"Check Air Ride" on startup... not the compressor, not the relay. Help?

[Hankyman240]

Thread title pretty much sums it up. My new 98 base is slammed after making an 1800 mile adventure, and as awesome as it looks, it really isn't that much fun to drive when it's sitting on empty airbags.

Tonight we tried swapping in a new air ride module that did not give a warning when it was installed in another car, no change. Tried swapping the front sensors out... no change. Didn't quite have the daylight to swap the rear out... but I can probably test that with a meter later on.

I have a Ford FSM, but unfortunately their diagnosis process involves a lot of code checking with a special code checking device I do not have access to, so it has only been of marginal help. There are some specs listed for stuff though, so my next strategy is to attack it with a multimeter and make sure everything is as it should be. Everything was supposedly working fine until a couple weeks ago.

Any advice would be phenomenal. I mentioned this in the "coming home" thread but since it's proven itself to be a little more than a quick fix, I figured it deserves it's own thread. Thanks in advance.

-Darren

 

[chris2523]

rear height sensor?
my front got too high once and threw an instant code. so i bet a bad rear sensor could probably do the same on your car.

 

[ratdog442]

Thread title pretty much sums it up. My new 98 base is slammed after making an 1800 mile adventure, and as awesome as it looks, it really isn't that much fun to drive when it's sitting on empty airbags.

Tonight we tried swapping in a new air ride module that did not give a warning when it was installed in another car, no change. Tried swapping the front sensors out... no change. Didn't quite have the daylight to swap the rear out... but I can probably test that with a meter later on.

I have a Ford FSM, but unfortunately their diagnosis process involves a lot of code checking with a special code checking device I do not have access to, so it has only been of marginal help. There are some specs listed for stuff though, so my next strategy is to attack it with a multimeter and make sure everything is as it should be. Everything was supposedly working fine until a couple weeks ago.

Any advice would be phenomenal. I mentioned this in the "coming home" thread but since it's proven itself to be a little more than a quick fix, I figured it deserves it's own thread. Thanks in advance.

-Darren

I believe it would be worth the diagnosis charge at the dealer to have them figure out the problem....time=money.

 

[Hankyman240]

I believe it would be worth the diagnosis charge at the dealer to have them figure out the problem....time=money.

At the moment I have more time than money, but the job I was supposed to start middle of next month wants me to start ASAP now, so it's definitely in my best interest to get it taken care of sooner rather than later. If I don't get it this weekend, I might as well bring it in.

As it stands, the rear sensor is probably the most likely culprit and I was bummed I didn't get a chance to swap it out... I'm just curious if anyone else agrees or if there are any other particular trouble spots that will cause the warning to come on right away.

 

[zmt325]

jack the car up just a little if it is slammed. you could have fixed the problem, but the sensors are out of range or "over extended".

 

[Hankyman240]

jack the car up just a little if it is slammed. you could have fixed the problem, but the sensors are out of range or "over extended".

Good thinking... thanks. If the different rear sensor doesn't directly fix it, I shall give this a go, and then try it with the known good module as well.

 

[LaserSVT]

I am still thinking rear sensor. If that dont do it then a bad Arnot pump would be the next thing to point at. I played with the Arnot pump before and its a weak POS.

 

[ford nut]

I'm with Bill on this one.
I would lean more towards the compressor.
Leaking bags......pump coming on every stop after a 60mph romp.
I would pop the $135 to Eddie for a new compressor.

 

[Hankyman240]

I'm with Bill on this one.
I would lean more towards the compressor.
Leaking bags......pump coming on every stop after a 60mph romp.
I would pop the $135 to Eddie for a new compressor.

The problem started with a different compressor in the car. The Arnott pump was a replacement that did not help. The car makes literally no effort to inflate the bags at all, just throws a "check air ride" message. At the very least, I know which pins to jump on the connector to see if it runs period.

Also worth noting, the compressor and relay were swapped when the car was still down in FL at proper ride height.

