ARB electric Air Solenoid

[Jeeper Creeper]

I'm having problems with air escaping through my ARB electric Air Solenoid.... there's a little srew in the middle of a little black ring washer, the air is coming through the screw because they are hollowed out. Is there any way to stop the air from coming out through this screw? Can I put a screw in there that's not hollowed out? Whats the reason for this hollowed out screw? It's the same set up for my front Solenoid but for some reason that one dosen't lose air.

[RAT]

I'm having problems with air escaping through my ARB electric Air Solenoid.... there's a little srew in the middle of a little black ring washer, the air is coming through the screw because they are hollowed out. Is there any way to stop the air from coming out through this screw? Can I put a screw in there that's not hollowed out? Whats the reason for this hollowed out screw? It's the same set up for my front Solenoid but for some reason that one dosen't lose air.

Sounds like you're talking about the vent. If air is leaking out the solenoid is not sealing all the way. Possibly dirt has contaminated the seat. They are easy to disassemble and clean. I'll see if I can find a thread on Pirate I was about the procedure. Or you can search for it.

[Jeeper Creeper]

Any info would be great. I've taken the solenoid off, there is a air valve type looking thing that is screwed in to the aluminum part. I've unscrewed that cleaned off, put a little Teflon tape on the threads and reassembled and it still leaks......so I'm taking it that I can't plug the screw vent.

[aw12345]

No the air that goes in has to come out when you dis engage the locker, it's where the air exhausts when you disengage the locker.
Inside that tube you had of there is a plunger with a spring, the bottom of that plunger should have a piece of rubber disc in it that is where it leaks. Does the plunger move freely and is the spring in there?

[Jeeper Creeper]

Yes the plunger seem to move freely, I blew through it with the spring out, but when pushed in I can't blow through it..... I assume this is the way it suppose to work?

[aw12345]

When there is no power through it, the side where the air goes in is blocked, but the side where the air goes to the locker is venting through the little black nut. If you took the whole solenoid off and reversed the inlet and out let on it. Or in other words hooked it up backwards it will do exactly what you describe

[Jeeper Creeper]

Ok I took it apart and it looks just like the other solenoid that is working on the front lockers. I'm thinking I'll spray that spring area with something like brake cleaner, air dry it then spray some wd40 on it just incase there's some dirt or possibity of a burr. I'm assuming when the locker switch goes on this spring is suppose to block air escaping through the vent screw, then when the switch is turned off the pressure drops allowing the air to escape threw the vent screw.

[aw12345]

The spring and plunger also blocks the air in the line going to the solenoid

[Jeeper Creeper]

The spring and plunger also blocks the air in the line going to the solenoid

Yea that's what I'm thinkin'...... for some reason the spring is worn or the little oil ring is shot. $60 for the air solenoid, and $2.50 for a two pack of oil rings, I think I'll try replacing the oil rings first, before I spend $60.

[Jeeper Creeper]

New air solenoid replaced and it still loses air. Ok let me see if I can explain what I noticed. There are two wires that go into each of my air solenoids. (front has grn and blk) rear one is (yel and blk). Since the air was escaping through my front air solenoid I replaced it, now the new one does the same, so I probably wasted my money on that. So I took the grn and blk wire's and swamped to where the yel and blk were on the other solenoid....... now it loses air through that one, so I'm guessing it a wiring thing. Just recently the little light that came on the locker switch (on dashboard) when lockers are engaged stopped lighting up. This is the same locker switch that engages the two wires (blk and grn) that's causing my air to escape. Note: that there are a total of four wires to the switch but only two proceed on to the air solenoid. I "think" the blu-wht one goes to the dashboard illumination, and the yel goes to the other air solenoid. This was all done before me owning the jeep and I'm not sure if it was installed to a arb wiring diagram, although it worked fine for a couple of years. I've tried looking over arb wiring diagram and It's not consistent with my set-up. Any ideas on why/what maybe those grn and blk wires causing air to escape through the solenoids when hooked to one?

[aw12345]

Here is a ARB wiring schematic.



As long as one wire on the solenoid has a good ground and the other one goes to the switch to get 12 volts to it, it should work
The solenoid coil doesn't care which wire supplies power and which one is ground.
I'll stick with the idea that you have the air supply line and the line to the locker it self reversed, that fits your symptoms to a T

[Jeeper Creeper]

By looking at this diagram it appears that it's "switch 2" that has the grn wire and goes to "solenoid 2" looks just like mine. The line that goes from my air tank goes to port 1 and on port 2 goes to my locker air line.

[aw12345]

Does it have a flow arrow? One port you should be able to blow through anf the air will come out of the top
The other port you should not be able to blow air through unless the solenoid is energized



If you look at the schematic on the solenoid it explains it.
Port 1 should be air intake unless it's miss labeled
port 2 and 3 are connected together when the solenoid is not energized which allos the airpressure in the locker to escape/ exhaust when it is not turned on

[aw12345]

By looking at this diagram it appears that it's "switch 2" that has the grn wire and goes to "solenoid 2" looks just like mine. The line that goes from my air tank goes to port 1 and on port 2 goes to my locker air line.

Wire color is pretty much irrelevant as long as the solenoid has a good ground and gets 12 volts when the respective locker switch is turned on it should work.
Make sure both solenoids have a good ground one wire of each solenoid should have a good ground.
Electrical ground problems can cause some very weird symptoms.

[Jeeper Creeper]

Is it possible that the problem lies in the rear diff? I'm not sure what that end looks like. Maybe an 0il ring, clogg/dirt?

When I uplug the wires from the rear lockers and plug into where the front locker wires go it seems to work fine...... so I guessing it's not a wiring problem now since it works with front but not with the rear air solenoid.