Rear suspension collapsing?

Hello all. I'm new to the forum so sorry for seeking advice straight away.

I have a 2000 TD5 Discovery which we have had since new. It is mainly a family wagon and very versatile. My wife loves it so I don't tend to use it during the week.

Over the last 18 months or so, the rear of the car has tended to sit down completely on the susupension. This only happens when the engine is off and it is left for a while e.g. overnight. Sometimes it is only one side and other times it will be both. Once you start the engine and move off, the suspension pumps itself up again and works fine.

It has been to my local dealer, from where I purchased it, on 3 occasions in the last 18 months. They have checked for leaks and recalibrated the suspension. Last time was in Feb at its 120k service. It's just started happening again.

I'm not that technically minded so apologies for the lack of detail.

Has anyone experienced a similar problem? I'd be interested to know and be grateful for any suggestions as to how it may be fixed.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my posting.

Cheers

Peter

hi and welcome, dont worry about asking advice on your first post, thats what its here for!

anyway back to your problem.....................

more than likely, you have a leaking air spring, to check, close all the doors, start the engine and push the off road button to raise the car, once its up, turn the engine off and crawl under the back armed with a tin of WD40 or soapy water in a squirty bottle and a torch, spray the air springs with the water or wd40 and watch for bubbles, if you see any then the air spring will need to be replaced, if its not the air springs leaking then you will have to look elsewhere, check all the pipes and valves in the compressor box in the same way you check the springs, the compressor box is located on the left hand chassis rail.

yes ur rear air springs will be leaking, some times the leak cannot be detected due to the way the rubber folds over itsself, it goes down overnight or ignition off due to no compressor operation with ign off

Thanks for the advice folks. I will be acquiring a Haynes manual and WD40 today. Incidentally, It only seems to happen after the doors are unlocked, then locked again and the engine is not started. It happened again last night after my wife had loaded up the boot with the children's school bags.

I'll keep you posted.

Cheers

Peter

PS Haynes are not publishing this until Spring 07!

all depends on how the car sat sometimes, the rubber airbag folds over itself as it goes down so some times it leaks fast and sometimes really slow