Air Ride System problem

[charlie17]

Hello,

My "Check Air Ride System" has been showing up on the display and there is something wrong.

Sometimes during driving, the front end will lower and most mornings when I get ready to drive, the front end is down . . . once after two days of not driving the rear end was down a little too.

However, as soon as I start (or restart) the car, the front end pumps right back up . . . sometimes it looks as if it's too far up . . . higher than the normal ride height.

This leads me to believe that whatever controls the air ride system is on the fritz as I believe the bags themselves are OK.

Is there some kind of module that can be (easily and inexpensively) fixed, repaired, or replaced?

Hope to hear from you.

Cheers!

Charlie Roberts
Eatontown, NJ
(732) 935-1017
cr@exit109.com

 

[NoLimit95]

http://www.americanairsuspension.com/MARK VIII AREA.htm

 

[The omen]

The "search" function on the top middle of your screen is a very helpful feature. Good luck

 

[danny_holtermann]

you most likely have a bad air bag in the front

 

[Calabrio]

Either your airbags are leaking or the air lines are.
Double check connections, gaskets, and use the search feature....

 

[ford nut]

+1 on the leaking bags.

Which will eat your pump, if it already hasn't.



No there is no cheap fix, the longer you wait the more it will cost.
Its a Lincoln after all.

 

[CobraStar_LS8]

leaking air bag and the ride height is really high stock so how you know what normal looks like??? any pics???

 

[mespock]

Just remember just because the car can pump itself back up doesn't mean the air ride is working.

Most likely like all are saying leaking bag. American Air Suspension trouble shooting page can help.

 

[chicken]

Either your airbags are leaking or the air lines are.
Double check connections, gaskets, and use the search feature....

The lines are fine, they cannot make the car drop. Ill lift mine up shut off the air ride and remove all the lines and it will never drop, the solenoids on the bags hold psi in the bag .

Try this once the car is up shut off the air ride switch in the trunk, and let the car sit overnight this will test for a leak in the bag with no actions from the compressor. You will come out the next day and I bet the front is down. Get a tape measure and see what side (right to left) is lower. The lower side is your bad bag, a single bag cannot support the weight of the engine hence both looking flat. Id recommend fixing it before you smoke the compressor and air suspension relay from trying to keep up with a leaking bag

 

[Calabrio]

You're right.
The leaking lines cause problems when the cars is inflating and the valves are open.

But I seem to remember having a constant leak when the solenoid o-ring had shrunk on my rear springs.

 

[chicken]

You're right.
The leaking lines cause problems when the cars is inflating and the valves are open.

But I seem to remember having a constant leak when the solenoid o-ring had shrunk on my rear springs.

Well that's a leaking solenoid not a line, just don't want the OP to be tracing all the lines for nothing

 

[American Air-1]

Keep in mind that each air strut/spring has its own solenoid. These solenoids are normally closed and the only time they open, is when the module(brain) is trying to make an height adjustment. Also, it is very important to remember that the system goes to sleep an hour after you shut down the car, so all the electronics are out of the equation after this time.

In a nutshell, if your car is going down during the night....you have a leak....PERIOD. Unless the solenoids have been removed(disturbed) before, the seals on the solenoids won't be the problem.

The faster the problem is taken care of..the less money you will need to spend in the long run. Parts that are already 10-13 years old don't tend to last long when they're told to run 2-10 times more than they were designed too.