made by Wabco, and it has a BMW part number on it.

I have discovered that yellow lines are for the driver's side. Black lines for the passenger side.

Here's some more information on the pins to trigger the solenoids which I have worked out.

I've tested all 4 and they work just fine when I apply 12V. So it appears I have wasted my time pulling these out perhaps (took an hour and a bit to get this far) but at least I know all 4 solenoids are triggering, so it is back to the theory that my airbag has a hole in it I reckon.

Here's a couple of pictures, firstly the rear solenoid connectors
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...inouts-001.jpg

Then the front:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...inouts-003.jpg

So you have established that the hardware still works, there is still some logic (CPU) and sensors that could be playing a part. It will not take much to get an adapter to stick your household compressor onto that bag to check it for a leak, I would not buy a replacement until you check it out. If you were getting paid by the hour to fault find without diagnostic tools it might be worth just swapping parts out until it works. But your not getting paid so get back to it.:(

I am meeting up with John (jsp) tomorrow at lunch time to borrow his EAS reset tool, so hopefully there will be a bunch of error codes which describes the actual/original error with the system.

just for curiosity I found some pics.


Valve block:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...011/12/898.jpg


Just for good measure I replaced 8 o-rings

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...12/02/1269.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...011/12/899.jpg

The central solenoid pin thingo....has a pressed in plastic cap holding the central plunger/rod with a spring under it. The springs had rusted in mine, and become stuck through not being used regularly.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...011/12/900.jpg

You can just see the edge of the spring in this shot, I broke the top off the plastic to get to the inards. The way the unit goes together it all went back in without issues, as the top of the conical plastic piece locates in the valve block housing and the rubber still seals.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...011/12/901.jpg

Mine got an over night soak in WD40, then free'd up by hand with some help from a nail, and then cleaned out as much as possible to remove as much as possible oil, and has been working fine since so far. I know this is a temp fix but Im willing to find out how far it will go.

Spudboy, have you actually tried to inflate the bag in water yet?

To me this is a necessary first step, as you should be methodical, or you will lose the plot.

Regards Philip A

Hi Phillip A,

I got 2 things organised today: Picked up an EAS reset tool from jsp, and I went to Pirtek to get a brass "Schreader" valve that screws into the airbag thread so I can pump it to a decent pressure and then test it. It has a car valve attachment on one end, so I can apply pressure with my tyre air gauge.

I was thinking 150PSI, but John/jsp said that was way too high, and to start with 60 or 70PSI only.

Now I've got to find a big bucket! Might use one of the sheep troughs :) Or Perhaps more simply some soapy water. Or maybe the leak will be obvious enough to just hear. We will see......

You might wish to clear faults in the lighting ecu as well as it also stores eas faults.

Did you have a go at reading faults yet?

40 or 50 psi should be enough, 25 is more than enough pressure in your tires to lift the car.

Well I have found the problem, I am pleased to say.

This is my test rig for seeing if the airbag was leaking. Firstly, I fitted a Schraeder valve to the strut:

Then I clamped it down to put the bags in the middle position on the strut:

Pumped it up to 30PSI and played a bit of water over the upturned bag. You can see the results:

So, it looks like some new front struts for Xmas for my L322.

Next job is to re-fit all the things I've taken off, and try to reset the EAS codes using the SRW AllCOmms software link.

Cheers
David

Well I have found the problem, I am pleased to say.

This is my test rig for seeing if the airbag was leaking. Firstly, I fitted a Schraeder valve to the strut:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...gstrut-003.jpg

Then I clamped it down to put the bags in the middle position on the strut:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...gstrut-002.jpg

Pumped it up to 30PSI and played a bit of water over the upturned bag. You can see the results - bubbles like mad from between the bag and the guard:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...gstrut-004.jpg

Even without the water to show the location of the leak, I could hear the air escaping very easily.

So, it looks like some new front struts for Xmas for my L322. Island 4x4 in the UK have some genuine (Delphi) OEM struts for GBP 219 at the moment (AU$340), so I am just finding out how much the shipping will be.

Next job is to re-fit all the things I've taken off, and try to reset the EAS codes using the SRW AllCOmms software link.

Cheers
David