air pump running alot

[automania]

hi people, just bought a p38 and the compressor seems to be running a lot, now the cars been stood on off road setting for two says and hasnt gone down any so i thinking a leak between the pump and the tank or the tank to to the valves, is there a common failure point or do i just check everything? cheers

[Range Rover Blues]

Or the ump is worn out, so it's not rasing much pressure.  You can rebuild it (we have the technology) and a new seal only is a few quid but a new barrel and piston is about £90.

Look on E-Bay, there are newer sela that are glass reinforced PTFE which is stronger.

[waveydavey]

Whip it out and clean it; I had that once and it would not get the car up to ride height. I was out and couldn't get a repair kit so I stripped it down, there are a few O rings etc. in it, clean them and put some silicone grease on them and the seal and it made the world of difference.

[automania]

cheers guys, the car goes up to off road height fine.  only thing ive noticed is that the pipe coming out of the rear of the tank, can move in and out. is this normal or not, it doesnt pull out jut has some movement about 1/4 inch. thinking of putting a guage on the tank, but not sure what the working pressure is, any ideas? cheers mike

[automania]

just ahd a quick look now. car has been stood since about half 5, got in and selected off road and it went up staright away, so in two hours it has still got a fair chunk of air in the system, there is a leak i can here coming from either the unit behind the pump and valve block or the pipes coming out of it, couldnt quite tell, its only small leak tho, which has got me thinking the problem isnt a leak, does anyone know where the pressure switch is as ive read they can stick and cause something similar?

[Range Rover Blues]

System pressure   10 bar
Pressure relief valve on top of valve block
pressure switch on the air tank
thermo switch within the pump itself
pump also has timer switch built inot the ECU

What's this pipe you can wiggle about :-. that doesn't sound right at all.  The air inlet/filter is in the RHS rear wing, it's not that you're wiggling is it? the tank is under the passenger's seat on the chassis.

Remember if you are watching it over a period of time that every few hours the car self-levels!  if you want to stop it then find the switch under the back of the driver's seat (looks like a window switch) and switch it on , this is the EAS inhibit switch for when you're changing a wheel or servicing the car.

Also when the pump turns off you will hear a PHSST from the back of the valve block, this is normal as the air inlet valve is pressure regulated.

[waveydavey]

Very rare thing this but RRB is slightly wrong! Sorry Andy- did you miss that it's a P38?

Mind you all the important stuff is the same, it's just the places.

The P38 has the compressor on the front left inner wing, the air inlet is on the front of the box it's in. This was actually  good move as it doesn't pick up the crud.
The P38 doesn't have the EAS inhibit switch other than the one on the dash - to change a wheel etc. you are supposed to leave a door or the tailgate open.

As I said though minor points - the Guru is certainly right on the important stuff!

[automania]

the pipe comes out of the rear of the tank, not noticed exactly where it goes as i was struggling with the fuel tank at the time, but there is definate movement of the pipe in its fitting,  tho i have to think that id here a leak from there if that was a problem.

not heard an hsh noise when the pump turns off tho havnt been listening for that.

the car held off road height all last night (measuerd the height). so persumably that side of the system must be fine.

the car goes up fairly quick so persumably the pump is ok?

other than the leak i described i cant hear anything else, so only thing i can decide is the air pressure switch is faulty?

just one other thing the pump is going that much that yesterday i felt it and it was almost too hot too touch the pump body, surely that cant be right, but why isnt this thermal cut out cutting out?

once agian thanks for your help guys

[Range Rover Blues]

Very rare thing this but RRB is slightly wrong! Sorry Andy- did you miss that it's a P38?

Yes I did, well the second time at least :oops:

Sounds like you have no shortage or air in the tank, say you just drove somewhere for 10 minutes then stopped and parked, is it still running all the time then?

[waveydavey]

the car goes up fairly quick so presumably the pump is OK?
once again thanks for your help guys

It will go up quickly as it goes up using the stored air.
Take it up and down a few times to use up all the air, basically until it doesn't rise straight away; then see how long it takes to get up to extended height.
If its reasonably quick still then I would look at the pressure switch/control side
If it takes ages once you loose the air reserve then look at the compressor.

[automania]

right took the pump apart and the seal on the piston was gone so got a kit of the bay and it works now, however stilll runs a lot tho, so im persumin there must be a leak somewhere. how often do these pumps run generally? cheers

[Range Rover Blues]

I'm not sure if you can isolate the EAS on the P38 like you can on the  classic but if you can then leave it in high mode and isolate the system, leave it as long as possible and see if one corner sinks, that will give you some idea where to start.

It's all well and good the manual saying use soapy water but with 10 years of crud on everything you won't see a leak straight away.  Check pipe runs for chafing and obvioulsy unions for leaks, they have 'O' rings which can harden over a period.  Also the valve blocks use 'O' rings as valve seats and these too go hard.

[v8kenny]

You can isolate the EAS by pulling out the tall relay located under the passenger seat - leave this out overnight and see if a particular corner has dropped
Check all your air bags and pipe connections - especially where they enter the valve block for leaks ( use a spray bottle filled with water/ fairy liquid, and look for bubbles) Test the air bags at ALL heights as they can sometimes only leak on a particular height setting, chack for cracks/perishing around the bottom of the bags too

[automania]

im thinking somehting in the valve block possibly the o rings mentioned above,  reasoning behind this is the car will stay at off road height all nigh without dropping and all the bags have benn replaced. when the engines running and the cars stopped i can hear the valves clicking and adjustig it, this can happen every 20 secs or so.

on another note a had a eas kicker plugged in the other day and it showed up three faults two were the front height sensors being out of range and the third came up blank. now the faults were cleared, but does this fix the out of range problem? or will the fault codes have come back now? cheers

[v8kenny]

The clicking is fairly normal, especially if you park on a slope - the suspension will level itself every few hours right through the night - this is why you have to pull the relay under the seat to try and locate what corner is leaking
Sounds to me like you need to recalibrate your height sensors - the kicker will only have cleared the faults, not calibrated, although I do beleive you can calibrate with the kicker - not sure of the procedure as I changed to coil springs ages ago  ;)
If the O rings in the valve block are leaking you can buy a DIY kit to refurb them from the states - I have one lurking in my shed somewhere if you are interested