Quick question on air ride compressor

twinbopilot

twinbopilot

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So my '97 Gen II has had a leaky rear airbag for awhile - one of those intermittent deals that sometimes its fine and sometimes its slammed in the rear. The car is not a daily driver, and had been sitting for a month or more. I drove it with no issues Wednesday, then this morning as soon as I turned the key I got the "Check air suspension" message with no sound from the compressor pump. Usually I only would see that after the pump went through its 90 second cycle then timed out. I checked my fuses and they are OK. Does this mean I need to add a compressor to my shopping list, or should I do some more troubleshooting first?
 
If you turn the key and get the error right away that usually means:

• Blown fuse
• Blown relay
• Air ride sensor way out of range, probably popped off the retainer stud
• Wiring issue
 
Thanks for thee quick reply Unity. At least I can limit the possibility to the rear height sensor as the front has never been slammed. Do you know which relay I should check? As for fuses, I checked the big ones under the hood and the 10amp mini inside the drivers door (#28) but didn't see anything blown.

If the compressor is broken, at what point would you normally get the "Check A.S." message, assuming nothing else was wrong?
 
90 seconds or so. The system really just monitors the relay, not the actual draw on it. So if it sends power to the relay and see the relay responding, it assumes all is good. But what will happen in that case is the car may start to slam since the compressor SHOULD be running but is not and thus venting.

But if it sends power to the relay and sees no output, it errors out right away.

Still check all three sensors. One for each front and the rear is only on the driver's side. The studs could have broke. What can happen is a sensor is so far out of range it errors out. But what USUALLY happens is the car pumps that bag up and up and up until BOOM! Other members can attest to that!

My guess is the relay. Also your rear bags have a leak or two or more.
 
Thanks again Unity. Can anyone direct me to the location of the relay that I should be inspecting?
 
the fact the relay is dead, says you have been procrastinating too long.

fix the leaks or face the more expensive problems to follow.

usually the weakened compressor overloads the relay which takes its toll on the air ride computer.

its the beginning of a cascading effect of failures....

you probably should replace the compressor at this point, if it's popped the relay it's already pretty much "done for"..and will smoke the air ride computer too!
 
I don't know if the relay is dead! Where is the d*mn thing so I can check/replace it? Is it in the relay box under the hood? If so, which one is it?:confused:
 
ok ill give away the secret! swap the air ride relay with the abs relay. air ride relay is on the front of the compressor bracket pass side ft bumper cover and the abs is on the driver side similar location.
 
And the ABS is easier to get to if you remove the driver's side side marker. It has one retainer nut on the inside and one screw on the outside. I use a ratchet with torx fitting and remove it that way. Just dont drop the harness. At least its quicker for me than removing the liner, etc.
 
Oh... ya... Not sure? I would bet it would be easier on a Gen II. But I never removed a headlamp assembly on a Gen II. But I would think the relay would be in the same spot. I dunno. I just know my relay went bad. It literally corroded on the inside and ruptured out. The compressor would barley run after about 20 seconds. Swapped em and all is good. Just not sure if I can trust the ABS now! :)
 
You bet! Quality is Job One! Where have I heard that before.....
 
relay.jpg
 
Thanks '93 Blue on Blue. I'm still trying to figure out how to get the compressor out. I removed the headlight (cake like the previous post said) but I can't see how to get the compressor out. I see a bolt on the right side that looks like it goes to the compressor bracket. I can see the finned aluminum relay that is in question. But I can't get to it. There is a liner on the bottom directly below it. I'm assuming that if I remove that liner I can get to the compressor...we'll see.

PS - Angelo at Strutmasters is really advising me hard to just scrap the whole air ride system. He was nice but unable to give me any advise on removing the compressor. I would rather keep the air ride as I have a tow hitch that I use on occasion to tow a small trailer. This is mentioned as a good reason to keep the air ride.
 
I just removed my relay with everything in place. Ratchet with torx attachment. Little but of work but probably easier than taking the whole thing out.
 
It was the relay. I switched the ABS relay with the comp. relay and VOILA no more "Check Air Ride" message. Now I need to head over to the man-mall (junkyard) and grab another relay for the ABS. And replace my rear bags!
 
I spoke too soon. When I changed the relays, the "Check air ride" message didn't come on, but I had the car jacked up. As soon as I changed the rear bags and let it down, i started getting the message again. I'm getting the message immediately when the car is started, there is no 90 second delay. This sucks. :(

I don't know if its my compressor or some crazy wiring issue.

That coil conversion is starting to look a lot better...
 
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