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A Learning Experience?
Over a period of time, I noticed that my coach would rise to
ride height in a “not even” arrangement. Meaning, it seemed both rear air bag sets
would air up as expected, then the front would air up in sort of uneven
manner. Once both rear air bags were at
ride height, the front would come up “sort of” leaning to the right,
then all up and even. To make matters
more interesting, this suspension behavior was not repetitive. Sometime, it would air correctly, even on
both front sides, then at other times, the front would air up uneven, leaning . What does a Prevost owner do?Well, during my recent front air bag replacement
maintenance, I discovered the problem.
With blind determination and stubbornness, I started disconnecting all front
air line fittings, visually inspecting the fitting, then blowing air through
the fitting. I was suspecting something with the front air bag restrictor. What a pain in the ###.What I discovered was in a 3/8 tub X 1/4 MPT air fitting, a piece of Styrofoam was lodged
in the fittings. This particular fitting
was one side of the air restrictor separating the front air bags(left/Right). It seems that the Styrofoam piece would move
around in the fitting, sometime blocking the restrictor port between the front
air bags, and sometime it would not.
This was causing the intermittent air up issue.I am bringing this issue to the Prevost community, not that
any other owner would have this problem, but to highlight ghosts from past
mechanical (mis)repairs. I can only guessthat during an suspension system repair, this line was disconnected and the
fitting accidentally hit the undercoat Styrofoam and became partially
plugged. Or someone had a serious
“problem” with the previous owner and did this as a “pay back” to him. Or maybe, it was their since the coach was built by Prevost.What ever the case may be, things can appear one way, but
hidden gremlins can cause havoc.A learning experience.
Hector
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Here is a shot of the fitting removed from the restrictor block, with the Styrofoam plug shown.
Here is a photo to the Styrofoam plug removed from the fitting. This one was tough to find.
It was a thin piece. I wonder how long it was in the fitting?
I replaced the front air bags. Notice the cracked rubber around the upper edge of the air bag.
Also, I replaced both front brake chambers and hoses. Notice the cracks in the old air hose.
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2 Replies
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Good post Hector, this is the stuff we need to know, anything can happen as you discovered. Think how lucky you are, it could have gone down in the tube further where you couldn’t see, but I know you wouldn’t have stopped until you sorted it out.
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Nice job Hector, makes one feel good to replace something when he can see it needs it. When I changed out all my brake hoses the old ones looked like new, but I had no idea how old they realy were.
Now I know.
JIM
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