ZacUnknown69
Active LVC Member
I'd like to lower my Mark VIII's ride height to my liking, the stock suspension looks like a liftkit and also doesn't fit my driving needs. So I'd like to know if there's a way to lower it on it's stock bags. Thanks!
Lowering Car with Stock Bags
- Thread starter ZacUnknown69
- Start date
chris2523
93 Mark VIII
ZacUnknown69
Active LVC Member
You fantastic SoB - thanks fella.
ZacUnknown69
Active LVC Member
So, I read the instructions. And did exactly what it said - I got a "CHECK AIR RIDE SYSTEM". So I put back to tge factory position, now the front is taller than the front. Basically it just ****ed my **** up and wasted my time. What did I do wrong?
unity
Dedicated LVC Member
What you did wrong was to be impatient. The sensors barely get adjusted, so you may have adjusted them to far. Especially the rear end. If you adjust too much, the car assume there is a fault and will error out. For example, when one pops off its sensor supports. Just try again, its not hard to do at all.
ZacUnknown69
Active LVC Member
Well firstly, the sensor ball joint things both snapped even after I penetrating oiled the hell out of them. But I'll take your advice and give it a go again tomorrow - but why would it raise it up when I set it to lower?
slowmkviii
Dedicated LVC Member
The rear is opposite of the front
driller
Dedicated LVC Member
Sounds like you adjusted the height sensors the wrong way?
Was the air ride functioning as it should before sensor lowering?
ZacUnknown69
Active LVC Member
Apparently I'm just stupid, that's exactly what I did. I've since adjusted it, and now has a better lowered stance, handling and aerodynamics
driller
Dedicated LVC Member
Not necessarily, it's easy to get confused how they work.
Kylo
LVC Member
Now with this setup will the car still lower itself when it reaches higher speeds?
Scallywag
Well-Known LVC Member
Yes, so don't lower it too much or you'll catch the wheel-well when the Mark lowers itself.
Kylo
LVC Member
Kylo
LVC Member
Great, thanks for the info.
Scallywag
Well-Known LVC Member
Also, be sure you tighten that rear sensor nut very good.
Not super tight that you're saying every cuss word in the dictionary the next time you have to work with it and end up wrestling with it, but enough so that it doesn't loosen up while driving and accidentally drop your whole rear end because the sensor lever moved up due to the vehicle bouncing and loose nut.
I damaged some weld spots to my mufflers when I went over a speed bump and that rear sensor nut gave way because I had it too loose. The welding joints to the mufflers hit right on the bump when the Mark slammed down as it passed over and had to get them rewelded. Crappy welding or just real hard impact? I don't know, but that is what I learned from that mistake.
Gotta love the trials and errors of the DYI novice "mechanic"
Not super tight that you're saying every cuss word in the dictionary the next time you have to work with it and end up wrestling with it, but enough so that it doesn't loosen up while driving and accidentally drop your whole rear end because the sensor lever moved up due to the vehicle bouncing and loose nut.
I damaged some weld spots to my mufflers when I went over a speed bump and that rear sensor nut gave way because I had it too loose. The welding joints to the mufflers hit right on the bump when the Mark slammed down as it passed over and had to get them rewelded. Crappy welding or just real hard impact? I don't know, but that is what I learned from that mistake.
Gotta love the trials and errors of the DYI novice "mechanic"
Dougviii
Active LVC Member
I had just purchased my first Mark 8, a 1993 and it had a ride problem, after finding and fixing a broken ball stud for the left front ride height sensor the car then seem to ride extremely high in front and very bouncy and stiff, I noticed that the lower mounts for the front ride height sensors are slotted so I loosened them and move them all the way up in the slots, then the car was riding too high in the back so I went to the rear ride height sensor adjusted the bracket and slid the ball all the way up re tightened it disconnect the battery for about 30 minutes touch the cables together to depolarize a discharge anything in the ECU and ECM reconnected the battery and took a couple of short drives, now the car is riding level and seems to be riding much better, but where is 123000 Miles I think it Mary still need some shocks. Here are before and after pictures
Dougviii
Active LVC Member
Sorry about the spell check typos and as you can see by the pictures they are after and before pictures
Kylo
LVC Member
Here are the back wheels before and after. I'm going to raise it a little bit in the
back. I didnt notice any drop in the front though.
Dougviii
Active LVC Member
If you ride any of my earlier posts you know I'm a first-time owner of a Mark 8 and by no means an expert on the air suspension but my car didn't seem to react to the adjustments disconnected the battery for about 30 minutes and polarized the ECU/ECM then reconnected the battery and drove it
Dougviii
Active LVC Member
At one point the front wheel opening was almost 32 inch off the ground and the back was 29, then the back was 31 inches the front was 28, now on level concrete it's it's about 27 and a half inches front end back
Dougviii
Active LVC Member
I don't know if the procedure I followed will work on your vehicle but it sure improved mine
Kylo
LVC Member
I'm going to get back in the garage this week. I'm in the middle of replacing the upper ball joints now. I'll post the results.
Anyone considering lowering theirs, 2 important things you should do.
1. Just buy new sensor ball studs from dealership (assuming they still them). They snap extremely easy, regardless of age. I had a rust free Mark VIII with roughly 67k miles at the time and snapped 2 ball studs (one rear, one front) and just ran all new instead. Thought it was just mine at the time, but clearly it's an issue.
2. IF your bags have ANY dry rot forming on the folds, lowering the car further will likely cause leaks in the bags to occur quicker as the bag's form will change slightly, adding stress to different sections of the rubber. Seems to be a bigger issue with the rear bags.
1. Just buy new sensor ball studs from dealership (assuming they still them). They snap extremely easy, regardless of age. I had a rust free Mark VIII with roughly 67k miles at the time and snapped 2 ball studs (one rear, one front) and just ran all new instead. Thought it was just mine at the time, but clearly it's an issue.
2. IF your bags have ANY dry rot forming on the folds, lowering the car further will likely cause leaks in the bags to occur quicker as the bag's form will change slightly, adding stress to different sections of the rubber. Seems to be a bigger issue with the rear bags.
Dougviii
Active LVC Member
That's good information, after repairing a broken front ride height sensor mount I decided I would lower the car by adjusting the ride height sensor mounts, within days it caused a leak in the rear airbags, so this weekend I installed the rear coil spring conversion and new shocks and plan on installing the front coil spring conversion in the next day or two!