I decided to finally tackle my intermittent 3 amigos today. When I finally pulled out the SVS assembly the the insulation on the wires inside are falling apart.

Can I continue the mod, or should I replace the entire assembly?

On a few D2’s I worked on that I did Option B the customer didn’t have the $$ to replace the entire shuttle valve switch assembly (we’re only talking 40-50.00 here). I tested the switches and then slid some heatshrink over the cracked brown wires & then performed Option B with some 3M heatshrink butt splices. 3 Amigo’s went away & they’ve never come back with the shuttle valve switches being at fault again.

On my personal D2’s that are nearly 20 years old I replace the shuttle valve switches, but you don’t have to.

I did mine last weekend and had the same issue. Since my shuttle valve switches tested ok I cut the factory wiring back close to the switch and eliminated all the deteriorated insulation before soldering some new wires to the switches. So far, a couple hundred miles and no more intermittent amigos.

I was going to start a thread on this but since you already have an appropriately titled thread I'll add some of my experience to it. The 3 Allen bolts securing the SVS assembly were a major PITA to get out due to either corrosion or some type of thread locker on them. I see the same thing on the bolt in the photo above. I cut about 3/8" off my Allen key with a Dremel and stuck it in a 4mm socket with a 1/4" drive ratchet to remove them. You can also see I used a 4" (or so) bolt to elevate the WABCO ABS assembly so I could get my hand under there and not have to juggle/balance the ABS unit with one hand and work the wrench with the other.

For anyone about to tackle this, this technique made the job go so much faster and I'd give the whole procedure an overall difficulty rating of about 2 out of 10. Josh's write-up is an excellent reference but for anyone wanting to simply do the Option B mod, the first 75% of the webpage dealing with the hydraulics and disassembly of the entire WABCO ABS unit can be daunting. At least I thought it was and it put me off for a good month before I could wrap my head around what I was really needing to do for Option B. When you finally get to the bottom of the page showing the testing and rewiring of the SVS assembly, it's already on the bench and it's not really clear how it got there. Not intending to slight Josh, just trying to encourage others who may be researching how to tackle this relatively simple job and clarify that no hydraulics are involved as well as provide some tips I found helpful when I did it.

Thanks all. I went ahead with the Option B and tried to do as much heatshrink and hot glue to protect everything. I’ll probably replace the assembly one day, but I didn’t want to leave it I pieces today.

Ahab has some good info that anyone who has already done this mod probably knows but I was a little nervous at first. I also watched the AB video and saw him manhandle it and got the confidence to knock it out.



After having read these responses I wish I had removed the valves and soldered new wire directly to them, but this will hold me over for now.