[Jim Walters]

Smack it against a block of wood with the open end down and it will pop out.

 

[guyslp]

Thanks, Jim. The only thing I could recall was that it really was not that difficult to extricate. I probably did just what you say, gently to get the little spring and other bits to drop out that come out from that end, then gave it a solid thwack against the workbench to make the bobbin as a whole dislodge itself.

 

[Steven R Morris]

What Jim said Brian. It came out quite easily as it’s only really the rubber seals that are holding it in once the end is unscrewed.

 

[Steven R Morris]

Forgot to post!

A shot of the accumulators and callipers ready to go on.

 

[guyslp]

Just to appease my curiosity, what is it that you have in the bleed screw position on the ACV that's at the left side of your photo? It doesn't look like any bleed screw I've ever seen, and the one on the right certainly does.

 

[Steven R Morris]

Hi Brian, how observant! Its nothing more than a rubber dust cover, with a bit of residue where the last person sprayed it in silver...

 

[Steven R Morris]

Hi all,

Well, work on the car, and anything else for that matter, has come to a rather abrupt halt. I have a medical condition which means I produce too much Uric acid which results in gout. Last Monday I felt an all too familiar ‘twinge’ in my right foot, which manifested itself in a quite severe gout attack.

Now for those of you who don’t know what this is, it’s basically an excess of urates in the body which form very small pin like crystal, which get lodged in between joints, usually for some strange reason the big toe joint. The pain is almost unbearable. Imagine pulling the smooth joint of say your big toe apart slightly, adding some finely ground glass, them walking on it/moving it, that, is gout Best described….

I am basically incapacitated for at least a week, and with summer approaching and work needed to be done on the car, this is not ideal..

But like always, there are things I can do, which is ordering the things I need.

I am going to overhaul the rear hydraulic system on the car, calipers and height control system. I have acquired a document from Guyslp (thanks Brian), which lists most of the o ring sizes I need, but am short of a couple. So does anyone know the ID and CS measurements for the O rings in the following please?

Restrictor valve
Height control Solenoid

Through the help of Chris (Rapid7in22, thanks Chris), I have spoken to an O ring company here in the UK who can supply all of the o rings I need, and as they are very cheap to buy am happy to buy a job lot and make up some kits which I am happy to supply to anyone else who needs any, obviously for what I paid and no more.

Many thanks in advance.

Steve.

 

[Steven R Morris]

Hi all,

Well, its been a very difficult 4 weeks. Ive had chronic gout in my big toe. I cannot begin to describe the pain, suffice to say its like nothing I've ever felt before..

Anyway, its about 90% better now, and I have a week off from work, so decided to get the car finished.

All I needed to do really was bleed the rear brakes through, and the rear suspension. I checked the callipers this morning by removing the pads, all ok. The pistons went back OK although one side was a little tight. I plan to remove the rear callipers and re-seal them in the winter, so I fitted the new bleed nipples (old ones had rounded off) and bled the brakes. Started by bleeding the master cylinder circuit, got lots of air through. Then the high pressure circuit on the rear brakes. I posted before that I couldn't get any fluid through to the rear circuit (circuit 1) and I suspected the G valve. It was that, and once I had de-pressurised the system it bled through fine. Brakes feel fine, in fact better than they ever have, but.....

I did the footbrake pumping pressure test, got 55 pumps then the light came on for circuit 1. Circuit 2 takes over 100 pumps before the light comes on. I did another pressure test, got flick up of 1000 psi, then it slowly rises to about 2300 psi, then drops off to about 18-1900 psi, sounds like its all good???

Then why am I only getting 55 pumps on the circuit 1 system, or is that OK???

I decided to leave the brakes for now as maybe I am over thinking it, and bleed the rear suspension. R/H strut bled through no problem, I loaded the rear of the car up with the cars wheels on the ground and it all seemed OK. However, when I tried to bleed the L/H side, no fluid came out, none at all. I added more weight (got 2 people to sit in the boot) but nothing? Looked at the schematic for the hydraulics, and it looks simple? When I sit on the back of the car with the boot open I get fast up/fast down, and it feels like its working on both sides?

Any ideas???

 

[Wraithman]

55 pumps is nothing to be ashamed about, it's fine. You may have a variance if both pressure switches are old. You could prove the point by rebuilding the switch in that circuit to see if there is a change.

 

[Steven R Morris]

Thanks for re-assuring me! I did rebuild both switches and the valve bodies, so maybe there is a slight difference in spring tension between one and the other?

