I just bought a new (to me) 2006 Scion XB braun rampvan as secondary transport for my daughter who has cerebral palsy. It's an interesting vehicle. It lowers down and flips out a ramp to load the wheelchair into the back. It's going to need some work. AC is out, VSC setpoint is out, and its got some modifications made by the previous owner that I need to sort out. Otherwise it was garage kept, low rust, and under 85K miles.

The strange thing is, I'm in love with this vehicle already and I seem everywhere now.

I'd like to seek out some other owners who work on these because I can't find any real info on how all the systems work. When I get near my phone I'll upload some pix (I think its the shadow gray metalflake).

- Snick

 

Welcome, snickerzz! Make sure to browse the forum for more info about your car and feel free to post any specific questions you have about your vehicle in the tech sections.

 

I am new here as well, and though I don't have the Xb rampvan, I am obsessed with them. I have a 2005 XB and I also have a daughter with cerebral palsy who uses a wheelchair and I've fantasized about that ramp van for years, and am still hoping to one day get my mitts on one

 

everything that is Scion/toyota is pretty good. Everything that is upfitter is annoying or done badly. We like that it is small and gets good gas mileage.

Recently I've worked on the ramp unfold chain and added backup camera. I look forward to doing a bunch this spring and summer to see that I get my money's worth.

Other than upfitter annoyance, its wonderful for headroom and getting on the road quickly. Our daughter also has CP.

 

having taken care o f my dissabled mother since 1988, id have never even thought a chair could fit in an xb?!?!?!?

 

They rebuild the back end and cut the bumper in thirds to extend the door and build a ramp. There's a good bit of room for two front passengers and one wheelchair passenger.

And it gets great mileage.

 

Nice, can I see a picture of your van?


 

Here ya go

 

I just bought one at a used care dealer in Seattle so I could more easily get my dad around as he is pretty much wheelchair bound. The scion is in excellent cosmetic and I believe mechanical shape. It has 132k and I got it for 7750. I have not owned a vehice with the braunability mods. From what I can see things seem to work ok, but I plan to call the braun dealer in Redmond and see if I can get an inspection and perhaps some instruction. I need new tires, probably need a new battery as it had to be jumped on the lot. The rear suspension lifts ok, the ramp deploys and comes up fine as well. I didn't realize though that when the wheels are not raised up the modifications on the bottom of the vehicle sit practically on the road so it's clear that you can't drive unless the suspension it raised. Is that normal? I just just want to make sure nothing is amiss before I drive it anymore?

Also I had raised the suspension when I drive it home (which went fine) but when I checked it the other day the suspension had deflated. I am not sure if this is also expected or evidence of a leak. Any insight appreciated!

 

yeah, when the ramp deploys down, the bags deflate. when the ramp goes up, the bags inflate. on mine there is a switch in the back to raise the bags even more if you want. yeah, driving with the bags deflated would be bad.

if the bags deflated overnight, you have a leak. there are two electronically controlled valves in the engine compartment. one inflates from the tank. one deflates to outside air. so that implicates the valve, connections, hose, or the bags. likely connections. time to break out the soapy water....

 

Do you know how much it costs to get a 2006 Scion Xb converted into wheelchair accessible ?

 

Thanks, I had to get a new battery becuase the original was completely dead. There is a pressure gauge in the engine compartment, any thoughts on what they desired pressure should be? Is there a range it should be kept in? When I press the button to open the rear hatch and deploy the ramp the system doesn't automatically deflate. There are two toggle switched inside the car (below where the interior light controls are). One is labelled air pump on/off and the other dump air (on/off). The pump air clearly turns on the air pump, it pumped up the rear to a drivable height (and I turned it off when it had reached that height). The Dump Air I assume will deflate, right now I am watching the pressure gauge as it slowly loses pressure, I assume from a slow leak somewhere. The ride height is being maintained for now. Anyone else have the manual switches for inflate/deflate?

