Leaks....

[atvsmurf]

Just finished my eldorado, for now. I didn't see any leaks with soap and water, but didn't spend a lot of time looking. What would be considered normal/acceptible leakage? If I park it over 8 or so hours, the tank has leaked off most all pressure. So if I have it dumped when parked overnight, then I have to wait till the pressure builds.... I also notice that it will drop a bit after driving 10 minutes or so.... Let me know what you guys have experienced. thnx

[Chunkyjh]

Personally I couldn't deal with that. My tank takes a good 7 minutes to fill I reckon. I'd just check all your tank fittings and adjust them when you can.

[KyleAnderson]

Leaks that fast will definitely show up with soap and water.

My tank will lose about 5psi over a week, and (now that I fixed all the leaks) the bags don't show any drop over a few days. I had a hell of a time finding the leak on one of my struts. Turned out there was a ding in the strut shaft where the upper O-ring sits, so it lost pressure slowly... filled the ding with RTV, and now all is well. This didn't show up with soap and water of course. Most leaks will be at your fittings, but don't rule out the odd places. As for your tank, do you have a good check valve (Viair is crap if you have one)?

[atvsmurf]

Thanks guys, I should be able to get into it soon...thanks for the heads up on the check valve...

[sendokgarpu]

may i ask what season is currently you experienced? summer / winter?

[atvsmurf]

right now we are well into spring...been 60-70 all week and pouring the rain pretty much constantly...

[atvsmurf]

So I have checked the fittings multiple times, using soapy water and also using a piece of tubing to my ear trying to hear anything....can't find anything, yet. I am seriously considering pulling each fitting and rewrapping them and just redoing every connection...I am running the vu-4 valve block and havent checked anything on it ofther than the in and out ptc fittings....does anyone know if these are fairly leak proof, or leak prone? and I also pulled the line from the compressor and tied a balloon over it to...but it never inflated any, so it wasnt leaking from the check valve...at the time...

[Funbagz]

I **** to say it, but you're leaking from somewhere that you haven't checked, or haven't checked thoroughly. I would just start eliminating variables. Some of this stuff you may have already done, but I would just do it again. Here's what I did when I had a similar issue with my V2. I would check one thing at a time and then leave it overnight, then I would move onto the next thing until I had eliminated all possible leak-prone components. And you should only do one at a time otherwise if you fix the issue by doing two or three things at once, you will never know which one was actually causing the leak. The VU-4 is a very sturdy manifold, but that doesn't mean there can't be defects on some units, but I would leave that variable for last after you have checked everything else.

1.) Start with all the PTC fittings and re-cut your lines, I've learned that most leaks come from lines that were cut at a slight angle, not allowing a proper seat in the PTC fitting. I would include those going into the VU-4. If you have lines/fittings for gauges, add another step into this process and redo all of those and let it sit over night.

2.) Check leader lines and bag fittings. I removed each PTC air bag fitting and re-sealed it (whether it was visibly leaking or not). I sealed my system using 3 wraps of teflon tape, and then coated over that with Rectorseal 5. It was during this process that I found out that both of the leader lines to the front air struts had fairly severe leaks at the swivel fitting. So I spoke with Jeremy at Airlift and he sent me out a set of new leader lines (non-swivel). I let the car sit over night and the front bags did not lose a single PSI. The rear's were not losing any air (except for the right one, which I will explain later) so I just left them alone.

3.) I was still losing air in my tank over night so I moved on to all in-line fittings from the tank to the V2 manifold only (bulkheads, unions, reducers, etc), as well as all the brass fittings on the tank (not including the Viair check valves). I did not see any leaks with soapy water, but I tightened a few fittings and re-sealed some others anyway. I also sprayed each assembly bolt on both compressors, as well as the threaded fitting for the air intake filters. I did not see any bubbles.

4.) My tank was now only losing about 10-12 PSI over a 24 hour period, which for Minnesota in April is pretty good considering the temperature changes from day to night. However, I knew I could reduce that number even more, so I now removed the compressor leader lines from the water traps and re-sealed the check valves.

5.) After letting the car sit for 24 hours again, the tank was now losing only about 8-10 PSI. So this time I removed the drain valve on the bottom and re-sealed it, and also tightened the Schrader valve core for my inflation valve on the tank. My leaks reduced ever-so-slightly down to about 7-8 psi over a 24-hour period.

6.) Lastly, I drained the air tank after about a week using the drain valve and made sure that it was tight when I closed it, and I also drained both of the water traps and made sure the dials were tight when I was done.

It may come down to just re-sealing everything. At least that way you know all the threaded fittings are proper. After you have done all of this, if you are still leaking air, then it's either your manifold, or your tank. The bags themselves are not prone to leak and I rule that out until every last piece of the system has been accounted for. In manifolds like the VU-4 or the V2, if pieces of teflon or sealant get stuck in the valve, they may not close all the way, letting air leak through from the tank and out into the bags, and if a bag or bag fitting is leaking, you would never know that it was coming through the manifold. When you reseal fittings, make sure to leave a thread or two un-wrapped towards the bottom, otherwise little slices of teflon tape will be cut off and sent throughout your entire air ride system.

As of right now, my tank loses about 5-6 PSI if it sits for 24 hours, my front bags do not lose any air at all. The left rear loses nothing and the right rear is losing a couple PSI, but it's because one of the lines going into the bulkhead that passes through the trunk is as a pretty aggressive angle. It was the only way I could make it work. I may try cutting the line again and see if that helps, its only a 2-foot section so I can do it as many times as I need until it stops leaking.

Just the other night I drove the car for about 2 hours on a very warm day and the tank pressure actually rose by about 2 psi, while the bags lost nothing at all. I'm pretty happy with how my system is working, and I contribute the pressure loss in the tank to the temperature. I also know that the Viair check valves are junk, so I am sure that they very very very slowly leaking out through the compressors, but so slowly that I cannot detect it with soapy water. Last year with my old setup and one of my current compressors, I was losing air through the compressor head, so I tightened down all the allen bolts and have had no issues with it yet this year.

I know that was a lot to read, but it worked for in chasing down leaks and now my system is pretty bulletproof. I hope it helps!

[atvsmurf]

It was a lot...a lot of good info that is appreciated... I will take it slow and hit one fitting at a time... keep in mind that although I have been wrenching since the '80's this is my first bag setup... when I air up the rear, over a few minutes it will drop down maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inch aver a few minutes but stop there and hold overnight....it seems like the leak(s) may be in the tank or fittings...
so if the tank pressure drops way down will the bags leak back thru the valve... or will the valve effectively isolate each side...I m thinking it should.... and thanks!!!!

[atvsmurf]

found my leak...pressure switch to the 1/4x3/8 bushing...when I hit it before with soap I must have only hit the 3/8 part going into the tank...the leak was on the 1/4" threads of the switch and it was bubbling pretty good, vast improvement already...I aired it up at 4 pm and let the compressor kick off then left it sitting...the car looks to be sitting ~ the same height, so I turned the key on(it is almost 11 now) and the compressor never kicked on...before, essentially all the pressure would have leaked off and I would have to wait a minute or three before it would lift up enough to start driving...I started with the one fitting that was toughest for me to get to...It aint easy for a 6'4" 240lb guy to snake around a tank in a trunk full of air ride crap...lol