I may try switching the switches over as they are both the same.

 

[Wraithman]

Steve, that's another solution as well. Let us know.

 

[Jean7]

Have you replaced the plunger in the switch or are they the old original ?
Are the plungers totally free, because that could explian the difference too

 

[shadow 11]

Regarding the lack of bleed on one ram perhaps the height control valve is not correctly set. You could try disconnecting the valve lever from the rear suspension control arm and then gently pushing the lever upwards with the bleed screw opened. Don't push it too much or it will go past a point of no return and the HCV would then need to be removed and opened to reset the lever position. If you manage to get it to bleed you should then close the bleed nipple and switch off the engine before bleeding the No.2 pressure switch afterwards.

 

[Steven R Morris]

Hi Shadow 11,

I did try that, the wheels were on the ground, I removed the lever from the suspension arm, and with the nipple open I moved the arm up very slightly, but nothing came out. I did the side that bled out OK as well, and also nothing came out, so I reconnected both sides and bled the R/H side again, no problem with that side but still nothing from the L/H side?

I don’t get what you mean about not going to far with the lever and having to remove the HVC though to re set? Surely if I just remove the ball joint from the suspension arm, then put it back on, I am not changing the position of the lever on the HVC, therefore it shouldn’t need resetting?

regards, Steve.

 

[Wraithman]

The design of the internals has a certain working range and once the shaft within the valve goes beyond this range it has to be re-set.
Ronny describes this in his series of hands on videos.

 

[shadow 11]

Yep, it's possible that the lever on the HCV has already been pushed too far and has disengaged the cam from the valve, that would explain why the ram doesn't bleed. If the lever moves freely with no hydraulic resistance it's a sure sign that the cam that the lever is attached to has disengaged. There's a schematic explaining the valve setting parameters in the workshop manual (which you can download for free) on the Australian RR Forum site.

 

[guyslp]

The following may help here:

 

[Steven R Morris]

Well, thought it was time for an update..

I removed the HCV on the left side, and set about stripping it down on the bench. I carefully removed all the components, and the bell crank was still attached to the valve...Hmmm not what I expected to find....

So, set about doing a clean up and rebuild. Got new seals and after watching Ronnie Shavers's video a couple of times set about rebuilding the HCV. All went together very well in fact, so I replaced it on the car and set about bleeding the system. I was surprised to find that it did actually bleed! On a four post lift with the boot open I disconnected the lever from the suspension arm and lifted just past the resistance, fluid bled through with no problem at all, it had clearly not been bled through for a while as when the fluid shot through it was a very dark brown, so I bled through until clean fluid and no air, then locked up and topped up. I need to re check the adjustment of the rods but I sit in the boot now and the car shoots up, then back down as I lift off.

I am now happy that the rear suspension is functioning correctly, probably for the first time in a while, but am slightly puzzled as to what the cause of the problem was, i.e. I could not get any bleed on the left side at all but now can? If I'm totally honest I can't hand on heart say that I remember if everything was correct in the HCV as I stripped it, but like Ronnies video says, "It doesn't matter how it was, but how it is when you reassemble it".

So, a test drive, no strange noises from the rear end now, no squawking anyway, but the solid 'knock' from the left rear over mid sized bumps is still there.

It's an odd one, I would have said that as the clonk is so loud, it would have been so obvious as to where it is emanating from? alas not.......

Next step is maybe to take the car to a specialist, although I think the nearest one to me is 65 miles away, or maybe do a video of the car when being driven so I can 'show' everyone on here the noise (if that makes sense)?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Regards,

Steve.

 

[Wraithman]

Sometimes the knock is from the torsion rods for the trunk lid. Check those as they are covered with carpet and an unsuspecting source. Also the jack kit could be a source also. Once ruled out, there are other suggestions.

 

[Steven R Morris]

Thanks Wraithman. I am intrigued as to the whereabouts of these torsion rods??

I have driven the car with the boot stripped out, no spare wheel or jack kit..

I would say it sounds like its coming from the top shock area as its a really heavy clonk but only when going over medium/heavy bumps/pot holes???

Looks like it could be sunny tomorrow so ill take the car out and get my wife to sit in the back with the record function on the phone, or video it and you tube it, then stick it on here maybe?

Its so frustrating as like I said I am a time served mechanic, and would have put money on the act that due to how loud it is, it would be easy to find!!!