Member Since: 09 May 2021
Location: Caithness
Posts: 233
Air suspension
Hi all, just decided to take a brief break in the rain to change the seals on the reservoir valve blocks.
Removed compressor line, tiny rush of air, nothing to write home about. Removed the white marked rear line, no hiss at all, slackened off the green marked front line and it’s rushing out like it’s never known freedom! 5 mins and counting.
Front valve block is new a few weeks ago, suspension was in normal height but the front had sunk as per usual. Fuse removed (a couple of days ago) and car untouched beside the jack, stand and my spannering. Haven’t even opened a door.
I would have though that with no fuse, and therefore no power, all valve blocks would be shut hard and fast. Nothing seems to be dropping, so maybe I’ve just undone the reservoir line, but I though the two lines that came out parallel toward the rear of the vehicle were to the front and rear valve blocks as that’s how they’re coloured, and the reservoir is to the top. Unless of course, it’s a leaking valve and the reservoir is venting through that voss connector for the front block.
Just looking for clarity on that matter as that’s a lot of air for no movement. Have I answered my own question?
Cheers
ShealesyD4 XS Commercial - MY16 - Corris Grey
D3 HSE - MY05 - Java black - Retired
Vauxhall Insignia Country Tourer - PX’d, in a poorly way
GAP IIDBT G3
2x Colliewobbles and a Kelpie
13th Apr 2022 10:28 am
Shealesy
Member Since: 09 May 2021
Location: Caithness
Posts: 233
That’s 20 minutes and still no movement. Must be the reservoir draining through the front block connection.
For reference, faults I had are/were
C1130-66 - Air spring/air supply too many transitions - Which I think is a leaky bag but not a today job.
C1A11-64 - pressure increases when system inactive. - This one would come up randomly, not every journey, and would come up after at least a good half hour of driving. Sometimes as much as 2 hours.
Cheers
ShealesyD4 XS Commercial - MY16 - Corris Grey
D3 HSE - MY05 - Java black - Retired
Vauxhall Insignia Country Tourer - PX’d, in a poorly way
GAP IIDBT G3
2x Colliewobbles and a Kelpie
13th Apr 2022 10:49 am
Yankee_Rover
Member Since: 02 Jun 2021
Location: Seattle
Posts: 183
Correct, front and rear valve blocks will remain closed with the fuse 26 removed. In a properly working system you can remove the reservoir block and the vehicle will remain at height. However, still place some jack stands under the frame since you’ll be under it!
See attached photo for description of the reservoir lines. The reservoir is a large volume and high pressure, it can take a while to vent. I hope you have a spare Voss connector on hand, I always have at least one fail and leak when I mess with the valve blocks.
Edit:
Here are the LR manual diagnostic procedures for your other codes. You can find the complete guides by doing a document search on this website.
Click image to enlarge
2008 LR3 HSE, 4.4L V8
13th Apr 2022 1:36 pm
Shealesy
Member Since: 09 May 2021
Location: Caithness
Posts: 233
I’m not sure on the valve block connections then. Either mine is labelled differently, or plumbed up wrong. I have green and white marked lines on 6&7 (forget which way round) which I thought were front and rear, and a silver sleeved looking line going from the top port, which I thought was reservoir, labelled 8 in that diagram. All hoses appear to be the right shape and don’t seem to have been manipulated into the wrong places. Though that would explain the great (air) escape when taking it off yesterday.
Thanks for the help so far! It’s still adjusting itself every minute or so as I stand aside and watch, front right corner valve pops open for a second so likely the leak, though front left is the one that drops most overnight.
Edit: and it does function correctly, except for selecting access mode which sends it to extended mode. But I may still have it in a slightly lowered custom height.
And yes. Spare connectors came with the new front valve block though I didn’t use any. Kind of fancied going the push fit route a la gstuart, but never got round to ordering them so still using the voss connectors at the moment.D4 XS Commercial - MY16 - Corris Grey
D3 HSE - MY05 - Java black - Retired
Vauxhall Insignia Country Tourer - PX’d, in a poorly way
GAP IIDBT G3
2x Colliewobbles and a Kelpie
14th Apr 2022 7:50 am
Shealesy
Member Since: 09 May 2021
Location: Caithness
Posts: 233
Right then, centre valve block rebuilt (again) as one o ring had slipped out of place. I have moving suspension once more! But still no access height (which took the dogs by surprise yesterday)
I’ve also found the deflate reservoir command in amongst the service functions on the GAP which I’ll do before taking that out again, imagine it will be much quicker than waiting for it to rush out through a cracked VOSS connector. Much less self adjusting going on now when running. No occurrences in the 5 minutes I sat and drank tea near it, compared to about every minute before.
Rear end still (as always has) functions perfectly. Using the valve test functions it goes up and down like I believe it should, a few seconds to + 50mm and a few seconds to -50mm. I can also move each strut independently.
The front end however is causing me more of a confusion. Using the same valve test function it will lift as expected, a few seconds to +50mm, but lowering it takes longer. Maybe 10 seconds back to 0 and 20-30 seconds to see -50mm. I can also only do this paired, the front right (drivers) will move under instruction, but the left will follow it to a lesser extent, and the left will only take an upward command and will not lower without its pal across the car being told to do the same thing.
