| Author | Message | ||
     Benoit Leus Experienced User Username: benoitleus Post Number: 29 Registered: 6-2009 |
Since I bought my Shadow II 3 years ago, the fast levelling only works when putting the car in reverse, which is rather useless. I'm led to believe the rear suspension should rise with the gear selector in drive or neutral and the doors open, but on my car,nothing happens. What could be the problem here ? Regards, Benoit | ||
| Chris Browne Frequent User Username: chrisb Post Number: 84 Registered: 2-2010 |
Hello Benoit, Do your interior lights come on when you open a door as the height control solenoid valve which switches from slow to fast level, should be wired in the same circuit? Kind regards, Chris | ||
| Benoit Leus Experienced User Username: benoitleus Post Number: 30 Registered: 6-2009 |
Hi Chris, yes, the interior lights work as they should. When I put the car into reverse the rear comes up and when I then cut the ignition it stays high. Benoit | ||
| Bill Coburn Moderator Username: bill_coburn Post Number: 1391 Registered: 4-2003 |
Benoit/ I suspect you are confusing the action of the rear axle with the levelling system. When you place any car in reverse the pinion in the rear axle tries to climb up the crown wheel. Since you have the brakes on the torsion on the back axle twists it and lifts the car. The levelling system works in conjunction with the position of the gear selector. It has two speeds and even the fast one is gentle. Best way to test it is to load up some heavy friends in the boot have the car in park and start the engine. Observe the rear wheels relative to the body opening and you will see the car lift. Also to get lift your system pressure must be at least nearly 1200 psi! | ||
| Benoit Leus Experienced User Username: benoitleus Post Number: 31 Registered: 6-2009 |
Hi Bill, I suspect you're right but I'm surprised at how high the rear goes up. Trouble is that means the fast levelling isn't working. Another item to add to my to do list :-( Benoit | ||
| Hubert Kelly New User Username: h_kelly Post Number: 3 Registered: 3-2012 |
Hi Benoit, With my 1968 Silver Shadow if you open the rear door gently, one can hear the solenoid height valve click. This may indicate power to same? Equally, with rear door open, if one were to press/release the chrome light switch, the valve solenoid may be heard? HK | ||
| Brian Vogel Frequent User Username: guyslp Post Number: 64 Registered: 6-2009 |
I'll also add that with the chronic problem of "saggy springs" (among several others) that the behavior described doesn't tell you very much at all about whether or not the height control is working or not. Fast leveling is not really, *really* fast and slow leveling is glacial. Unless the car is laden, and heavily laden, in the boot and/or the rear seat the height control should not be kicking in at all unless you have really bad spring sag and the height control is necessary to get the car to something approaching the correct ride height. If the latter situation is the case, you really need to either replace your rear springs or purchase rubber spring spacers to get the springs back to their original non-sagging height, then go through the steps to adjust the standing height of the car. One of the easiest ways to check whether the height control rams are working, if you have access to a lift with drive-on ramps, is to disconnect the height control arms while the car is idling on the lift, with the driver's door open, and give a slight push up on the arm. The car should very quickly rise in response to this since you've got an unladen car in fast leveling mode. Do be careful not to push the arm so far that you disengage the internals of the height control valve. (It has a mighty wide range of operational motion, but some tend to move it *way* too much when doing this test). | ||
| Benoit Leus Experienced User Username: benoitleus Post Number: 32 Registered: 6-2009 |
I know the rear levelling works as I have indeed disconnected the height control arms and pushed them upwards and the car quickly rose. Also, I'm lucky enough in that my rear springs are still okay. So maybe the height control system just doesn't have to work very hard on my car. I'll listen for the solenoid valve click anyway, just to make sure. Benoit | ||
| Jan Forrest Grand Master Username: got_one Post Number: 326 Registered: 1-2008 |
As has been hinted at, but not stated: The self-levelling suspension on these cars shouldn't have to work hard or even at all most of the time. It's only needed when carrying a fair amount of weight in the back of the car in the form of luggage and/or a couple of larger  friends. If you check the relevant section of the workshop manual or in T-Topics you will find the detailed method of determining the proper ride height. It's awkward at best and entails crawling around underneath. Fortunately a more than adequate 'rule of thumb' method is to simply go to the car after it's been stood all night or longer so that the hydraulics should be completely depressurised. If you can just scrape a flat hand under the wheel arch and on to the top of the tyre the static ride height is close enough to being correct for all practical purposes. |
