Front end down but butt up. What gives?

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Evian

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My 1995 Mark VIII looks like someone jacked up the rear and left the front down low. What gives? Doesn't this car come with 4 air bags? If I had a compressor problem why would the rear hold air and the front drop? :F
 
I can hear the air leaving the system the moment I turn off the car. Is this normal or is it suppose to stay up?
 
How can you tell?

A couple more stupid question from me about the mark VIII. How can you tell if your air ride is working properly or not? Can you hear when the airbags are working? and how can you tell the right ride height? When I do system check on the infomation screen to it reads "air ride okay" or whatever it says,I'm sure you know what I mean. However when I'm driving, I feel like I'm hitting potholes when I go over any imperfection in the road. My friends Mark VII doesn't do that. Is this normal? sometimes I feel like I'm back in my truck. I've tried the old push on the fender and rear quarter trick and see if it bounces or not and it doesn't. Would I be better off getting the conversion kit from air to struts? and how would that affect the sytem check? I've only had it about 10 days and already I've gone from 18mpg to 14mpg, I have no overdrive,and if it gets to 2500 Rpm it feels like the engine is gonna jump out. Is this all related to the question "Do I need a transmission?" or as the service guy at the local ford dealer said when I spoke to him over the phone it may just be something minor like a clogged catalytic converter or maybe a torque converter(?). I am no longer mechanically inclined and someone could tell me I need brake light fluid and I may even believe them. WOW! another long post. I feel stupid. :Bang :Bang :confused: :bash:
 
Dont feel dumb about these suspension issues -- this is a very complicated
system that can be extremely difficult to troubleshoot --
First thing to address is the leaking sound -- the only possible time you would ever hear air sound is when the vent solenoid is dumping bag pressure
to adjust down to ride height after taking load out of vehicle ( yes this occurs even with the ignition off ) but this sound should only be for a short time from the left under hood area ( at the pump ) -- but for sure sounds like a bag or air
line leaking --- YES it will bounce like a mexican low rider without air in the bags --- There are several suspension articles in the Mark VII area of this web site
that you need to check out-- the MarkVII system works the same as the mark VIII
just has different components --
The easiest way to check bag leaks is to pump up the system
then disconnect the battery --- the bad ones will drop without influence
from the control module ( turning the system switch off in the trunk may not give you the true picture ) --
Happy Hunting
Walt
 
Evian said:
My 1995 Mark VIII looks like someone jacked up the rear and left the front down low. What gives? Doesn't this car come with 4 air bags? If I had a compressor problem why would the rear hold air and the front drop? :F
Click to expand...

Hi Evain,
It doesn't soung like your compressor, you have a bad Hieght sensor or a leaking solenoid, If you can get the front back up, turn the switch off in the truck and let it sit over night, This will determind if you have a bag leaking,
 
i have a good one for you as well. when i make a tight counter- clockwise u-turn it feels like the tires are coming off it walks kinda. i checked the ball joint, bushings, airbags, etc and found nothing loose or out the the ordinary. someone told me its just the track of the car since its so wide but i dont think so. and if that was the case why doesnt it do it when i make a clockwise u-turn?
Eric
 
It sounds to me like a garden variety leak in one or both of the front air air bags. If the back is not "jacked up" higher than normal ride height then the compressor should be fine. IF it is higher, you could have a problem with the vent solenoid in the compressor. This is very common on the mark viii's. As WALT said, these are very complicated systems, that can be very hard to diagnose. Feel free to visit our web site at www.strutmasters.com. We have a few troubleshooting tips that should help you self diagnose the problem. If you have any further questions that I can help with, either post them here or visit our vendor section on this forum. I will do my best to answer any questions you may have.

Thanks,
Strutmasters Team
 
my front end always seems higher than my rear, could this be a compressor problem? my rear looks to be at a normal height, but the front end always sits about an inch or so higher....
 
67Continental, it could be one of two problems. First it could be that your height sensor in the front is out of adjustment, or it could be the vent solenoid in the compressor not recycling the air out therefor not allowing the car to drop. I would first check the height sensor to make sure they are mounted properly and then I would say it say you have a compressor problem. If you have any further questions let me know and I will do my best to help.

Thanks,
Strutmasters Team
 
Evian said:
My 1995 Mark VIII looks like someone jacked up the rear and left the front down low. What gives? Doesn't this car come with 4 air bags? If I had a compressor problem why would the rear hold air and the front drop? :F
Click to expand...

Sounds kinda like doggie style............
 
I had a problem with our old 93. I kept having the same problem that you are having. I could hear air comming from the trunk, and the front would drop. I pulled the rear carpet out of the trunk and found that one of the air hoses had been cut by the rear X brace that is crossing behind the rear seat.


I don't know if this is a freak thing or not, but you might check.
 
Evian said:
My 1995 Mark VIII looks like someone jacked up the rear and left the front down low. What gives? Doesn't this car come with 4 air bags? If I had a compressor problem why would the rear hold air and the front drop? :F
Click to expand...

Evian-

What you probably have is a situation where air is not able to escape the system. This is caused by either a clogged/rusted dryer or a malfunctioning vent solenoid.

