Just back from two weeks holiday where the self levelling was playing up a bit as the compressor was starting up more often than before.
Got under the car on Sunday as it had also started whistling a bit as well and thought a new unit would be required.
The compressor is underneath the car just in front of the rear drivers side lower arm opposed to in behind the headlight as normally mentioned for earlier cars.
Disconnected the connecting arm from the switch on the lower arm and with the ignition on moved the switch arm up to start the compressor running. Whilst it was running there were no apparent signs of leakage so ignition off and back end up in the air.
Disconnected the multipin plug which is clipped onto the chassis and then started the removal process. The unit is hung off a bracket and the whole unit needs to be removed as just undoing the small bolts through the rubber isolators does not work
. The bracket is hung off a plate on the underside and is removed by removing the two 13mm AF nuts on the propshaft side of the bracket, 13mm socket, 4" extension and a ratchet. When you drop the unit the intake/dump hose will come out of the chassis leg where it is tucked away to stop water entering the compressor.
Once out there was no other sign of failure apart from the short intake hose having split allowing a bit of corrosion to form around the connection. Hose off, quick clean up of the corroded part and the hose replaced with a bit of the end where it goes into the chassis, laziness to hunt for a bit of hose. Squirt of 3 in 1 oil into the hose for a it of lubrication for the compressor and back into the car and all hooked up.
Back off the jack as you don't want the suspension lifting the back end whilst jacked up for safety reasons.
Tested again but still whistling. Did feel a bit of a leak this time though so back on the jack and unit out again.
The leak was from the unit where the pipe to the shocks is connected which has a large hex on the end. Assuming that the hex was to allow disassembly the end was duly removed releasing a large spring and a couple of washers so make sure you take it apart in the vertical position to minimise losses
. There was no damage to the seal so a quick wipe and all back together again however the cap did make up slightly further than before. Back in the car and re-tested okay
.
There were a couple of small marks on the edge of the cap so I can only assume that the cap was backed off slightly and had allowed air past the seal hence the increased frequency of the compressor running as it was unable to maintain system pressure.
I'll try and get some photos sorted out later but hope this can be of use.
Steve
Author
Topic: Self Levelling Compressor - Facelift Estate - Info (Read 832 times)