xt6exy Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 I had a leaking air bag in my rear passenger air strut. I got a used one on here, rubber on the bag seems good, and I sanded and repainted the tube it rides over. It didn't have the silinoid on it though. The one on the leaky strut was still working, so I put it on the new strut and put it in. But when I started the car, it didn't air up, and all the other struts did. I don't hear any hissing or other noises that would alert me to an air leak. The silonoid worked on my car on the other strut just before, would there be any reason why swapping it onto another strut would make it stop working? That's the only thing I can think of, is that the silonoid isn't switching on anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 possibly the height sensors inside the shock (magnetic reed switches I believe) are not connected or faulty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xt6exy Posted January 28, 2008 Author Share Posted January 28, 2008 possibly the height sensors inside the shock(magnetic reed switches I believe) are not connected or faulty. Is this something I would have access to, or is it inside the strut and unreachable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 hey you asked here instead of the XT6 forum! do you have our new address?? http://subaruxt.com/forum/ height sensor stuff - those are inside the strut and unreachable (well by conventional methods)....of course anything is possible with enough tools and effort. but i wouldn't start there just yet. if the strut is fully compressed, often times they won't air up right when first installed or if they've been sitting for awhile. one trick is to just jack it up so the strut is extended and then turn the car on - it may then inflate. or manually inflate it (using the connectors i'll detail below) and then it'll work fine after that. make sure your plug is clean and fully seated. you don't think the rear solenoid is leaking - there's an oring between it and the strut, did you replace that? there's also another fitting that the height sensor wires go through - 17mm i think..o rmaybe 14, anyway, make sure this is tight and not leaking as well. it has an oring underneath of it too. run 12 volts directly to the solenoid or ground it at the wiring harness in the engine bay by the front drivers side strut tower, i can't recall the details on which ones are what...though if facing the connector it's mostly the pins to the left that control the compressor and each strut solenoid. if you have the FSM it tells you which is which. this is probably already covered and posted on the xt forum. this is the first thing i'd do (assuming the major things are in order..plugged in), is to verify the solenoid works on the car and try to listen for it clicking while operating. good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xt6exy Posted January 28, 2008 Author Share Posted January 28, 2008 hey you asked here instead of the XT6 forum! do you have our new address?? http://subaruxt.com/forum/ height sensor stuff - those are inside the strut and unreachable (well by conventional methods)....of course anything is possible with enough tools and effort. but i wouldn't start there just yet. if the strut is fully compressed, often times they won't air up right when first installed or if they've been sitting for awhile. one trick is to just jack it up so the strut is extended and then turn the car on - it may then inflate. or manually inflate it (using the connectors i'll detail below) and then it'll work fine after that. make sure your plug is clean and fully seated. you don't think the rear solenoid is leaking - there's an oring between it and the strut, did you replace that? there's also another fitting that the height sensor wires go through - 17mm i think..o rmaybe 14, anyway, make sure this is tight and not leaking as well. it has an oring underneath of it too. run 12 volts directly to the solenoid or ground it at the wiring harness in the engine bay by the front drivers side strut tower, i can't recall the details on which ones are what...though if facing the connector it's mostly the pins to the left that control the compressor and each strut solenoid. if you have the FSM it tells you which is which. this is probably already covered and posted on the xt forum. this is the first thing i'd do (assuming the major things are in order..plugged in), is to verify the solenoid works on the car and try to listen for it clicking while operating. good luck! Okay, Ill try jacking it up when I get home. Sounds like it might make sense, since I had to compress it to get it to bolt in. Compression felt good, not too easy to squish it flat. The O ring on the post where the silinoid slides on looked good, no obvious cracks. I put some grease on it to help with the seal. The o ring on the little black hose looked okay too, still soft and flexible. Do you think the inside of the strut could have corroded at all with out that silinoid on it? I've got the fsm, so I'll look through the trouble shooting part, though the basic install/removal section didn't help me find the problem. I'm not hearing the silinoid click on or off at all, opening the strut to air, so that's why I think it's the silinoid. funny thing though, cuz before I pulled the strut off, I turned the car around and the strut aired up fine. Now that's its on the new strut, it doesn't seem to work....Hopefully it just needs a jack! