HWH Active Air issue - left front cycling up and down while air leveled

[J&JD]

Aha! That is the exhaust (lower) solenoid. Wouldn’t you know that the one for the right side is in the least accessible spot on my coach.
Hopefully Joe will get back to me soon. Sorry for all the posts but you have been a great help pushing me to fix this contraption.

 

[Neal]

Maybe so and I guess I should remove it and test. But I’m determined to find and fix it. Next time I go to the coach I’ll remove the muffler and test but I don’t know when that will be. I’m not in a rush and not leaving on next trip for a few months. If needed I’ll go to HWH as I’m headed that way. When mine gets fixed we’ll know what to do with yours but I think we’re at least pointed in the right direction right now. It’s within that manifold contraption I believe.

 

[Neal]

Aha! That is the exhaust (lower) solenoid. Wouldn’t you know that the one for the right side is in the least accessible spot on my coach.
Hopefully Joe will get back to me soon. Sorry for all the posts but you have been a great help pushing me to fix this contraption.

Not easy on mine either but I’ll get it done.

Yea, vetting this together helps. We’re going to get it. And learn a lot along the way.

 

[Neal]

I wonder if taking the exhaust off and lubricating it would do anything? Shoot some WD40 in there?

 

[J&JD]

I wonder if taking the exhaust off and lubricating it would do anything? Shoot some WD40 in there?

My guess is you would be better off removing the solenoid and checking its seals but a bit of lube in the exhaust couldn’t hurt if you can direct it to the valve.

 

[Neal]

I asked Joe about using WD40 and this was his reply:

Good morning Neal

You can certainly try it but I do not think it is gummed up. I suspect something got between the needle and seat and it is either still there or the seat is damaged and it will never seal no matter what you do.

If you want to try to get rid of it start the coach and build it up on air, then go to manual leveling and raise the front bags as far as they will go then lower the front bags all the way down. Do that a couple of times and see if it works. If it does great you are home free, if not you have a valve coming you will just need to replace it. Personally I think you will end up having to replace it, but you have nothing to loose by doing the raising and lowering except a little bit of time.

Looking at the pictures it looks to me like the manifold is not to bad to get to so changing the valve will be easy.

Thanks

Joe

I told him you reached out to him Jerry and that you have the same problem. Not sure if you two connected yet.

I replied to Joe asking if any thread sealant is needed with the valve replacement and if so what do we use.

 

[Neal]

Joe replied:

You will not need any sealant. The valve is an O ring seal and the new valve comes with the O rings already on it, so just remove the old solenoid screw the new one back in, plug it in and go.

 

[J&JD]

Joe called today and after much discussion and looking at my diagram he realized that he sent you the wrong solenoid. We both need the hi flow RAP25428 solenoid for your left & my right which are probably leaking back thru the mufflers which is why no one can find the leak. He laughed and said he would be contacting you. BTW, he is off on Fridays. Mine is on the way ($270+ I believe).
Are we having fun yet?

 

[Neal]

Yes, thanks, he called me after speaking with you and has the correct one on the way.

Fun yet? Let's wait for the installation, and tag you're it, you go first

If this is a simple fix as it seems I'm going to be very happy. I'll take it!

I do want to try the full air up and dump a few times to see if I can get the gunk to clear but I think my carnival ride Monday night was enough of the up and downs. But I'm still going to explore that theory before I start the joy of getting behind the manifold blindly. Not too worried about it, another thing to learn and put in the bag of tricks though.

 

[Neal]

I had to go to the coach yesterday so I figured I'd try the up/down cycle which I did 5 times, no change. I then put it back in travel mode (ride height) and turned off the key and went up front to spray the manifold with soapy water and also listen. I saw no bubbling on lines or even mufflers which is good in that there seems to be no external leaks as discussed. I could swear putting my ear near the manifold I could hear a constant hiss of air but I could be imagining. I put my phone in video mode to record and put it near the back, again I think I hear the same thing but not sure. So I think it's a leak out the back side that I can't see or as I suspected it's just leaking air back into the system and not holding the air level.

I don't have a shipment notification yet of the correct solenoid so in hold mode. I'm going to need a mirror wand thing to see behind the manifold for when it's time to figure out how to get channel pliers on the right part and get it unscrewed. Going to order this set:

Amazon.com

or

Amazon.com

 

[J&JD]

Consider the smallest of the mirrors as size doesn’t matter as much for the view but small is better for tight areas. As for hearing the leak, the muffler would do exactly what it is supposed to do, muffle the sound of the air leaking back thru the solenoid from the air bag.
I have also not heard any shipping info on my solenoid. Will let you know my progress. Sorry the up/down test didn’t help but it was a long shot.