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Level Low Solenoid Rack
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Jerry I thought you already tested each line at back with gauge , on all air bags and norgrens ??? Just posted to Jon’s answer you got there first Jerry !!!!
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Peter, I did. I’m trying something else now, I turned the HWH on automatic, and going to see if it stays level, with no aux air on, so I’ll see what happens. Just trying to narrow it down.
I have a feeling it won’t.
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If your bags are losing 3 lbs. per hour there’s your problem. That’s huge.
You need zero pounds per hour.
When you raise the coach in the rear to the driving height, let’s just say for discussion purposes it takes 90 PSI to put the bus at the ride height. I have no clue what the pressure would be just to lift the coach from its lowered position. Let’s pretend we actually know that and say that is 30 PSI. That means that the 60 PSI difference from the bus being all the way down to being at the driving height is 4″ in travel. It is not likely linear, but we can say one thing for certain and that is at 90 PSI it is where it needs to be heightwise, but for every one pound loss of pressure the bus is no longer at that height.
If you are actually down 3PSI in an hour I can understand why your bus is all the way down overnight.
Now all you have to do is find out where that loss of air occurs. Since the bus dropped when you lifted the tag, it is going to be within the range from the five port Norgren to the 3 port.
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Jon or Tom can you hook Jerry up with a link.. sounds like he has more than one area that needs attention. I’m no good at computer stuff/links. If you don’t think it would help disreguard..
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OK, I’ll continue to search. I probably need to make a Bubbler. Because, I have sprayed gallons of soapy water, and fixed all the leaks I’ve found. I have really tite Brake air now. It has held 120 psi for 2 days now. Never used to do that.
Still seems odd, for all of a sudden, both rear sides drop. Temps lower maybe.
I’ll probably give it a break for a few days, supposed to be highs of 40 and lows of 20. Going to FL next week, maybe I’ll see what a warmer climate does to the leaks.
In the meantime, I’ll just drop all the air, so it doesn’t make me mad when I walk by it and it’s not level. LOL
thanks everyone.
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Robert,
I would be glad to send Jerry links, but we have pretty much beat this to death and I really don’t know what would help.
With shop air and a gauge hooked to the air bag line at the 5 port for each side and losing 3 lbs per hour, that’s the problem. It has to be fittings, ping tanks, air bags or tag 3 port. The only way as we have said to find the leak is to isolate each component with shop air.
I had the exact same problem and by isolating each component with shop air and a gauge, I found the culprit.
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Hope when all said and done it is shared because it doesn’t seem to be the common ones. best of luck.
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Jerry and I are going to take the discussion off the forum for a little bit so we can rcoup and sort out exactly where he is as far as narrowing down the search. I fully expect as soon as the problem is solved there will be a full report.
I know Tom just went through this, and I have been equally frustrated on my coaches and when the obvious things are fixed and the coach still loses air it is time to step back and figure the most logical approach to narrowing the search and the steps to isolate the problem.
FWIW there is no silver bullet. If you have a coach with air leaks a whole lot of them can be found pretty easily. But as you get the big stuff taken care of those little ones start to get very difficult to pin point. Whether you do this yourself or you pay a shop such as Prevost to do it the final solution requires time and patience. I would rather eat bees than chase air leaks.
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I was to involved-Won’t happen again.. I have my own work to do. comunication is not my good side anyway.
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Bob, you are doing fine and we know and understand your explainations. I’ll send you an email.
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Bob,
No such thing as too involved, keep em coming…
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I realize Jerry is not only one reading this: anyone chasing air leaks===Air tank drains are often overlooked — there are 4 ping tanks (small gallon can looking tanks with drains on bottom) on the rear air bag suspension alone. All on mine leaked on the 98 XLE FWIW Bob…
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I finally found what was causing BOTH sides in the rear to drop. In short, it was a complete coincidence.
As ya’ll know, I have been all over the bus replacing all Norgrens in the rear, spraying soapy water on all the fittings I could find or get to, even taking tires and wheels off to gain more access., and going through the Air manifold which the HWH controls.
I found the leaks by taking a telescopic mirror, and spraying gobs of soapy water on the ping tanks in front of the drive axle, because, I got to thinking, the ONLY two fittings that I could not see or get to were on the inside of the Ping tanks, which the fittings on that side were close beside an angled brace. I couldn’t even see them from under the bus.
So, after shooting soapy water over the top and back, waiting a few minutes, then put the mirror back there……….and………… BOTH sides were bubbling like crazy!
No way to get to the fittings, so, I took the hose clamps off the tank, and took the air line loose from the tank to the front air bag, and then was able to slide out away from brace. There was just enough slack in the air lines on the inside to do that, and get to the fittings…….barely! Wasn’t easy, but replaced them with compression. They were Branch Tee fittings with 3/8″ lines on them.
I also found a Ping tank itself leaking just inside the Drive axle air bag right in front of the tag axle, which is why the drivers side was leaking more than the pass side.
Jon, Tom, and most of you were right all along in your comments. I just had an unusual coincedence, not easy to see.
Pictures below should illustrate the above description. I sanded and painted the tanks before re-installing them. Sorry for taking so long!
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Very nice job Jerry , glad you found it!!!!!!!!!
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Good job Jerry.
What you posted has considerable value for all of us because few of our leaks are going to announce themselves and there are several locations for potential leaks that are difficult if not impossible to see.
Logic helps a lot in isolating where the leaks can be located in general, but only persistance in checking every single potential leak point is going to find the leak. And although you found the leaks with soapy water we are often not able to do that and have to rely on a test gauge, ultrasonic leak detector, or a bubbler.
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