 

Sooo, it inflates just fine, however it won't deflate. So It sounds like the valve that switched between inflating and deflating is the issue? Also called the "dump valve". Also today as I was looking around the engine bay and testing the manual deflate (pressing in on the reffill valve to let the air out) something happened and the hose connected to the bottom of the air compressor filter (front of the engine compartment, labeled MVSPC model AF3000) fell off and after a scary second of it hitting the engine fan it ended up under the car. Not sure how to feed it back up to the air compressor filter but I wonder if anyone knows where the other end of it goes? Can't tell but the other end seems to be connected to something. I wonder what? the hose is not braided metal, it is rubber and rated at 300psi. Since it is not the input or output of the air compressor filter, it would seem it is the "dump" or out valve. Why would anything need to be connected to this and where could it possibly be going?

 

Congrats on your new-to-you Scion XB rampvan! It sounds like an amazing vehicle, and it’s great that it’s already captured your heart. These kinds of vehicles are so unique, and finding a community of owners is definitely the way to go for tackling maintenance or modifications. Sharing tips and resources with others can really boost your confidence when working on something new.

 

I removed the front bumper cover on my scion Xb ramp van. I can’t say I know every component that I’m looking at I would love to purchase a Braun scion Xb ramp van system diagram. Our van is leaking and it has to replenish the system about every minute and a half. There is a ride height sensor mounted behind the left rear wheel. I used soapy water on all components except the bags having found no leaks. I’m taking it to the Redmond United Access to see if they can test the bags.i’ve also changed out the blue MAC air valves under the hood which are hard to find. Our van does not have the air pump switch and dump switch probably because it incorporates a ride height sensor. It does have a switch to defeat the kneel operation. unfortunately, it’s a poor design because failures can result in deflating and interference with the road.

 

i would love the have a service manual. i had to replace one of the solenoids when I first got it. I finally called a local supplier in Indianapolis. Those solenoids are special. Made for low and high temps. there was also some chemical resistance spec. He found me 3 replacements (I wanted spares) from another supplier in Canada. they were only 30 bux, but I had to pay some decent shipping and taxes.

I'd like to know what the brand and model etc of those bags. My bags are looking a little worn.
[img alt="bag from 2007 xb rampvan.
"]https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.scionlife.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/scion_xb_back_rear_29f59b0a1c97dcff15bbd57b5086fcb2574a01ae.jpg[/img]
bag from 2007 xb rampvan.

when I was looking for info, I found a guy who said he was part of the team who designed the system. I can't find his information again. I'm hoping to run into him again because he could be a real help. he helped me figure out that my charge pressure switch was dead. he said the original was 120 cutout, but recommended 150 cutout. seems to work prettty well.

 

gotta pull the cover to get to that stuff. the previous owner to me had made many questionable mods. I fixed most of that stuff. those filters are hard to find a reasonable price.

 

I suspect that hose goes to the deflate valve. looking at the manifold in the back area, there are two mac valves. the one on the right connects between the tank and the bags. that's the inflate valve.

the one to the immediate left of that is the deflate valve. it has just a short piece ot nylon air line hose that runs behind the a/c condenser and radiator, i think just to direct the air and sound away from the passenger compartment. I think there is quick connect on the bottom of the manifold that piece connects to. (if this wasn't one of the thing the previous owner mucked around with). I can probably take a couple pix tomorrow.

your deflation/dump valve is probably trashed. I found a supplier in indianapolis who helped me decode the part number. after the part number there is another 4 digit code that indicates custom solenoid valves. of course, braun/ims got custom ones. the supplier in indy got me some reasonably compatible ones. they were fairly reasonable, like 30 bux a pop. you might be able to take the deflate one out and clean it out. I haven't had any luck with that myself.

 

in 2006, it was about 10K. i don't even know if braun would do it now for any price. the original company that did these was called ims. braun bought them out and did a couple more years.

everything on mine that was custom metal is pretty rusty. this summer I intend to do something about that.

 

the previous owner on mine added a kill switch for the pump. he did it in about the most ignorant way possible. I re-ran the wires and interrupted tank pressure switch. this switch is useful when the weather gets cold and there's a freeze up in a line after the compressor, but before the pump pressure cutoff switch. the pump will run to max pressure and blow a fuse or the compressor. in my case, the compressor.
i don't have a dump air switch. I wish I did and I might add one at some point. i suspect the feed the relay to get the solenoid to actuate, but since I don't have the switch, who knows. may need a diode in the circuit to make it work. just a guess.