My drivers side front air bag was split so I've replaced that this morning without having to depressurise the system first. I've now gone to change the front passenger side and can't find any cross link valve behind the drivers side wheel arch liner ! How do I release the pressure so I can remove the passenger side strut ?

stab it. You're replacing it anyway ...

Cant you just press down on the airline collar and release the airline from the strut ? All the air will come out then. It'd depressurise in no time. No worse than pressing in the valve of a tyre really. V8 or else ...

You can't get to the air line connection on the top of the strut without dropping the strut down first. Can you remove the strut while it's still pressurised and then release the air from the air line connection or do you have to release the pressure first ?

So the answer is yes you can remove the strut with it still pressurised. Lower it down enough to access the air line at the top of the strut, slowly undo the nut until air starts coming out slowly then wait for the strut to depressurise.

Another way is to gently undo the air line where it connects into the valve just behind the o/s front wheel arch liner. Current:
- 2017 L405 3.0 V6 Autobiography
- 2013 L405 4.4 TDV8 Vogue [For Sale]
Sold:
- 2004 L322 4.4 Vogue (BRC LPG)
- 2002 L322 4.4 HSE (having fixed timing chain guides)
- 2000 P38 4.6 Vogue (BRC LPG)
- 1981 2-door In-Vogue
- 1980 Ex-Army SIII LWB
- 1976 SIII LWB
- 1968 SIIA
Stripped for parts:
- 2003 L322 4.4 Vogue

Well as I found out while doing this job, the later models don't have any valve behind the o/s wheel arch liner!

Correct, I found that out too
Another thing to note is on dunlop struts the airline connector on the strut is not designed to be unscrewed as it is a push fit connector. You can unscrew them but they may not tighten up again, one of mine did , one didn't and when I complained island 4x4 said to not undo it numpty - fair comment. (They didn't say that exactly but I know they were thinking it)

Ah....

How do the later ones balance pressure between each side and front to back if it doesn't have the valves, I wonder. Current:
- 2017 L405 3.0 V6 Autobiography
- 2013 L405 4.4 TDV8 Vogue [For Sale]
Sold:
- 2004 L322 4.4 Vogue (BRC LPG)
- 2002 L322 4.4 HSE (having fixed timing chain guides)
- 2000 P38 4.6 Vogue (BRC LPG)
- 1981 2-door In-Vogue
- 1980 Ex-Army SIII LWB
- 1976 SIII LWB
- 1968 SIIA
Stripped for parts:
- 2003 L322 4.4 Vogue

Maybe that is done at the valve block by the tank. V8 or else ...

Each corner still has it's own valve looking at the diagram and the front cross link valve operation is described below. The cross link valve was removed and replaced with a connector and so i imagine in the absence of the cross link valve the heights are just controlled by the ECU ?

Click image to enlarge

holidaychicken wrote:

Correct, I found that out too
Another thing to note is on dunlop struts the airline connector on the strut is not designed to be unscrewed as it is a push fit connector. You can unscrew them but they may not tighten up again, one of mine did , one didn't and when I complained island 4x4 said to not undo it numpty - fair comment. (They didn't say that exactly but I know they were thinking it)

This is the email reply from Island

One thing is very important. The brass union should not be removed. This is a push fit fitting and is not designed to be removed.

Remove the brass fitting voids any warranty. The correct fitting procedure is:-

Remove the brass fitting from the old strut (as the strut is now no longer needed)
Remove the collet and brass nut from the pipe
Cut pipe back 5mm to remove any scratches
Push the pipe into the brass fitting on the new strut

I bought my Dunlop struts from LR Trade Parts and they came with no instructions for fitting at all. Every guide and video I looked at before doing the job said not to remove the original air line fittings from the air lines and to just screw them back into the new struts.

Why would removing the air line fittings from the new struts void any warranty ?

Maybe they are different now but I think mine were plastic or screwed into plastic and bonded in although cant remember for certain but I took them out of the new struts as I think I was intending to screw the old ones straight in but then decided to use the new ones and only one would tighten fully and one behaved a bit like it was stripped but remained air tight but when I questioned it I got the reply. This was about 4 years ago I think so memory a bit fuzzy.

The new air line fittings on my Dunlop struts were white plastic with a brass nut on. They unscrewed really easily.

Even the wiki guide on this site tells you not to remove the old air line fittings from the air line and to just screw them into the new strut.

I did some searching earlier and did come across some people saying you shouldn't remove the new air line fitting from the new strut. They were saying to cut the old air line fitting off and then to just push the air line into the fitting on the new strut so I know where you're coming from.

I don't know if the design has changed since you changed yours but all I can say is the Dunlop fittings unscrewed really easily and I had no problems screwing the old air line fittings into the new struts.