When you park the car, it will drop down almost and inch to rest at it's parked height. First the front, then the rear. What you have happening is a situation where when the two front solenoids open to drop the front, the weight of the engine, plus the fact that the lines which run to teh compressor are depressurized actually allows the front to drop to it's parked height, signaling the opening of the rear solenoids. What happens next is the rear solenoids open and since air was not allowed to actually escape the system, the pressure inside the lines becomes greater than the pressure inside the rear bags and this causes the rear to actually INFLATE. (also note that the front operates at nearly twice the pressure because of the weight of the motor.)

If there are no error codes, I would remove the dryer and rejuvenate or replace if it is bad.

Kale
 
67Continental said:
my front end always seems higher than my rear, could this be a compressor problem? my rear looks to be at a normal height, but the front end always sits about an inch or so higher....
Click to expand...

67Conti- there's also a third scenario, your rear could be too low. Although, if it looks normal, I'd try adjusting the front sensors to get the car at the right height. You need to compress the front sensors to lower the car.

Kale
 
Thanks for all the great advice!
Tomorrow, I will be installing new bags that I got from a junked 1996 Mark VIII. These bags were completely inflated even though the car had no engine or wheels. I believe the valves attached to the side of the airbags might be the bad guy if my bags aren't ripped. When I removed the valve from my new bags the bags immediately deflated. These valves keep the bags inflated all the time.
 
Evian said:
Thanks for all the great advice!
Tomorrow, I will be installing new bags that I got from a junked 1996 Mark VIII. These bags were completely inflated even though the car had no engine or wheels. I believe the valves attached to the side of the airbags might be the bad guy if my bags aren't ripped. When I removed the valve from my new bags the bags immediately deflated. These valves keep the bags inflated all the time.
Click to expand...


"Brake light fluid" ROFLMAO That is a great one!!! I have to remember that one.
 
I have a '95 with 71K miles and I noticed the same problem. After sitting all night, in the morning the front end is slammed to the ground and the back is still in the air. I have not had the car for a long time so all this air-ride suspension stuff is new to me.

Once I get in and start the car - I hear the compressor kick on. Since it's so far dropped, it doesn't fill the bags up in the allotted time and it throws a "Check air ride system" fault on the screen. But if I shut off the car and start it back up, then go throught the system check - it shows me "Air ride system OK". So, I don't think it's compressor related - but I don't know if it's a leaking bag either. When the car shuts off - I hear the momentary hissing of releasing the air from the pass side of the car and then nothing. I listened to all the bags and I don't hear a leak of any sort. Car maintains it's parked height (takes a long time, 6-8 hours or more for it to drop). Does this mean that the solenoid is bad? Is there a diagnostic that I can do to isolate exactly what my problem is?

Thanks for any help you can provide!
Nick
 
Sounds like you have a leak in the bags. It will take a long time for the car to leak down sometimes. It depends on how much of the leak is exposed. If you jack the car up on lift or with jack stands, and do a physical inspection of the bags, you should see several vertical splits at the bottum of the bag where the rubber folds. If you can get the car to air up again, turn the switch in the trunk off and drive the car for 24 hours. If the car stays up, the bags are fine and you have an electrical problem, if the car drops, it's leaking air bags. If you have any further questions please let me know.

Thanks,
Strutmasters Team
866-597-2397
 
Thanks for the info Strutmasters. Ok, looks like the deal is leaking air bags. I started it up - it shot up to ride height - then I shut the switch off and rode around for awhile. I left the car for a few (maybe 1/2 hour) and then when I went to get back in - the car was noticeably down in the front.

So, to keep driving I turned the switch back on to fill the bags so I could drive. But now that the car is off, (has been for about 5 hours), the car has still not dropped. I guess I will see if it drops by tomorrow morning but so far it's still at ride height.

Is there any way to pinpoint if it's the left or right bag? Or should I just replace both?

Thanks,
Nick
 
I think I've jus been schooled - so many of these threads are worth putting in a book! anone know of one? Thanks fro the questions, and the all the answers!

Debi
 
Sounds like what my car was going through.

Go to the junk yard and find yourself a Mark VIII with low miles. Remove the two front air shocks. Unbolt them then turn the side mounted air valve to the removal position this will release any trapped air and make the removal super easy.
Remember to bring the valves with you. Your valves could be bad also. Don't leave them mounted on the wrecked car. I paid $42 to fix my car a couple of weeks ago. Best $42 I have spent in a long while. It rides and sits perfectly. :F :F
 
Ok...yep, after a night's time - it dropped in the front. Is there a way to isolate which bag it might be? Could it also be a line anywhere - or it's definitely the bag?

I also notice a bit of "clunking noise" coming from the front - especially when I brake to slow down. Could the solenoids have "popped" off or something?

Thanks,
Nick
 
nickster, the lines are not presurized, so if the car dropped with the system turned off it can only be one of two things, bad bags, or bad solenoids. As far as determining which side is the problem, do a physical inspection of both bags with the car off the ground. The problem bag should have vertical splits at the bottum of the bag around the fold of the rubber. More than likely both bags are bad, they tend to go in pairs. Even if that is not the case it is a better practice to replace them in pairs. Let me know if I can be of more help.

Thanks,
Strutmasters Team
866-597-2397
 
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