air suspension problem .

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alan morgan

Active Member
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110
Location
oxford.
hi i have a 01 td5 auto 81000 onn the clock previous owner stated he changed the air suspension bags just over 3 yeafs ago. done 40000 since then. today i parked with the nearside wheels on the pavement offside on the road. came back to the car about 20 mins later rear offside was very low started up and returned to normal height. drove for about 7 miles stoped again . again with nearside wheels on the footpath offside on the road.came back about 2 hours later rear offside right down . started it up it regained normal height again i have since driven it several times leaving it between driving for 2 hours 3hours and 3 hours each time parked on level ground and the rear offside has not dropped at all. i have searched the posts but no one seems to have had this particular problem. anyone got any ideas? many thanks.
 
jamesmartin said:
they do that .jack up front and both rears will drop, it needs to be parked level
Click to expand...

no offence i must disagree.......it's not normal.....the only situ when it drops(but just max. 20mm) without ignition on is when a door is open and load is removed from the vehicle .....i suppose the bag has a small leak which is sealing itself when the car is on level......if i'm wrong i appologise.
 
every time i jack on up the rears drop same but allways goes back to normal after wards ,work perfect after that ,no its not a leak
 
jamesmartin said:
every time i jack on up the rears drop same but allways goes back to normal after wards ,work perfect after that ,no its not a leak
Click to expand...

then what's the explanation of this strange behaviour cos deffinetly it must not do that....at least the SLS wasnt designed to do so.
 
I must say that mine drops when jacked up at the back - you can hear it releasing air but then is right as rain again when the car is level. Its been like that ever since I've had it. In fact it did it again this weekend a little when I changed the front tyre. Its not a problem and I thought it was just one of those unique disco quirks - you know, like the centrifugal oil filter occassionally continues to spin after the engine is switched off.
 
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I would fully extend the bags and test them with soapy water. If its not leaking, and I suspect it will be, I would then turn my attention to the height sensors. 40/50K is about the life of the air springs anyway.
 
They are probably due a change soon so you might as well do them before they get you stuck somewhere cos they wont improve.
changed mine last week with sierrafery's help, took about half an hour the pair.
it was doing what yours is now and is now perfect.
 
i think the reason is that when jacking up one wheel or all the front you make the ecu think that its to high opposite and lets air out to compensate ,the air copmressor may not come back on but valve block still seems to work with ignition off, as you can hear solenoids clicking sometimes after you park them , not a problem as said its just one of those quirks ,
 
jamesmartin said:
every time i jack on up the rears drop same but allways goes back to normal after wards ,work perfect after that ,no its not a leak
Click to expand...


The air springs at normal height overlap themselves but when you jack up the car they unfold. It's at this unfolded state that leaks often occur.

When you let the jack down again it rolls over and re-seals the leak.

For the original poster: - if you keep driving with this problem unresolved you risk burning out the compressor which is expensive to replace.

I would advise that you park the car at home on level ground and with all doors closed and the drivers window open, reach in and press the Offroad height button on the dash. Once it has pumped up, get underneath and coat each air-spring in turn with soapy water to check for leaks.

If there are no leaks apparent then the next like cause is a faulty ride height sensor.
 
Mine doesn't do this, but does drop of one front wheel is jack up, I'd say the near side bag has a leak. I'd advise you replace as a pair, the off side on mine used to drop, replaced with a second hand one and about 6 months later the same problem, replaced with 2 new one's from paddock's and 2yrs on no problems.
 
what i meant to say was when jacked up at the front rears drop as it alters hieght sensor to a position where ecu thinks that wheel is too high ,not the wheel youve jacked up
 
Hi

I had a similar Prob on my MJ 99 D2, turned out it was the airbag.
Just weeks later, the prob showed up again with the new Bags installed, that time one ride high sensor was faulty.

Looks like these are consumable parts like Oil filters, Air Filters or offside mirrors:D:D:eek:
 
As i said, if the car drops with ignition off and with closed doors then is some problem, it wasnt designed for that(regardless of jacked up front/back or anything else)

the only normal behaviour with ignition off is to drop max. 20mm if u open a door and remove some load from the vehicle....we can admit that if u jack it up the system thinks(via the sensor) that it was load removed and release some air.....but only with an open door and not more than 20mm

if u find the car's one or both side down u better do what thebiglad previously adised
 
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