for over a year now I have had issues with an o.s.f. air spring randomly deflating, thus was a new one from aerosus. when I fitted the bag it would not inflate and so I changed the union and presto it worked. all was good until February when I decided it was time to change the weeping cv boots on the front. so I deflated front air bags and set about changing. came to re-inflate and no good. drove the 15 mile journey from my friends garage home nice and steady and took to investigating the issue. found the seals at the bottom of the airbag were not sealing. the strut was clean so had no choice as tried rubber grease etc to use a bit of sealant on them. perfect!
now even though this was done I had an occasional hdc/eas/abs fault? also I noticed when braking the osf abs was going mental and during this cold snap it was more noticeable. and when pulling off a junction the osf wheel was spinning and under acceleration on the slippery roads the car was going instantly sideways??? wow where's all this power come from??? not to be hdc/eas/abs light on. well I found the issue. the osf although would sit for days and not lose air, could use 3 tubs of washing up liquid and show no leaks was in fact deflating whilst driving only. this would cause a slight noticeable dip on the osf whilst driving and as there was no weight on that front corner no traction hence abs going mad and it wheelspinning. also it would account for the shopping trolley style of handling as in a left hand bend the car is only really steering on nsf and osr! Now every few minutes the car was resets the ride heights so was pumping back up. now for the leak!!!!! if anyone has ever stripped one down they will be shocked as I was at how the air is delivered to the rotating bag from the fixed strut top. it is a 6mm pipe that is double coiled inside the strut top. so when turning it simply shortens or lengthens the coil. simple but this pipe had cracked at the union so would only ever leak on or near to full right hand lock!! So hours of leak finding would not show a fault, it was only as a last resort I checked the air pipe from lock to lock and heard the leak. I stripped it down and bench tested and found the leak. so this time changed the whole strut. I have read on forums people having similar issues and as the abs is going mad and the car resets the air suspension people think it's an abs speed reading issue, but no fault codes to support it. so anyone having similar issues stop immediately, look at the front and see if it is low on one side and then reach check if your air bag is deflated as it may not be an abs issue. car has done 2k now and is purrrrfect again.
just thought I would share this.

Last edited by Covbandit on 2nd Jan 2018 1:28am. Edited 3 times in total

great fix pal , good of you to share it with everyone

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Well found CovBandit, one to add to the list of things to look for  .
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I think I’ve got a similar issue. I recently purchased a pair of aerosus bags for the front after one went pop.

The NSF is perfect no issues at all. The OSF is leaking, I’m had it off three times since putting it on. Renewed joints put new o rings in and lubricated everything. I was just now assuming I had a faulty bag. When I noticed air was out when I turned full right lock.

Out of interest why did you change the whole strut instead of getting another bag? Did you replace both front struts together?

Thanks

Tris

Hi, due to the months of hassles, and the now cheapness of the complete strut, it was just the most cost effective, plus the aerosus was just out of warranty, and the time it takes to strip and rebuild I just felt for the sake of 20 quid more change the lot. I only changed the one to begin with but changed the other side about 6 months later, so far touch wood they have been hassle free. The leak on the air bag inside was definitely a manufacturing fault as there is no access to damage it, also I think the tolerances are slightly off with the large o rings on the strut as mine leaked from there also.
Also I think the struts come with 2 year warranty, the air bag only has one year.
Hope it helps

Thanks, that definitely helps. Did you buy the struts from aerosus or somewhere else? Just wondering if it was a manufacturing fault if it was worth trying somewhere else.

Aerosus messed me about from the start really, sent me the wrong side then refunded PayPal after charging me for the correct one etc. . I sourced my struts from the well known auction site, without looking through all my receipts etc I am sure these are the people I used
Item no. eBay Item No. 303120343075, like I say 2 years warranty over aerosus 1 year, up until now I have had no issues with the new struts.

Excellent, thanks! I’ll get them ordered and start the fight with aerosus for a refund! I doubt I’ll get one but they don’t work so I’m not sure what they could say to get out of it.

Ok pal, good luck all round.

Covbandit wrote:

. I sourced my struts from the well known auction site, without looking through all my receipts etc I am sure these are the people I used
Item no. eBay Item No. 303120343075, like I say 2 years warranty over aerosus 1 year, up until now I have had no issues with the new struts.

Excellent, I’ve ordered them and to their credit Aerosus are actually giving me a refund for the leaky bags.

Hopefully the struts are here Thursday so should be all fixed! Going to rebuild the compressor after as a little treat for it, as it has been running a little more recently with all the leaks.

If you have not done one before they are a doddle, just make sure you get the orientation right. I was unlucky with mine it was about 2 months out of warranty! So didn't even try. But fair play

How do you mean get the orientation right? Replacing the whole strut or just the bag?

I’ve pulled the old ones off about 5 times now, getting pretty quick at it!

The new ring on the compressor sorry