AYC pumps - faults - repair

[chris g]

Found this thread on MLR

Has some interesting information and views about the AYC pump including servicing, repair and testing...

I have sampled various info from the thread...

Thread title - My AYC pump woes

As is usual, my AYC pump started failing with age.

I personally like the AYC & didn't want to go the RS diff route, partly because of expense but also because when it's working, I think the AYC works very well

I bought a VERY cheap second hand one off here willing to take the gamble & lose my money if it didn't work.

Alas that was faulty, seller gave me part refund without me asking or even expecting it Nice guy & thanks

After reading good things on here, I then I contacted Pro-Tec Motorsport (http://www.pro-tecmotorsport.com/aboutus.cfm) up in Preston who said they had one that was working so took a day off & popped up there to get them to fit it.

The pump was fitted & bled but when taken for a drive, wasn't holding pressure No-one's fault as we all know how touchy these pumps can be & thanks go to Pro-Tek for their time & effort fitting/bleeding it & coffee while I was waiting

After having driven the car around the Evo Triangle without an AYC pump, I decided I really didn't like the way the car handled withou the AYC working. It handled like a Scooby!

The front end wanted to understeer going into corners & then when the car turned in, the back end was going light. Bit of an arse-twitch moment I must say

Eventually I decided to have a look inside the second-hand pump I'd bought to see if it was fixable/to get a better understanding of how it worked.

We managed to get it apart but one of the solenoids fell off, I didn't even touch it (they are sooooooo brittle it's unbelievable!) & as far as I know, you can't get them anywhere now?

Harry Hockly Motorsport (http://www.hh-ms.com/) reckon they can fix 95% of them if they can get them apart so we then decided to take my original pump apart with the intention of sending it to them already split but again, one of the solenoids snapped off in my mate's hand

Bad idea & expensive mistake, that was the end of that!

After speaking to Martin from Harry Hockly Motorsport, I found they could pressure test a pump so I ended up buying one off Ebay for £300

It was low mileage & looking like new. I asked the seller to send it direct to Hockly's for pressure testing with the understanding that if it failed I could have a refund

This was agreed & the pump sent direct.

Well......

Hockly Motorsport emailed to confirm receipt of the pump & later rang to say it was working & holding 20bar!

I wasn't going to have them post a working pump to me & have Royal Mail damage it so yesterday I traveled down to Newtown to have them fit/bleed it for me.

Success One working pump & one smilling me

I came back via the A5, over the Triangle & Denbigh Moors road, what a difference! The car turns in & behaves properly now.

I would urge anyone, if your AYC pump breaks - either

1, send your pump to Hocklys to see if they can fix it

or

2, get a seller to pack the pump VERY well to protect the solenoids & get the seller to agree to a refund if the pump fails a pressure test & find someone who can do the test!

It's saved me loads of hassle & I'm lucky that Harry Hockly are only 83 miles away, it's not too far to travel

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Quote:
Originally Posted by modena
in future, try 'Roger Rally' on here
ayc expert and can also supply uprated pressure switches

Roger doesn't sell uprated pressure switches, they're adjustable pressure switches that 'mask' the problem if it's actually the pump that's losing pressure (& I'm not sure if he still sells them anymore?)

I've spoken to Roger - nice guy & knows his stuff

The problems are usually (but not always) down to corrosion inside the pump causing it to lose pressure.

At the end of the day, my pump was knackered & had to be replaced.

Roger said he hadn't seen any decent pumps recently when I rang him, hence searching elsewhere

I didn't want to have the pump I bought sent all the way down to London (if Roger can pressure test them - which I believe he can - someone can probably confirm?) then have it sent back & broken by Royal Mail (as I've pointed out in the post regarding Harry Hockly).

This is not a reflection on Roger or Hockly, it's the Royal Mail I don't trust to deliver a pump unbroken & why I put "& find someone who can do the test!" in my post above.

There are others that can check them, just for my purposes Harry Hockly were closest Had I been closer to London, I would have been knocking on Roger's door

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Quote:
Originally Posted by modena
'think' he still sells them
and was sure they were uprated as well as adjustable
but perhaps not

also, iirc, he hires out an ayc tester
but you'd have to check

Yes, hires out a tester http://www.erento.co.uk/hire/vehicle...199065871.html. iirc he asked someone to send it back on a thread not long ago

NR Autosport do an adjustable one http://www.nr-autosport.com/aftermar...duct.htm?id=63 but as I said, it's a bit of a bodge if your pump isn't reaching the correct pressure anyway. It just masks the problem.

Roger told me that driving the car with a faulty pump that isn't reaching pressure (as it contains a clutch pack) is like trying to change gear with the clutch half engaged. It's not going to do your diff much good

You really have 2 options

1, get your pressure switch checked - I believe Roger rally does this, he's offered to test my original switch to see if it's ok (got a spare then )

2, get your pump pressure checked.

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Roger Rally - Turnaround 360, 12 Millhedge Close, Cobham, Surrey KT11 3BE
Tel: 07973 430950

It's not just if it makes the correct pressure, it's whether it HOLDS that pressure. I'd get both pumps pressure checked. If yours is goosed, you have another there, if the second pump is faulty you may be able to get a refund.

This is the reason I put my post up, to advise anyone: "get the seller to agree to a refund if the pump fails a pressure test & find someone who can do the test!"

In the long run, it saves so much hassle & if the pump is sent directly to the tester, there can be no... "it was ok when I sent it out, I don't know what's happened to it while it was in your possession..."

If it's sent direct to a professional, there can be no argument with it being faulty or received damaged

How many times have we read this in a thread?

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I have never been certain myself about how much an AYC pump can be 'serviced'. 'refurbished' or 'repaired'.....

But these posts from MLR are useful in how we might approach AYC pump problems...

[DANIPPON]

a couple guys on the Mitsubishi forum Croatia addressed to solve problems with AYC pump on their EVO cars and after that developed a kit to repair. I do not know whether you have something like that,but i put a link to their film and will be glad if someone help this in any way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrYjQ...ature=youtu.be

[MPBVr4]

Interesting and well presented video. Should be of great help to CVR4

Really a better solution than replacing the switch and fooling the ECU, although not
quite so easy for weekend mechanics.

[Reconstructor]

Hm, they says 10 bar is OK? I thought it should be around 17?