Doing air struts,problem

papa bear

papa bear

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As I speak right now my car is in the garage with new air struts but here is the problem ,the struts came in and i went to install them i noticed that the plug in for the air vavle was ovaled and bent out of place on the strut housings and the valves are hard to get to lock in place so i finally got them in but my passenger strut has a leak some where around the top of the strut,sprayed soapy water all over it and no bubbles then when i put my car on the ground and push on the passenger fender it leaks air and another problem is the plug for the air strut sits really close and is touching the bag so my guess is the metal plug housing is bent and my leak is from the housing female connecter,has anyone had this happen the struts are brand new and by the way my old struts look i can tell the new ones are not suppose to be all ovaled and bent in the female air plug ,any ideas
 
Also i have a check air ride message now,I will try to post some pics so everyone has a better understanding of what I am talking about and the worse part is that i cant put my old right strut back on because i cut the lower mounting bracket to remove the lower bolt and sleeze that were rusted in place, some times the easiest jobs are a nightmare,wish i had my mark vii instead now that was easy as pie to do the bags
 
Eddy will make it right if it is wrong - have you called him yet? hummm so you know exactely where the air is coming from correct?

Instead of taking the tire on and off, you can use a jack on the front end to allow the strut to bear the weight for testing...I became a pro, working 2 hyd-jacks while testing and trouble shooting mine for two weeks!

Post pics of the new strut, and the old strut so we can see the difference, did you leave the selnoid on the car?

and what in the world did you use to cut the strut...wow.

Debi
 
Car is on a jack and a stand with one tire off and the stand under the passenger a arm to compress it and i have already tried to make the female connecter round again,for the leak i am still trying to find it,it is louder in the engine compartment then in the wheel well,will get out there later when my garage is heated better,as for the air valve/selinoid they are the stock ones is there a difference in the new ones these old ones are good and did not leak and i replaced the orings and applied vaseline when i reinstalled them
 
Yes there is a difference in the selnoid, my old senoid had a little cap and filter type pad , bout as round as a dime but a little smaller, and about 1/4 inch high on the top of the sel. I had to shave off the little top piece on the selnoid for the new strut - Im not saying this is it, just pointing out a difference.

Did you go to Eddys site and see his sel. replacement pics?

Pics will help, I dont do anything on my Mark without taking before, during and after pics! lol save me soooo much time!
 
It might be that, i noticed that to and i thought maybe order some new air vavles i would say solinoid but i cant spell it right today so the vent cap is causing a air leak but the other side seems fine ,and i dont like the way the air valve plug is touching my air bag but i thought the metal female plug in was bent in or maybe the male valve is to big for these new struts and i should order new air valves
 
http://www.americanairsuspension.com/sol-reseal.htm

look at the enlarged tip...see the little nubbies...that is where the little cap and filter were taken off, you may need to remove them off of your old selnoid and then reinsert it...but still, it should look just like it did prior to taking the bad one off. You turned the selnoid once, then pushed then turned again and the put the metal clip fully on?

something is not right...nothing should be touching the bag...dang...no pics avail?
 
MsM8tress said:
Eddy will make it right if it is wrong - have you called him yet? hummm so you know exactely where the air is coming from correct?

Instead of taking the tire on and off, you can use a jack on the front end to allow the strut to bear the weight for testing...I became a pro, working 2 hyd-jacks while testing and trouble shooting mine for two weeks!

Post pics of the new strut, and the old strut so we can see the difference, did you leave the selnoid on the car?

and what in the world did you use to cut the strut...wow.

Debi
Click to expand...
I will call Eddie as a last resort because i am still trying to find the problem and if it is the strut then i will make the call.I used a grinder with a cut off wheel at the lower mounting brackets so i was able to get a clear shot to the bolt and the sleeve and this helped out alot because i was able to pry the sleeve open and get the bolt out,man was it rusted in there even with heat and pb blater it would not move but i was careful with the heat so i would not burn the bushing,Thanks MsM8tress for the help so far i will post pics later instead because the lady wanted to go out last night and my garage heater was acting up,Maybe today i will have better luck
 
This is how i cut the old one off

100_1915 (Small).JPG
 
This is the new strut and the old one i had to rework the female air valve end on the new strut because it was out of whack

100_1930 (Small).JPG


100_1964 (Small).JPG


100_1973 (Small).JPG
 
I think i found my leak ,and why was this loose,so i guess i will call and find out if this is still good

100_1933 (Small).JPG
 
This lower strut bolt is a pain in the a$$ to remove,making a half hour job into a day job

100_1950 (Small).JPG
 
pic 1 - ouch!
pic 2, 3, 4, - looks like the bracket is outta wack, pliers and a gentle touch to bend it back will fix that,a s long as no pieces are broken off, those 2graduated "arms" is the 2 twist holders for the selnoid to securly lock it in place.
pic 5 - well, scares me, looks like you took the top of of the strut, dunno
pic 6 - clearly shows the tip I was talking about, I think that 1/4" cap and has to be removed fro the solenoid to fit into the new strutt. NOT 100% sure, but that is what I had to do to mine to fit.
pic 7 - an erect solenoid (heheh)
pic 8, 9 - a deflated bag and 9 is a strut in position
now 10, you can clearly see the lower little "arm" is still wacked out, did you try to bend them into place? and did the little locking bracket go on ok, looks to be, but the solenoid and arms should be a nice clean fit, looks like that one is flanged out a bit.
pic 11 - naaaa it aint' that bad, just start a day or two early with soaking it with release, I did a few that were tough and if I didn't weight train, I wouldn't have got them!!!

I sure hope you get to the bottom of it! but make sure you ask Eddy about the tip of the solenoid and give Rich a pm too!

Good Luck!
MsM8
 
For about $50 you can get a electric impact driver... it's what I use.. Don't have a large enough compressor to run the air tools.. Takes that dang nut off fast..

I haven't had any troubles getting that thing off yet..
 
mespock said:
For about $50 you can get a electric impact driver... it's what I use.. Don't have a large enough compressor to run the air tools.. Takes that dang nut off fast..

I haven't had any troubles getting that thing off yet..
Click to expand...

Just curious where you can get a good one that cheap? All the cheap ones I find are too weak to even take off lug nuts.
 
you own your own mark and work on it! i think i might propose. sorry ive just never seen you reply to a tech article. THATS HOT :eek: :eek: :eek: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang:
 
Battery said:
Just curious where you can get a good one that cheap? All the cheap ones I find are too weak to even take off lug nuts.
Click to expand...

The one I have is made by Grip.. It's not a top dollar unit but it does the job I need.

I don't use it every time as I know it's not for extreme heavy use. But when I have a tough nut... it does the job... It's not weak... it's not like the air units but for my needs I'm glad I have it.

They sell for about $50 from a local surplus store.

Hoping that Santa brings me a compressor for Christmas...
 
Get a long Breaker Bar they have them at Advance for the giant price of $17.00 for a 24" one. still not enough, then put a pipe on the end, still not enogh, check to see you're turnin the right direction.
 
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