They joys of Air ride. or not! - slammed front end

Trippen Out

Trippen Out

Dedicated LVC Member
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So here is the situation. Today i was at my local grocery store i turned the car on and i thought i herd a small pop. i started driving failing to notice that the compressor was not working and the car was not really didn't rise to proper levels. a few moments later the dreaded check air ride in the dash goes off (second time ive seen this the first was expensive). needless to say im pretty ticked off right now. so i get home i turn the car off open the door. give it a minute or 3 close the door turn the car back on and waited to see what happens. I noticed the compressor wasn't running. so i was like what the f-.

as if today hasn't been sh1t enough i realized on top of that i must of left my wallet at the store. so i had no choice but to drive back and go get it. now im back in the car and i start it again. and about a 20 second delay later the compressor kicks on. runs for about 20-30 seconds and then kicks off with a loud clunk and then the air ride message goes off again.

So now that i have bored you with the details here comes the questions. Is there a sure way to check the compressor? Ive herd and seen from searching there is ways to run an air ride diagnostic on the car. the things i know for sure are the 2 rear are bags are new the front passenger side holds air. the front driver side did have a small leak.

I am also starting to notice that these cares have the unemployment curse. I say this because the only time i have ever had anything major as far as cost wise go wrong is shortly after i have lost employment. this holds true this time around as well. I just finished a project i was working on Thursday and today presto slammed car. all well i still love my mark and please don't tell me to coil it. thanks for any suggestions.
 
Sounds like your small leak is now a big leak.
Your compressor kicks on so it might be OK still, but if you have had a leak for a while your compressor has been working overtime to keep your ride pumped up, so the compressor could have ate chit.
Sorry man these cars can suck sometimes.

Only way to fix I know is to replace the the leaky bag, go from there.
 
I am making plans to switch back to air ride...I feel your pain...when my right front bag blew out while I was driving about 6 years ago I switched to coils...that decision was made out of frustration and has served me well but time to go back to air in the near future.
 
Trippen Out said:
So here is the situation. Today i was at my local grocery store i turned the car on and i thought i herd a small pop. i started driving failing to notice that the compressor was not working and the car was not really didn't rise to proper levels. a few moments later the dreaded check air ride in the dash goes off (second time ive seen this the first was expensive). needless to say im pretty ticked off right now. so i get home i turn the car off open the door. give it a minute or 3 close the door turn the car back on and waited to see what happens. I noticed the compressor wasn't running. so i was like what the f-.

as if today hasn't been sh1t enough i realized on top of that i must of left my wallet at the store. so i had no choice but to drive back and go get it. now im back in the car and i start it again. and about a 20 second delay later the compressor kicks on. runs for about 20-30 seconds and then kicks off with a loud clunk and then the air ride message goes off again.

So now that i have bored you with the details here comes the questions. Is there a sure way to check the compressor? Ive herd and seen from searching there is ways to run an air ride diagnostic on the car. the things i know for sure are the 2 rear are bags are new the front passenger side holds air. the front driver side did have a small leak.

I am also starting to notice that these cares have the unemployment curse. I say this because the only time i have ever had anything major as far as cost wise go wrong is shortly after i have lost employment. this holds true this time around as well. I just finished a project i was working on Thursday and today presto slammed car. all well i still love my mark and please don't tell me to coil it. thanks for any suggestions.
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Larry, I just texted Jamie. Give him a call. You'll have to drive to his shop though but he'll explain all that to you. Maybe he can help get you back going again. I'm not sure if he has what you need to get you back up or not but just give him a call. You have his number.
 
Thanks. I will try and reach out to him as soon as i can. ive been wanting to get up there to have my head lights done.

out of curiosity i went and let the car sit for a while. i turned it on to accessories and it pumped up just fine. im wondering if this florida heat has got the car so damn hot it was over heating. or if it just couldn't pump the car up with my giant fat ass in it.
 
Compressor seems to be working solid again. However, the front end is slammed in less then 4 hours now.

To cap off my day. i left the keys in the car and of course wouldnt you know it. the keypad didnt want to work. man i really wish i knew what they thing stops working after an hour or so.
 
Air Ride is a nightmare, particularly on the Mark VIII.
The constant threat of it failing with no warning takes much of the pleasure out of the car.

"Is it going to break on my cross-country drive?"
"will it fail when after I stop the car to gas up before having to drive down terrible New Jersey roads?"

It sucks.
When it works, it's great- but there's no guarantee.

Always kept air ride on the Mark VIII because I was so heavily invested in it, but at the first problem with the Navigator I yanked it and threw coil springs in.
 
if your front slams in 4 hours you need a new front air spring or both, without a doubt thats why your compressor is messing up on you, its been way over worked trying to compensate a front air ride leak. so look for a pair of low mile air springs or swap to coils.
 
