Air Ride Question

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StankinLincoln

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hello everyone. i have a 1996 town car and at 103k i think my air ride is going out. the light has flashed occasionally(sp?) and i would turn the car off wait 5 seconds turn it on and everything is fine. last night it stayed on. the compressor was not turning on so i decided to turn it off with the switch in the trunk. i pushed on the back end of the car (gently) and had some people sit in it to get the air out of the bags. i waited an hour then flipped the switch back on. it sounded like air came back to the bags and the pump kicked on for 3 seconds then shut off. with the back end still sinking i started the car and the compressor turned back on. after a couple times of turning on and off it stayed on till the back was level again then shut off. as i was driving home the light came on again and has yet to turn off. i have not played with the switch in the trunk again because i do not want to take a chance on breaking something. i was thinking maybe the compressor is going bad and i could just replace that or would this be a complete system failure resulting in replacing everything. if anyone has had similar problems or knows of this condition any feedback would be greatly appreciated because i am having torque converter problems as well as O2 sensor possibly catylitic(sp) converter issues as well.
 
Sounds like the pump is going out because of a leak or over worked.
a new pump is an easy job but if there is a leak then you should find
that so the new pump will last longer
 
thanks. im getting a new pump and bags cause my bags popped today. they were dry rotted. thanks for the info
 
hey i was at the auto hobby shop on the base replacing my bags and compressor. finally got everything going and the compressor was running but the bags wouldnt pump. so i turned the switch in the trunk off again and raised it back up. the passenger side bag became unseated again and the other bag stayed. is there a trick to get these things seated because it took like an hour and a half for each and the one still came undone. any input would be greatly appreciated because ive got everything and id hate to have to have it towed and pay for it to be done when ive already went through 5 hours of labor on my behalf.
 
I have never had any problems with them unseating
My gess is that you need to start to air them up when the car is in the air
until the bag is seated then lower the car and fill the rest of the way
I assume that this is the bottem falling out also
 
yeah its from the bottom. i didnt know if it was safe to start pumping them up with the car on the lift.
 
should be fine you could even put a susp. stand under the rear diff if you want to be safer and get closer to the corect amount of air in the bags
 
e

thanks. we finally got the bags seated and got monroe sensi shocks in the rear. we are thinking the leveling arm is bad because they take air but when you set the car down the air leaks. and you have to push the arm all the way up for the bags to take air. so after replacing the compressor/dryer,bags,rear shocks, selenoids(sp). its either that arm or there is a leak in the airline. thanks for your help.
 
well after the leveling arm/sensor, new bags,compressor/dryer, selenoids, and shocks she still sits flat. the bags take air but when the car is sat on the ground they deflate. after 4 days of trying i am threw. it goes to the dealer on monday. thanks for the help.
 
sorry you couldn't get it fixed youself and i couldn't help more
one more thing after you set the car down did you try to reset the system
 
yea i tried but i dont know if i was doing it right. plus the good thing about the dealer is they will go over it and make sure its right.
 
got my car back today. it was the selenoids. i bought them from arnott industries and both were bad so i had to buy fords. im going to see if i can get a refund for the faulty parts. hopefully i can but if i cant i wont buy from them again. i can understand one bad selenoid but not two. thanks for all the advice everyone
 
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