 

[My Great 8]

The only thing I can add is that the car sat for approx 8 months in a friend's repo lot. Bags were fine. I put a battery in it, started it up, took it for an oil change and brought it to my house. This trip was about 30 miles. I drove it to a local car show every Friday night. About 10 mile trip. The air ride worked flawlessly. The car sat again for about 2 weeks. When I started it I had the check air suspension msg. The solenoids didn't activate. It was just dead. After checking fuses and replacing relay to no avail, I swapped the air comp from my '98. No change. I had the Arnott laying around. Still no change. I am at a total loss as to why this happened. It's not like I have any kind of vermon that could have chewed through any wiring. I wish it would have made its way to Jamie. I feel terrible that it is inoperable.

Also, I drove it to Alex's to get the trim painted. I drove it about 60 miles that time. I also hit speeds of 120 mph to see how it ran. Now that I think of it, thats probably the last trip it took with working air suspension. When I returned home with it the solenoids activated to lower it. Two weeks later.....error msg. Hope this incredibly long post helps!!

 

[Hankyman240]

The only thing I can add is that the car sat for approx 8 months in a friend's repo lot. Bags were fine. I put a battery in it, started it up, took it for an oil change and brought it to my house. This trip was about 30 miles. I drove it to a local car show every Friday night. About 10 mile trip. The air ride worked flawlessly. The car sat again for about 2 weeks. When I started it I had the check air suspension msg. The solenoids didn't activate. It was just dead. After checking fuses and replacing relay to no avail, I swapped the air comp from my '98. No change. I had the Arnott laying around. Still no change. I am at a total loss as to why this happened. It's not like I have any kind of vermon that could have chewed through any wiring. I wish it would have made its way to Jamie. I feel terrible that it is inoperable.

Also, I drove it to Alex's to get the trim painted. I drove it about 60 miles that time. I also hit speeds of 120 mph to see how it ran. Now that I think of it, thats probably the last trip it took with working air suspension. When I returned home with it the solenoids activated to lower it. Two weeks later.....error msg. Hope this incredibly long post helps!!

Thanks Rich, possibly a speed sensor thing? I don't have the FSM in front of me anymore so I don't recall if that's a possibility. At least it has a nice pinout of what wires go where so it shouldn't be too hard to test the functionality of the compressor and solenoids.

Supposed to rain all weekend unfortunately, so hopefully I can find some time to get out and work on it again soon.

 

[Roadboss]

Unless it was a new relay I would still also question the relay if the sensors are ok.

 

[ford nut]

The only thing I can add is that the car sat for approx 8 months in a friend's repo lot. Bags were fine. I put a battery in it, started it up, took it for an oil change and brought it to my house. This trip was about 30 miles. I drove it to a local car show every Friday night. About 10 mile trip. The air ride worked flawlessly. The car sat again for about 2 weeks. When I started it I had the check air suspension msg. The solenoids didn't activate. It was just dead. After checking fuses and replacing relay to no avail, I swapped the air comp from my '98. No change. I had the Arnott laying around. Still no change. I am at a total loss as to why this happened. It's not like I have any kind of vermon that could have chewed through any wiring. I wish it would have made its way to Jamie. I feel terrible that it is inoperable.

Also, I drove it to Alex's to get the trim painted. I drove it about 60 miles that time. I also hit speeds of 120 mph to see how it ran. Now that I think of it, thats probably the last trip it took with working air suspension. When I returned home with it the solenoids activated to lower it. Two weeks later.....error msg. Hope this incredibly long post helps!!

Funny I had a air ride message on the way home last night after a 60+mph romp.
Got gas and had a hard fault, drove home, restarted the car and had a hard fault. "air ride message right away".

This morning I had a hard fault, stopped and got coffee.. restarted the car and bam...the compressor comes on and no more messages.

I abused the hell out of this pump with a rear bag leak and I think it just didn't vent.
I think my dryer is clogged, it vents sooooo slooow after I hit my rays switch, sometimes I have to hit it twice.

I guess my point is...any issue with pump is going to cause havoc.
Eddies pump I abused the hell out of and it still works.

Sounds like it should have worked with your 98 pump.
You could try checking for power at the solenoid when it should be trying to vent.
"after closing door "

Or try a known good height sensor which Bill is thinking.

 

[LaserSVT]

I would also check the connectors going into the module. Make sure you didnt push a pin out.

 

[ford nut]

Unless it was a new relay I would still also question the relay if the sensors are ok.

