AYC woes

[Pugme]

so even tho its freaking freezing, over the past few weeks iv swapped my ayc pump over, and this morning I filled it up and bleed it out.

now before I had a red ayc light on the dash and now with the new pump (which was sold to me 18 months ago as working) fitted and wired up I still get the red light on the dash.

is it most likely the pump is a dud? it has one of malcs switches on it too, which I first fitted to my original pump but with still no joy.

as a switch I presume it makes no difference which way round the two wires were attached or would that cause an issue.

im probably just going to give up now till summer unless someone has any ideas I can try to figure this out.

[elnevio]

Can you pull the fault codes, as the AYC codes may give you an indication if there is some other issue?

[Davezj]

the wires to the switch should be able to be connected any way round.

how did you bleed the pump?
was it done with eveoscan pumping each solenoid passage in turn. opening the bleed nipples on the diff in turn. you have to remember it is not the 'Air Bleeding' or the 'Pump Drive' actuator you need to use it is the 'OP check Left' and 'OP Check Right' to do the actual bleeding.
i always end up filling the reservoir in the boot about 4 times to ensure you get all the old oil and air out of the system. the reservoir from full will last about 2 bleed cycles with evoscan before you need to refill. if you let all the oil pump through on each bleed cycle.. but you can always close the bleed nipple partway through the bleed cycle if all the air is out.
you have to remember also that if the reservoir runs dry in the boot you have to restart the bleed process again as air will be drawn into the system and it will have to be purged again.


the other thing you can do is as you have an adjustable 12 bar switch.

with the screw turned clockwise full in, each turn anticlockwise drops the switching pressure by about 1 bar, so the default pressure setting is about 3 turn anticlockwise from fully colckwise 9 bar.
you can keep on undoing the screw one turn at a time to find the point at which the switch activates and the red AYC light goes off. or you can do it by halves and just do 6 turns straight away to get to the switch point quicker. then do another 3 turns either way depending on if the switch activeates or not. this is how i do it you should get to the set point in about 3 adjustments but it is slightly more difficult to work out what the activation pressure is.

i think mine is about 4 or 5bar, it is not great but it still works.

hope this helps.

[Nick Mann]

There are 2 types of switch. One is normally closed, the other is normally open. Make sure that the one in your new pump is the same as your old one. Does the red light ever go out? If not then check the relay, mounted on the inner wing near the battery.

[Davezj]

yes there is a green and a black switch type, was it PFL to FL swap point. but i can't remember which i have.

[Pugme]

Ooooo well no I only bled it from the two nipples with a hand vacuum bleed kit.

It had a black switch prior, in both the original and the new pumps, but now has malcs big silver one in it.

The red light is out when the car is started and comes on red when i pull away.

[Davezj]

the green or black bit is just the connector end cap plastic bit i should have said.

i don't think a hand vacuum pump will do the job when replacing the pump. i think it is much better to power the pump and force the air out.

for me by far the easiest way to bleed the AYC pump system is to use evoscan, and i can do the job in about 15min for start to finish. you will need a long USB cable from the diag port cable to the laptop under the car with you.
i can now do the job without spilling a drop of AYC fluid at all, it can be a completely clean job. but when i first did it, i made a right mess with ATF going all over the place. a funnel into the AYC reservoir in the boot is a good option to keep the top up clean, and i used a air bleed kit attached to the bleed nipples without the air connected as it is not required and does not really work very well.

but this is just my personel experience i know others have done it other ways.

[TAR]

Have you checked that the relay under the bonnet is OK? they have a habit of getting very corroded and stop working This will cause your red AYC light to come on.

:happy:

[Pugme]

I have not checked the relay.... Any pointers on how to check it? Tomorrow when I get back from work I was going to pull some error codes, i get the feeling there will be a few!!

[Nick Mann]

Take the relay off the loom and then remove the case. If it is nice and shiny inside it is likely that it is good. If it is obviously corroded then it is very likely to be knackered.

[Pugme]

I like it, very technical :-)

[Nick Mann]

Heh! I could be more technical but 9 times out of 10 a knackered relay is obviously knackered when you look at it. Feel free to stick a multimeter on it! ;-)

[Pugme]

can anyone give me a clue to the location or better yet a picture of the auction relay :-)

Please :-)

[c0xxy]

its behind the passenger side headlight, bolted to the inner wing beside where the battery would be. its in a rubber waterproof thing

[Pugme]

Ah, well weird update then I pulled out a relay from the bulkhead to the right of the vin plate. Poked it, then put it back and took the car for a spin to make sure every rb was OK for the mot tomorrow.

No red light!! Sweet

Bit of power on a roundabout and I got a green bar!!

So it seems to have sorted itself all out! Somehow.

I am concerned now tho as I bled it with a hand vacuum pump, it may not be bled properly, will this cause any problems? And if so... What should I do?

I feel a whole lot better now I've managed to fix something

[Davezj]

The relay you poked sounds like the fuel pump relay . It switches between about 7v and 12v supply to the fuel pump. To quiet the pump at low rpm.

[Pugme]

Lol that sounds about right, as the car wouldn't fire up with it off.

Well going for a spin tomorrow so will post an update, but as of right now, it's working

[Davezj]

here is the AYC relay issue that i had on my car.

http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?71290-AYC-Pump-Relay&highlight=ayc+relay

[Nick Mann]

The AYC relay is very similar to the fuel pump relay. Location is as above, next to the battery.

[Davezj]

The fuel pump relay I was talking about is on the bulkhead to the right of the VIN plate a to the left of the TCL grey vac canister and solenoid valves when you look at the engine bay from the front of the car on a PFL .
The one that controls the voltage change by switching the ceramic resistor pack in and out of the circuit. I should not have called it the fuel pump relay as it does not switch the pump on and off.

Just thought I would explain a bit better.