Had a bong of doom yesterday, something about vehicle leaning too much, came with a red triangle and stop vehicle and turn off engine warning so being an obedient lad I drove home, fatty seemed fine to me but after 10 mins it had left it's mark on the drive....

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The rear will still be active, even if the front is leaking - what about getting some appropriately sized pipe and some compression fittings?
The front pipes are not a massive pain to change (although ~£500), the rears require the subframe dropping but personally I'd be inclined to cut them and use compression fittings rather than drop the subframe. I did consider getting some hydraulic flexi's made up when the time comes but I think there's be too much movement as the pressure changed which would lead to lots of abrasion and 'slap'.

I don't think the corrosion on the ARB's means they'll need replacing and I'm fairly sure the drop links are common across active and passive ARB's.

I had the same problem.....for me it was the ACE pipe that runs down the offside chassis rail.

Corrosion at the rubber clamp.

Peter Vardy in Aberdeen bent me over and relieved me of £2,500 for just the front pipe replacement.

Mike

Phoenix wrote:

I did consider getting some hydraulic flexi's made up when the time comes but I think there's be too much movement as the pressure changed which would lead to lots of abrasion and 'slap'.

I don't think the corrosion on the ARB's means they'll need replacing and I'm fairly sure the drop links are common across active and passive ARB's.

My exact thought, IMHO not enough room to secure a flexible hose to prevent pressure pulses wearing the hose without removing the sub frame and then you might as well use the standard pipes.....!!!

Have seen some ARB's that have had the seals go and leak, I don't think it's a rust issue, just age....

It appears that the dynamic front and rear ARB's can be replaced without dropping the sub frames but the standard ones seem to need the front subframe dropping and the rear air bags etc removed.

mpirie..... that seems rather steep.....

On close inspection I have found this....

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Look for the orange drip of coolant.....

A coolant leak from the pipe to the rear HVAC unit, this is just in front of the drivers rear wheel, that is another steel pipe, this time coated in a rubber sheath to retain all that lovely salty water...!!!

This pipe can be replaced with a rubber heater hose without removing the sub frame but best to do it properly I suppose....

After further reading I think I will keep it original and do both front and rear pipes, including lots of rust and corrosion treatment and prevention....  Pete

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2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Same water pipe than sprang a leak on my first 405 Peter...

Yep, if there is one thing worse than a scantily painted steel ARC pipe, it's a scantily painted heater pipe wrapped in a rubber sleeve to keep all that lovely salty water close to the pipe so it rusts through...  Pete

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2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Had some fun today....

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i wondered where you've been  ... - .- -.




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.

The prop nut wouldn't shift then?
How good/bad are the threads in the body?....

I'm not going to do a full "How to" with this as it's all in the WM and I don't think it's something you should try to do at home unless you are very brave.... Coming apart was pretty straightforward apart from the rear prop nut which, as Phoenix, surmised was a right PITA, we had two 4ft scaffold poles on the nuts and gave it as much as we dared but it wouldn't break free, it's not essential to remove it, just have to support it well... Exhaust was OK but it is heavy to do on your own...

I consider myself to be very lucky, all bolts came out clean and the mounting areas where electrolysis sets up on the aluminium monocoque were badly corroded but are still good and strong after cleaning up.

One of the (nice and clean) mounting bolts...




A series of pictures showing corrosion, then cleaned up, acid etch primed and finally coated with Dinitrol 4941 which dries but never sets and self heals...

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Well done Pete! There's a fair amount of consequential work but it's worth doing and doesn't cost much more. I'd completely forgot about Tef-Gel, I'll have to dig out my tub of it soon I think...

Great post. Following for learning as I am about to attempt replacing these ARC pipes myself too - as soon as they are in stock stateside. Their replacement seems to be super common here in the Midwest - my local dealer has two L405s in repairs right now waiting for the rear pipes too.

BTW that price for the ARC pipes is super good! My local dealer wanted $1800 for the pair 😆

Rear pipe now delayed for another week, hopefully here Friday....  Pete

__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Out of stock in the US too. My dealer told me he has 2 L405 customers cars in at the moment waiting for the rear pipes…

What kind of mileage do you have on it Pete?

Our old 2015 didn’t have anywhere near that level of surface rust, which is interesting. Curious if that’s down to the BiltHamber wax or just mileage.

Bad picture, but you get the idea:



Suspect after all that work, yours has likely got better protection than when it left the factory now. Hats off to you indeed! I’m also slightly jealous as it looks like a great undertaking!

We also had the coolant lines fail in the same spot tanks to the rubber mud catcher it’s an awful design and had not changed on the later cars I looked under either. Assume most will fail at some point!

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