Rats nest + solenoids
 

Just doing a Hose job on the rats nest and i have come to test the solenoids but am unable to find the relevent info for a mear novice like myself.
I have searched but its all fragmented and not specific.
I was under the impresion that they clicked when you applied 12v to them but none of mine do?
I was also undel the impresion that they wont air through till either 12v is applied or 12v is released ?
kinda confused and needing to rebuild so any help that is understandable would be nice.
I have perchased a mityvac with a gauge on the top to test them but all mine let air through with or without 12v, not 1 of them will build pressure.
BTW my car felt like it was running fine... Can it be that they are all bad but i didnt know it ?
ta steve

Yes, they should all click when you apply 12v. It might not be very loud, but you can feel it. Also test them after a soak in a warm (100c) oven. Usually they will switch better when hot, but the electrical coil sometimes shorts or opens when hot so you should test it here as well.

The rack solenoids should flow air from the connector side to the vertical nipple when at 0v, and the non-connector side shouldn't flow at all. When you apply 12v, the connector-side nipple shouldn't flow, and the non-connector side should flow out the vertical nipple.

The best test for a rack solenoid is to connect an actuator or tank to the vertical nipple. Attach the Mityvac to the non-connector-side nipple. Apply 12v, then use the Mityvac to pump 10psi thru the solenoid and into the tank. Remove the 12v, and see if the solenoid clicks and dumps the pressure from the tank out the connector-side nipple. Then repeat the test at 1psi increments up to 15psi. The solenoid that performs best, without delay in releasing the air, should be used as the turbo control solenoid. Although all the others work in vacuum, I still use this test to rank the functionality of a solenoid. Put the other good ones in the charge control and charge relief positions.

The wastegate and precontrol solenoids are simply open/shut valves. With 12v, they shoudl flow, and at 0v they should not flow.

The metal-bodied solenoid on the ACV is the turbo control vacuum solenoid. It should work just like the ones in the rack, except that it looks different and there is a black plastic cover over the connector-side nipple.

Dave

Ah my bad, battry i connected it to was not strong enugh to make em click, connect it to a new battry applyed vac and pressure to relevent nipples reached 10psi then put 12v to them and Psssssss :D
They all check out ok, managed to find 3 out of 5 check valves were bad so gonna replce them, 2 would slowly leak from 10psi to 0 in about 5 seconds and the 3rd would not hold at all.
Thanx for the reply.

Yep, pretty standard. It's all just a convoluted system of binary logic applied through mechanics (pneumatic valves, etc.).