Trippen Out said:
Compressor seems to be working solid again. However, the front end is slammed in less then 4 hours now.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what happened to me a a month or so ago. It would slam overnight at first in the front only, and then each day going by just created a faster slam time to which it would happen with in a few hrs. Next thing I know the P/S air bag blew out. And on the day of the blow out, the compressor would not come on due to severe air lose at a short rapid time frame, then the dummy light would cycle. Have you checked your front air bags throughly? Just saying, it is so close to the problems I had to a tee just about, and it turned out to be leaking front bags. Here is the thread with my experience as yours....

http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/showthread.php?t=72615

Look at response # 35 on the link below at the airbag blowout

http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/showthread.php?t=73003
 
It's so true about the unemployed curse. They hold up better when driven daily. You get laid off and the car sits to long and leaks down spliting the bags. Your unemployed so you dont want to spend any money and it pumps up so you limp on. Buy then the compressor is overworked and starts giving problems. You drive it slammed and it tears up the front end. ect. ect. Many have parished this way.
 
Trippen Out said:
Compressor seems to be working solid again. However, the front end is slammed in less then 4 hours now.

To cap off my day. i left the keys in the car and of course wouldnt you know it. the keypad didnt want to work. man i really wish i knew what they thing stops working after an hour or so.
Click to expand...

I used tire slime to plug up the leak in one of the front bags. The leak was large enough that the pump could not keep up with the leak. So far, it's been almost a year since the slime treatment and it's still holding air and I've not experience any negative issues.
 
Just a question: the consensus seems to be that the Arnott front air springs don't hold up, but what about their rear bags? Anybody have any experience with those?
I'm asking because I'm pretty sure I have a slow leak on the rear driver side, so I plan on replacing them both when I get some money in. Which will be in a couple days, I found a buyer for my old van. :)
 
Ed Hall said:
I used tire slime to plug up the leak in one of the front bags. The leak was large enough that the pump could not keep up with the leak. So far, it's been almost a year since the slime treatment and it's still holding air and I've not experience any negative issues.
Click to expand...


How?!? i thought slime and fix-a-flat stuff worked on the idea of the tire had to be spinning in motion for the stuff to coat and seal. how does this work on your air shock. how did you even apply it?
 
kaha said:
Just a question: the consensus seems to be that the Arnott front air springs don't hold up, but what about their rear bags? Anybody have any experience with those?
I'm asking because I'm pretty sure I have a slow leak on the rear driver side, so I plan on replacing them both when I get some money in. Which will be in a couple days, I found a buyer for my old van. :)
Click to expand...
From what I have heard Arnott rear bags are fine, just bought a set form eddie and installed 2 weeks ago.

Trippen Out said:
How?!? i thought slime and fix-a-flat stuff worked on the idea of the tire had to be spinning in motion for the stuff to coat and seal. how does this work on your air shock. how did you even apply it?
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Just say no to the slime.
I wouldn't put that in a tire, let alone an air strut.
 
Trippen Out said:
How?!? i thought slime and fix-a-flat stuff worked on the idea of the tire had to be spinning in motion for the stuff to coat and seal. how does this work on your air shock. how did you even apply it?
Click to expand...

When you take the airbag out, you can put around 6-8 oz's in the bag, then roll it around so the slime can make contact with the whole inners. Then when you reinstall, the compressed air and will not be able to seep out, and the constant flex from driving and the compression of the bag will continually be coated. Most leaks in the bag are located at the bottom portion of the bag as that is where it instantly bellows and compresses. So it is continually being re-coated.
 
So today i scored a free compressor that looks to be in really good shape. except its missing 3 of the orange things on top of the dryer. but hey free is a good thing. as for the bags up front this weekend im gonna do the soapy water trick to see if i can find out where its leaking at and then resolve that issue. I am looking forward to hopefully soon being able to come out to the car in the morning and see it still standing proud.
 
strutmasters is selling complete conversion kits for $264 with free shipping on ebay, got my set delivered today actually.

just saying....
 
I sure love the support for the conversions. Im already invested in air ride. i just recent put brand new rear bags in. ive got a new compressor might as well just put new bags on the front and be done with it.
 
Trippen Out said:
I sure love the support for the conversions. Im already invested in air ride. i just recent put brand new rear bags in. ive got a new compressor might as well just put new bags on the front and be done with it.
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then i agree, stay with the air ride.

i went conversion for now, i may or may not go back to air down the road sometime, money dependent.
 
After owning both coil converted and air ride I will do whatever it takes to keep my air ride on my gen 2 but right now it's working a1 and I thank god everyday I walk outside and it's still standing proud

But I'll guess I'll see how it makes out once I sensor lower it with my new 18's
 
87TTOPGT420 said:
After owning both coil converted and air ride I will do whatever it takes to keep my air ride on my gen 2 but right now it's working a1 and I thank god everyday I walk outside and it's still standing proud

But I'll guess I'll see how it makes out once I sensor lower it with my new 18's
Click to expand...

My 93 was swapped to coils, it rode nice.
I was worried about the air ride when I picked up my 97, the vent was fubar and the car was stuck in 4x4 mode.
Some members here were a great help "Tommy, Brandon" helping me understand the system.
Everything to trouble shoot it is here at LVC.

Eddie is awesome too.

I lowered mine with 18's and it's been fine.
 
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