Gen2 to Gen1 Air Compessor interchangable?

[97 Octane]

As some of you know my, Gen1 air suspension went out. Got her back on the road 7 days after it happened by replacing the bad compressor relay with a good one.

Well, it seems the relay burned out originally because of a possible hard fault in the system. Now, each time I get in the car, a check air ride message comes up after key on startup.

The suspension airs up to ride height just fine but when it tries to make adjustments, the front airs up higher than where I set the (lowered) sensors for so the car sometimes looks like its squatting.

I searched and looked at AAS troubleshooting guide and a few common issues suggests the vent solenoid rusting out and not venting properly.

 

[chargerxr]

Yes, 1st and 2nd gen compressors are the same, and it does sound like you have a vent problem.

 

[Spree]

Sorry! Just sitting back and watching. Any air ride problem is interesting to me! Mine is still on air and the more I learn, the better.... I have nothing to contribute but always watching in the shadows! If I could help you I would!!! Please post what you find out.

 

[97 Octane]

Okay, I will attempt to remove the air compressor tray out of the Gen2 tonight.

I need help with the bolt locations holding up the tray to the car. Photos or description
of where all of them are located is greatly appreciated. It will be dark outside when I
start so it will be a bit difficult seeing in a very cramped area.

 

[chargerxr]

I always remove the pass side inner fender liner and just remove the 4 bolts holding it to the tray. If you have removed the air intake silencer already it will be easy, if not the silencer needs to be out of the way to lift the comp up to remove. Only pain doing it this way is compressor connector is a little hard to unplug. I think this is the easiest way to change them. 4 bolts holding down the comp could either be torx head or 7mm or 8mm. I've seen various ones depending on year.

 

[thaywood]

+1 ^^^^^

I had to take the compressor out of my wrecked '97 and put it in my '95 because it was shot to shyte. Works great now and no intake silencer either. It's an easy swap except for that plug.

 

[97 Octane]

Chris and Roger, Thanks for your input. I originally wanted to swap out my compressors because my Gen1 is telling me to check my air ride system. The car would air up fine but when it came time to vent, only the rear bags would vent.

I did not get very far with removing the compressor from my Gen2. So as I thought about it a lil deeper, the Gen1 is actually venting. I have a gut feeling that one of the front bag solenoid is the one giving the hard fault. It's hard to tell which side was bad cause of the sway bars inherent design to keep the car level. But I had to check the PS first since that side was riding higher than nomal when I drove it recently.

 

[chargerxr]

97, did you get your problem figured out? I'm sure you did, but did you check your ride height sensors to make sure they haven't moved somehow? If you need an air bag solenoid let me know.

 

[97 Octane]

The airspring solenoid was indeed the problem.

Here's how I fixed it. I detached the airspring solenoid from the front passenger side since that side did not seem to be venting properly. The air ride sensor had to be moved out of the way to get to the solenoid so I only unsnapped the upper mount of the sensor. All this was done with the tire and wheel intact while I raised the car from the K-member. There is enough room there to work once the car was in the air.

I needed to test to see if the solenoid was opening so I fed 12 volts to the contacts using a back-up car battery and some alligator clips. I had to make sure my connections were good several times because I could not get any activity with the solenoid.

With my volt meter probes at the end of the live wires, I was getting 12.69 volts. Reconnected the wires again to the solenoid and nothing. Not even a click. That told me what I suspected all along.....corrosion at the contacts......voltage was not getting through the solenoid....preventing the airspring to vent.





Here you see how bad the corrosion got.

 

[chargerxr]

Glad you got it figured out, and it wasn't anything major. If you need a connector or solenoid let me know.

 

[wkokaneeman]

Wow, that thing looks really ruff! glad you got it fixed. i just went through a month & a half long marathon on my air ride system, before i finally got it fixed this past weekend. they can be tough sometimes to diagnose.

 

[97 Octane]

This corrosion was the primary reason why my compressor relay went out. At least I know my compressor is not dead yet and I don't have to swap out my Gen1 compressor to a Gen2. Haha, it may keep going til it sees its 20th birthday.

I tried to scrape off as much of the calcium off the pin contacts on the solenoid. The barrels in the male plug seemed to be caked with the stuff so I used a small 1/16" drill bit to clean and auger the crud out of the plug.



Now with good metal to metal contact with the solenoid pins, I sprayed both electrical connections with anti-corrosion spray to keep corrosion from coming back.

I re-tested the bag solenoid with 12 volts through its contacts and heard a familiar click followed by a long hiss.
So there it is. Fixed!



Eventually, I will look into all my airspring solenoid connections for corrosion abatement. With this repair, there was much improvement with the way the car handles. Unlike before, she now rides firmer and maneuvers better, stays level at all speeds and parks level now too. No more squatting overnight. All because the computer is now able to receive proper sensor data.

Over a period of time, we all just become complacent with little maintenance we can do, that we just accept how our air ride deteriorates in time.

Don't let this happen to yours if you're still on air. Check for corrosion. It may save you grief, anguish and frustration later, when you're on the road.

 

[olddavid]

I've been cruising the forum today while making my weekend list of projects. Wife gone, so I can do nothing but car stuff as there are no "honeydo" lists today or tomorrow. My car seems to do what yours was. The rear vents to position in an obvious way, while the front stays up. At speed, though, it lowers properly, as I've observed it while driving next to wife at 70. The contact clean cannot hurt, so thanks for the reminder on a simple task that can make a great deal of difference. On industrial and home air compressors, there is an internal lubricant that goes into the intake to lube the internals. Is there any corresponding method for our car's comp.?

 

[97 Octane]

There may be a Mark VIII lubrication 'How to' method, but thats a logical solution to prevent the piston from seizing. I haven't gone that far disassembling my compressor yet. If I do tear into it, it will be done.


Welcome back David!