Could this be symptom of a leaky bag? I would have thought a leaky bag would be more inclined in the downwards directions than the up.
Thank you for your thoughts!D4 XS Commercial - MY16 - Corris Grey
D3 HSE - MY05 - Java black - Retired
Vauxhall Insignia Country Tourer - PX’d, in a poorly way
GAP IIDBT G3
2x Colliewobbles and a Kelpie
18th Apr 2022 9:56 am
Globetrotter448
Member Since: 21 Mar 2017
Location: Londonderry NSW
Posts: 1812
Maybe the front valve block is plumbed wrong or the seals and pistons need overhauling.
This may help
18th Apr 2022 10:22 am
Shealesy
Member Since: 09 May 2021
Location: Caithness
Posts: 233
Front valve block was new a couple of weeks ago. I had put the new seals in the old one but made the overnight drop worse (turned into an over a brew drop), so fitted a brand new one while I work out what I did wrong. It’s possible I muddled up my right and inlet, fairly sure that was the day I started changing it in bright sunshine and ended in howling wind and hail stones (about 15 minutes apart up here… )
My main suspicion at the moment is a badly seated voss connector. I paid extra special attention to those putting the centre valve block back in yesterday (and replaced one connector) so might have to get in to the front valve block again, soap it and reseat the connections.D4 XS Commercial - MY16 - Corris Grey
D3 HSE - MY05 - Java black - Retired
Vauxhall Insignia Country Tourer - PX’d, in a poorly way
GAP IIDBT G3
2x Colliewobbles and a Kelpie
18th Apr 2022 11:31 am
Yankee_Rover
Member Since: 02 Jun 2021
Location: Seattle
Posts: 183
One other possibility is you’ve fitted the wrong part. The front and rear valve blocks look identical on the surface, but internally the valves are a different size and plumbed in reverse. LR shop manual says you can substitute them, but at the risk of slow movement due to the valve size difference —they strongly advise against doing so.
Front is (I think ) RVH00095 and rear is RVH00055. If you did not use genuine for your replacement, then that could be your problem as well.2008 LR3 HSE, 4.4L V8
18th Apr 2022 12:25 pm
Shealesy
Member Since: 09 May 2021
Location: Caithness
Posts: 233
Oooh I’ll check next time I go out, at least what number is on the box vs the old block that’s in the box.
Edit: numbers match, RVH000095. Replacement is an “OEM Quality” (britpart) part. Genuine doesn’t have a price listed and probably had a lead time, which is how I’ll quantify not using genuine just now. I was probably in a rush, as usual
Going to open up the original part and check all the seals I put in are still positioned correctly, then swap it back later and see if there’s any behaviour change/bubbles. Also will check hose connections by shape and marking against the diagram previously posted. Once again, doing it in a rush but will try and take my time. It’s got a job to do on Thursday so hoping, one way or another, this will cure it.D4 XS Commercial - MY16 - Corris Grey
D3 HSE - MY05 - Java black - Retired
Vauxhall Insignia Country Tourer - PX’d, in a poorly way
GAP IIDBT G3
2x Colliewobbles and a Kelpie
18th Apr 2022 5:58 pm
Shealesy
Member Since: 09 May 2021
Location: Caithness
Posts: 233
There we go. Plumbed it in backwards. Maybe in an hour or so I’ll get a chance to plumb it in correctly….
Edit: done! Came up eventually, then went up and down as it should. Now to see about that damn o ring in the reservoir valve that I think has come dislodged again! If anyone has an exploded diagram of the valve block, there’s one o ring that I’m not sure I’m putting in right. Going to search the YouTube as well in the meantime, while I take it off again.
Gallery pressure fluctuates between 500 and 900kpa for about 30 seconds before it decides to send the struts up, then very slowly fills the reservoir back up. Takes 4 or 5 minutes to refill. (Before I unceremoniously dumped the reservoir pressure to take the valve block out again…)
Edit2: centre block now behaving as was. Whole vehicle behaving as was! We have normality.D4 XS Commercial - MY16 - Corris Grey
D3 HSE - MY05 - Java black - Retired
Vauxhall Insignia Country Tourer - PX’d, in a poorly way
GAP IIDBT G3
2x Colliewobbles and a Kelpie
19th Apr 2022 1:05 pm
Shealesy
Member Since: 09 May 2021
Location: Caithness
Posts: 233
So slight abnormality in the behaviour. I’d suspected it was doing this before (pre-messing with the valve blocks), but never spent enough time testing and observing to measure it and be sure.
When I park in access height and wander off, a couple of hours later I look out and the rear end has risen back to approximately normal height. The front still looks to be around access height so don’t think that’s dropped. If it has, it’s certainly not as much as the rear has risen, unless the difference in strut capacities and pressures is great enough that a few mm at the front can be 25-30mm at the rear.
For what appears to be a simple system, this is very confusing. Interesting though. Everyday is a school day!D4 XS Commercial - MY16 - Corris Grey
D3 HSE - MY05 - Java black - Retired
Vauxhall Insignia Country Tourer - PX’d, in a poorly way
GAP IIDBT G3
2x Colliewobbles and a Kelpie
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