`95 Conti Air Ride Suspention problem

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Future

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I bought this car last year as some of you may remember, the guy I bought it from said the front suspention air bags were replaced 2 years prior (making them only 3 years old now)

Now for the past month or so, the front end started dropping. I just assumed it was a normal thing being the air bags deflate when you don't drive much, but last week the front end deflated completely and looked like it was "slammed". Got a call from my wife saying that the front was shot because it was bouncing like a Mexican piniata with every bump in the road.

Assuming once again that she didn't allow the bags to fill completely I brushed it off untill Thursday. I went out to the car and let the engine idle for 20 minutes, and the front end stayed where it was. I restarted the car, shut everything that made noise off and listened. To my surprise I didn't hear the air pump kick on at all.

I checked that little thingy in the trunk, and it was fine (Don't know why I checked it, it just seemed like something to do in my desperation..lol)

Anyway, I've pretty much assumed I'll have to take it to someone in order to have it fixed, but my questions are as follows...

1. Can the front suspention be swapped out for a normal suspention w.o airbags?

2. Is it normal for the compressor/motors to die?

3. What is the average lifespan of the air suspention?
and
4. Being I like to buy the parts before taking a car to be fixed, what am I looking for?

Thank You in advance for any help here.

Dan
 
This person never replaced the bags, sounds like a usual problem. If there are leaks in the bags and the compressor keeps running it wears out the compressor causing failure. You will need a new compresxssor and front bags contact, American Air suspension or strutmasters they will have the parts you need for much less than the dealer.
 
Well, I've had the conti off the road now for a tad over a month while I waited for my title and time to register it, and I expected all 4 corners to sag. Just came in from starting her up so the battery stays charged and found that now nothing is inflating. All 4 corners are so low I had to use a jack to get the rear bumper over a parking stump. (4 wheel dolly and a jack works wonders)

I've looked into the strutmasters conversions, but if I bought the kits would a shop swap them over? or should I just stick with the air bags and have it all replaced?
 
the choice to swap or stay with air is your choice.. some people like the spring ride better, some dont. its a shame you cant 'test drive' a spring car of the same vintage to find out if you like it or not.

the conversion will probably cost you less to do, possibly last forever (ya never know), but you loose the automatic load leveling, and the cloud smooth ride the air gives ya.
 
hey just swapped my set out with a kit from strtmasters with the club dicount it was 449 to my door.It took me about 6hrs.A shop would probaly be about 4 4.5 hrs. good luck
 
My suspension is really hurtin' but I just went to Meinke to talk w/ them and they quoted me $1500 to do a conversion (didnt check it out just told me they wouldnt touch it for less than $1500 even after I mentioned I knew the conversion kits from Strutmasters were only around $500)... Anyone know of a good place to do the work in Iowa?
 
Briley said:
My suspension is really hurtin' but I just went to Meinke to talk w/ them and they quoted me $1500 to do a conversion (didnt check it out just told me they wouldnt touch it for less than $1500 even after I mentioned I knew the conversion kits from Strutmasters were only around $500)... Anyone know of a good place to do the work in Iowa?
Click to expand...

Stay away from the chain shops, stick with local shops, they'll be much cheaper. I don't know of any specific in your area, but if you dig out the phonebook, I'm sure you could just call around a few.
 
Thanks for the heads up.. made a few calls yesterday and found one place that will do the labor for $75 each so $300 for labor as long as I buy the parts.. just not sure what I want to do .. repair or trade it in .. for a year and a half I have had no problems.. now it seems like everything wants to go wrong :(
 
Mine is still sitting lower than anything, and the batt keeps dying from lack of use. After all the math, shopping and whatnot the best I can do is $1500 for a full front and rear conversion.

I don't care about the air ride, I figure it's cheaper than having to replace them every 4-5 years anyway. If I ever sell the girl, she'll be fully set up for a conversion back to air.
 
Finally got around to getting this fixed today. The problem stemmed from the control module and the compressor. The bags were fine and held air w/o a problem, but now I need to get wheel bearings and a motor mount
 
I replaced a rear wheel bearing yesterday. Part was $49 at V.I.P., Pep Boys and AutoZone were a bit more.
Bearing is VERY easy to replace - took less than an hour. The most time was spent looking for a socket large enough to take off the big bolt on the spindle.
Incidentally, my bearing "felt" fine to turn by hand, but presented a lot of resistance (and heat, and odor) when under load. Did an autopsy and found a ball bearing with a flat spot.
 
Air Struts
I had one side go out in my 96 cont. I replaced both fronts with active coil overs from stutmaster. These struts by pass the load leveling in front, but let you adjust the ride frimness. Thats what strutmaster says. I took me 2 years lots of agrivation to get them to work. If the ride is not exactly the same with the coil overs as the air struts, the computer will throw codes and the car rides very stiff, Every tar line shakes the car and passengers! Lincoln dealers will not look at it, speed shops screw arround for weeks at a time, and give the car back basically telling me the car is F...ed up. Strut master says go look at the trouble codes and fix the problem.
Problem codes were left front time out up, right front time out down. This means the ride height sensors need to be recalibrated. This procedure requires a Star Testor ll. This is an expensive dealer code reader. I located one, and the recalibrate procedure requires the suspension to go into the test mode. This will cause the suspension to raise up and lower to test output of the sensors, pump, lines solinoids. Once this is performed, this star tester will allow the suspension height to be adjusted, saved, and thus calibrated.
With the coil over struts, the up down setup test will not cycle and the calibration is over, no adjusting or calibration will be set. In other words Strutmaster said they cannot help me any more. The car rides like a rock, and the computer keeps throwing a code.
I was able to fix the problem my self. Don't ask me why the engineers at strutmasters could'nt figure it out. I placed the car on a level surface, used a volt meter to monitor the voltage out put of the front ride height sensors, reaching in with a 11mm box wrench, I adjusted the sensors to the correct voltage. Turned the car off, reset the computer, start the car, problem solved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Now the car rides great, I can adjust the ride stiffness, no error codes and the rear leveling works. The bad part is, had I checked the voltage in the first place, I would not have had to replace the air strut with the coil over in the first place, a very expensive mistake.
Some times you just have to tell the EXPERTS, to go jump in the lake, and think for your self. If you have any questions and you think I can help, contact me by e mail.
Christo.
chris.stoffels@comcast.net
 
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