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lakebuster · 10-25-2018, 01:35 PM

Took our 17 London Aire to Spartan dealer as passenger side front bag was dropping over night. It has been in the shop on level lift for a week now and no leak has been found. Spartan had them start from engine air compressor, wet tank, rear tank and now they are on front tank. They have painters tape on all 4 corners and place a dash with date/time so they can see how much it is dropping over night. Anyone have a small air leak that was this hard to find?

tom chelbana · 10-25-2018, 05:29 PM

We have a 18 LA with K-3 chassis and owned a Essex before that and then again another London Aire. Have spent many.many hours under a ll 3 in the last 21 years. The early LA after fixing air leak would stay up for months with out leaking much air and the air bags wouldn't drop a bit. The 04 Essex which we had for 14 years and 140K miles is the one we had many different air leaks and repairs. Had to replace all air bag valves and even started caring them with us when we traveled. The new LA has been good but it too but will drop after 3 weeks from air bag and other air leaks. We use a squirt bottle filled with soapy water to find the leaks. Have also spent over 1K dollars having Spartan service centers look for these leaks. If you LA is good for a week or longer without air bags dropping I would say you are OK.
Newmar Man

lakebuster · 10-25-2018, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tom chelbana

We have a 18 LA with K-3 chassis and owned a Essex before that and then again another London Aire. Have spent many.many hours under a ll 3 in the last 21 years. The early LA after fixing air leak would stay up for months with out leaking much air and the air bags wouldn't drop a bit. The 04 Essex which we had for 14 years and 140K miles is the one we had many different air leaks and repairs. Had to replace all air bag valves and even started caring them with us when we traveled. The new LA has been good but it too but will drop after 3 weeks from air bag and other air leaks. We use a squirt bottle filled with soapy water to find the leaks. Have also spent over 1K dollars having Spartan service centers look for these leaks. If you LA is good for a week or longer without air bags dropping I would say you are OK.
Newmar Man

No mine was dropping overnight!

tom chelbana · 10-26-2018, 05:57 PM

lakebuster Yes I saw what you said about the coach going down over night but that should be a easy leak to find. When you get that leak fixed I am saying if you can get the LA to stay up for at least a week that would be the point to stop troubling over slight air leaks.

Ray,IN · 10-29-2018, 08:55 PM

Yes such an air leak is frustrating, however the most important thing about an air leak is if it affects your pre-trip air brake inspection go/no-go items.
Our MH just developed an air leak_again, but it is not large enough to affect the air brake test results.
I'll crawl underneath with a spray bottle of kids bubble solution this week and locate any leaks_again. If you do this, support the MH with wood blocks underneath the frame or jacks(stored). Last year an RV technician here in Indiana suffocated when the MH he was underneath lowered and trapped him.

enjoyrv · 12-05-2018, 08:00 PM

Any ideas for what might be going on with this. Coach stays aired up for 24 hours without much change (1/2” drop in front) and then front drops 3 1/2” (all the way down) over next 12 hours. Both sides. Back doesn’t change. I tried soapy water without any success.

tom chelbana · 12-05-2018, 08:49 PM

Owning 3 high line Newmar motor homes ( 2LA and a Essex) we have seen the coach drop just seating outside. There appears to be a min. pressure you need to keep air bags from dropping when that point is there the coach will drop 3 or 4 inches. Most of our coaches it's the front that drops first and then a couple a couple days later the back will drop. Again on our 18 London Aire on a Spartan chassis it will stay a ride height for over a week and after all the time and money over 21 years of chasing air leaks that is OK for us. You do need to check for leaks with soapy water and listen for leaks but there are very few owners that will keep ride height with air bags for a month or longer.

enjoyrv · 12-06-2018, 06:23 AM

Thanks Tom for your reply.

Ron @ HHI · 12-06-2018, 10:03 AM

I had a similar problem with air leakage. National Indoor raised the air compressor setpoint to 145 PSI. Seems to have fixed the problem but don't understand why. I think this was done based on advice from Spartan

Jtrving · 12-07-2018, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakebuster

Took our 17 London Aire to Spartan dealer as passenger side front bag was dropping over night. It has been in the shop on level lift for a week now and no leak has been found. Spartan had them start from engine air compressor, wet tank, rear tank and now they are on front tank. They have painters tape on all 4 corners and place a dash with date/time so they can see how much it is dropping over night. Anyone have a small air leak that was this hard to find?

I have the exact same problem on my 2018 MA, except it's left rear. They thought they had it fixed, but it is still happening. Hope they find yours soon!!

alan1 · 12-23-2018, 09:13 AM

My coach was at spartan as it leaked down overnight. After a day and a half, they found several leaks at connection fittings, replaced an air tank for a leak at a weld, replaced the air filter base as it leaked, and replaced the air driven pins that lock and unlock the tag. Still lost air. Lastly after everyone had left and it was quiet found 3 holes caused my welding slag on top of air lines. These were hard to find using the soap solution as it bubbled up on top of the line.