+1 relay is easy to swap.

 

[NoLimit95]

Unless it was a new relay I would still also question the relay if the sensors are ok.

Same here and I hate to say it but the offer was out there to bring it by the shop and Jamie would have had that car fixed in no time and dent free on top of that. I'm just at a loss as to why it wasn't taken to him to get checked and free parts thrown on it but instead, driven home nearly slammed.

Anyway, I'm kinda with the relay on this one.

 

[ford nut]

Same here and I hate to say it but the offer was out there to bring it by the shop and Jamie would have had that car fixed in no time and dent free on top of that. I'm just at a loss as to why it wasn't taken to him to get checked and free parts thrown on it but instead, driven home nearly slammed.

Anyway, I'm kinda with the relay on this one.

Wine and dance got in the way, or so I heard.

Anyhow I am sure it will get sorted out.
He can always pull the parts, try then on Stacks car, plus Darren knows his way around with a multimeter and wiring diagrams.
I do know this first hand.

 

[Lownslowlsc]

Same here and I hate to say it but the offer was out there to bring it by the shop and Jamie would have had that car fixed in no time and dent free on top of that. I'm just at a loss as to why it wasn't taken to him to get checked and free parts thrown on it but instead, driven home nearly slammed.

Anyway, I'm kinda with the relay on this one.

x2...You CANNOT pass up an offer like that. It's a no brainer!

 

[Hankyman240]

x2...You CANNOT pass up an offer like that. It's a no brainer!

Can't say I'm exactly happy about it, but what's done is done... Brandon made that call himself and I've just got to deal with it. I'm just grateful he got the car up here period.

I'll try a different relay too... I'm lucky to have Stack's car available that I know has a fully working air ride system.

 

[ford nut]

You will figure it out.

 

[LaserSVT]

x2...You CANNOT pass up an offer like that. It's a no brainer!

Yeah but at the same time you cant ask a friend for a favor and then get mad when he doesnt do an extra favor and eat into what little time he has. Good way to no longer get favors.

Yeah it would have saved a lot of time effort and money but on the other hand Brandon didnt have time to work at Jamies shop for 8 hours fixing and replacing stuff.

 

[ford nut]

If I went down there......I would still be on the beach.

 

[Lownslowlsc]

Yeah but at the same time you cant ask a friend for a favor and then get mad when he doesnt do an extra favor and eat into what little time he has. Good way to no longer get favors.

Yeah it would have saved a lot of time effort and money but on the other hand Brandon didnt have time to work at Jamies shop for 8 hours fixing and replacing stuff.

I don't know anything about what they arranged, and kk did a great thing in helping him out. All I meant was that I wouldn't have left sunny florida w/o getting it fixed.

Hell i would've stayed down there an extra day and visited junk yards for spare parts. Lord knows theres no 8's in yards up here.

 

[BAD97LSC]

Yeah but at the same time you cant ask a friend for a favor and then get mad when he doesnt do an extra favor and eat into what little time he has. Good way to no longer get favors.

Yeah it would have saved a lot of time effort and money but on the other hand Brandon didnt have time to work at Jamies shop for 8 hours fixing and replacing stuff.

no, you dont know the story, originally the car was supposed to be stored at my shop until brandon came down, rich was gonna drive it up and leave it at my shop, brandon could have wiped off 4+ hours just coming to me instead of all the way down to ft lauderdale, its was all planned then before i knew it, brandon was here in florida and no one said anything to me until i get a text from rich saying brandon was on his way to my shop, 2 days went by and brandon was back up north! so oh well i didnt lose sleep.

now, onto the problem here, why dont you stop guessing or letting others guess and start with the obvious here, get under the car and unplug the compressor, the harness has 4 wires in it, a white, blue, black and red. the red is pos and black is neg for the compressor power, get 2 wires and a battery and put power dirrectly to the compressor to see if the terd even comes on, if it does, take the same two wires and touch a pos wire to the white wire, and a neg wire to the blue wire and see if the solenoid clicks, if it doesnt click, change the compressor, if the compressor doesnt run smooth and fast, change the compressor, i put my money on the compressor, specially if its an arnott.

 

[LaserSVT]

no, you dont know the story, .