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 take a look at the o-rings at all the nylon lines that run to the top of the front struts and the rear struts. the compressor is in the driver's side fender, if you do have a leak you may find it there. typically a wiggl of the lines will reseat the o-rings, or you can apply some silicone grease to them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xt6exy Posted January 28, 2008 Author Share Posted January 28, 2008 take a look at the o-rings at all the nylon lines that run to the top of the front struts and the rear struts. the compressor is in the driver's side fender, if you do have a leak you may find it there. typically a wiggl of the lines will reseat the o-rings, or you can apply some silicone grease to them Have you ever had a leak and not been able to hear it? Right now I don't think it's a leak cuz there's no hissing sound. The leak in the bad strut made an obvious hiss when I would shut the car off. All my other struts work fine, just this back one is bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 the air suspension can do all sorts of crazy things, yes it can leak without making noise. if it's a huge leak you won't hear it, but that probably won't be the strut either. i would jack the car up first and manually test the strut to see if it will inflate and hold air. if everything else worked fine and your previous strut was just leaking....then the most likely scenario is that something is amiss with what was just installed - the solenoid or the strut. that's why i say - jack it up and test those components. the information we get from that will be delicious! glad you found the XT board!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xt6exy Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 Didn't get a chance to test the solenoid(hook it up to a battery), but I did jack it up and turn the car on. Didn't air up at all. I listened for the solenoid to open, but nothing. This leaves me to believe that there's something electrical wrong. I'll hook the battery to the solenoid tonight and see if it responds to that. I looked through the trouble shooting stuff in the FSM, but didn't find much. I've know a mechanic at a subie dealer here, so I can at least get a little emp discount on a new strut there, but am wondering, does any one else have any super-secret ninja sources for these bad boys. I used to be able to find them online, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Some items come to mind from when I had my XT 6 with rump roast (Air Suspension System) 1) Just tuning the car "on" does not trigger the rump roast There was a timer after the car was started and sometimes the car had to move a bit (maybe an in gear sensor or VSS) that would trigger the comp to come on and "air up" the car. 2) With the tire in the air the height switch in the shock would tell the rump roast ECU the shock is at maximum height. The ECU would let air out if anything. Not put air in. Lower the jack to a point where that side is lower by a bit than the others. Start the car an wait a minute or so for the compressor to start and air up. 3) The height switches inside the strut are detailed and troubleshooting them is covered in my XT 6 FSM. You will need some form of continuity tester fort this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xt6exy Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 Some items come to mind from when I had my XT 6 with rump roast (Air Suspension System) 1) Just tuning the car "on" does not trigger the rump roast There was a timer after the car was started and sometimes the car had to move a bit (maybe an in gear sensor or VSS) that would trigger the comp to come on and "air up" the car. 2) With the tire in the air the height switch in the shock would tell the rump roast ECU the shock is at maximum height. The ECU would let air out if anything. Not put air in. Lower the jack to a point where that side is lower by a bit than the others. Start the car an wait a minute or so for the compressor to start and air up. 3) The height switches inside the strut are detailed and troubleshooting them is covered in my XT 6 FSM. You will need some form of continuity tester fort this. I had the car running when I jacked it up. The back wheels were off the ground about and inch, so I guess that might make the height sensor think it was aired up enough. Lowered it back down to see if it held any air, it sank back down. Funny thing too, my suspension failure light isn't going on right now either. It did a few other days, when it was subzero, but as soon as it's like 15-20 degrees, it doesn't turn on anymore. Got a volt gauge, so I'll test that on the solenoid too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Have you tried moving the car in this condition? as per "the car had to move a bit (maybe an in gear sensor or VSS) that would trigger the comp to come on and "air up" the car." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 try this: swap the rear struts and see what happens. all you have to do is either rotate or swap the top mounts and you can use either strut on both sides. put the good strut in the questionable position. if this strut airs up fine..then that likely means the something is wrong with the new strut assembly (the one that wouldn't work). could be the strut, wiring, connector, or solenoid. should be very easy to find. if that known good strut doesn't air up then the problem resides on the vehicle side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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