-
Front suspension flat
Hello all,
I have been lurking for years and the site has been so very informative. Thanks to all!
I have a 1987 XL 40. Driving along in freezing temperatures I noticed my front suspension air pressure went flat. Fortunately I was able to get the suspension up using level low. That got me the rest of the way. So looking at the air diagram I see there is a relay valve in the steer compartment. Maybe it froze?
Hoping for some words of wisdom here. Don’t like driving with level low on.
Thanks in advance,
elliot
-
6 Replies
-
Temporarily you can swap one of the working Nogren valves for the one that’s stuck if it happens to be the drive unit. With that one working you will not be able to manually adjust each point but it will make it safe to drive and bring the coach up to the proper drive height. If one is frozen that means you have moisture in the system and that’s not good. You can also try going at the valve unit with hair dryer to see if something actually is frozen. Let’s hope not as a bad valve would be much easier to deal with. I learned long ago to keep a spare on hand as it’s just a matter of removing the C clip and sliding one off and one back on before replacing the clip.
-
Low Hanging Fruit and Lazy Mechanic
That’s me. Before swapping valves take a quick check of the four port manifold with the level low solenoid valves in the stack. Crack the second one down, (third one up) and see if in the road or driving position that valve is flowing air. If not the coil on the valve is bad and any other coil in the stack can be swapped temporarily to allow you to drive. You may see posts talking about a 5 port manifold, but your vintage had 4)
Or Bill may be on to something if the coach has moisture in the accessory system, in which case cold and freezing temps are going to drive you absolutely nuts until the air system is dried, damaged components replaced, and the air dryer serviced.
-
Thanks for the suggestions. I will try these methods and let you know.
to be clear I hear the air rush out from between the front wheels when switched from level low to drive. And I can hear the solenoids in the 4part manifold operate. Specifically the second one down and I think the 3rd. I do Cary extra norgrens (but do I have the correct one?) so I’ll swap the second one down out and see what difference it makes. I have serviced my drier and never see moisture in my system but I have suspected my aux compressor could be a source since it does not have a drier.
thanks for the input I’ll get back to you. FYI our cell tower blew over in a storm so I am slow to respond this is turning out to be quite the adventure.
thanks,
Elliot
-
That’s a different piece of information.
When you switch from level low to drive the air flow is directed through the ride height valve located top center between the wheels. See if that is your issue.
-
Thanks Jon. I meant to change the coils! As long as the drive coil is working properly it’s safe to drive. Just a pain to level once parked until you get them all working!
-
Thanks again to all for pitching in on this issue. Since level low was working to keep the airbags aired up I just drove home that way. And it was cold so I just barely got around to checking things out.
the reason I was immediately dropping to bump stops is that the leveling valve linkage bolt had fallen out. Picture below. So I climbed in there today and replaced the 1/4 20 bolt and washers this time I added a little locktite blue and hopefully we are good to go for the duration.
Thanks again all!
See you on the road!
Elliot
Log in to reply.