Slow leak in rear air assist suspension

[VXman]

I have a basic rear air assist suspension. It appears to have a slow leak. I cannot see anything obvious in the air bags or the joins in the pipe work. Tried using a spray bottle with washing up liquid to identify a leak but didn't see anything.

Anyone had similar? Any ideas? I could take it back to the fitter but it is a 60 mile drive so would rather sort it myself if I can.

 

[Two on Tour]

Have you checked the valve where you add air into the system and the gauge?

 

[donkey]

Can you isolate each side individually? If so that will half your search area.

Geoff

 

[Langtoftlad]

My righthand bellow loses a bit of air over a period. Just give it a bit of a puff every now & then.
Check the pressure when I check the tyres.

 

[paddymcc]

I had a slow leak from a connection identified by washing up foam. It was a slow leak so check carefully. I got a new connection from Marcle Leisure and it has been fine since. The system was already quite old when I got the van.

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[L' Hobo]

When I first fitted mine, one side leaked slightly, I over pressurised both sides, loaded up the van with full tank of water etc., took it for a run and they both bedded themselves in nicely!

 

[RustyRuss]

Very likely to be a joint/”T”piece. I had a very slight leak in our new system and traced it to one of the “T”piece joints for the high pressure blue hose that’s about 4mm I.D. It hadn’t been cut very accurately by the fitter and wasn’t sealing properly, but only let out air if you stepped on the driver’s doorstep (where the majority of the pipework is located) and put physical strain on the pipework. Needless to say pipework now re-routed and leak fixed. To fix it I loosened the compression nut on the fitting/joint, removed and re-cut the pipe then re-made the joint, as that irritating gopher says, “Simples!”

Cheers!
Russ

 

[VXman]

Have you checked the valve where you add air into the system and the gauge?

Ah - there does appear to be bubbles coming out of the valve when I spray it. Can you replace the valve on a Schrader Valve?

 

[ambulancekidd]

Ah - there does appear to be bubbles coming out of the valve when I spray it. Can you replace the valve on a Schrader Valve?

Yes.

 

[RustyRuss]

Try to tighten the innards of the valve. If you look inside it past the spring loaded air release pin you should see a horizontal bar, use the tines of a fork to tighten it, clockwise. Want to know how I know? We were parked in a car park bay in Torquay a few years ago and an inconsiderate tosser in a hyped up RangerRover blocked us in. When we eventually managed to get away, the guy parked legitimately in front of us turned up and let us out, I returned to the RangeRover and removed all 4 of his valve inners thus letting his tyres down! I left each one on the top of the appropriate tyre.

Cheers Russ

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[jockaneezer]

Get yourself something like this tool

 

[Trevor Wbm]

It's the gauge or filler valve that leaks on mine ... I pressurised it last Monday, just now the gauge looked like this with the valves off and the bellows isolated:

... but when I open the the valves, there's still pressure in the system:

 

[Margaritaman]

Very likely to be a joint/”T”piece. I had a very slight leak in our new system and traced it to one of the “T”piece joints for the high pressure blue hose that’s about 4mm I.D. It hadn’t been cut very accurately by the fitter and wasn’t sealing properly, but only let out air if you stepped on the driver’s doorstep (where the majority of the pipework is located) and put physical strain on the pipework. Needless to say pipework now re-routed and leak fixed. To fix it I loosened the compression nut on the fitting/joint, removed and re-cut the pipe then re-made the joint, as that irritating gopher says, “Simples!”

Cheers!
Russ

Roughly where/how did you re-route the cab step pipework Russ?

 

[RustyRuss]

Trevor you need some Plumbers Tape For Electricians on that joint and possibly some plumbers white jointing compound, PTFE tape is available from B&Q, plumbers merchants, Screwfix etc etc, as is jointing compound. Margaritaman I re-routed the pipe work so that it wasn’t underneath the step but attached to the “riser” of the step, there’s plenty of other wiring there so it all zip tied nicely to it, don’t know why the guy I had to fit the system laid it underneath the step…. Our chassis is a 2012 plate Ducato.

Cheers! Russ

 

[VXman]

Just to round this off - tightened the valve core with a valve tool and it's now holding it's pressure! Thanks for the responses.