really confusing air suspension

C

CFH

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ok, heres one for ya. so my back air springs keep goin up without going back down, and they go higher and higher, till all the way up. heres what happens, when i take the air hoses out of the dryer, then turn on my car, then turn it off, close the door, BAM drops, and even lifts it if its down too far, "WITH THE HOSES OUT" ...... then another way i was getting them down was my boss would put some electric thing to the blue power wire attached to the attached to the solinoid, and they would go down, WITH THE HOSES IN. ....... ok im stumped, i thought it was my height sensor, then my air suspension controller, i even changed the dryer once but i think it was leaking, cuz it kept hissing. oh and another thing, is when it lets the air out there is some water that sprays out sometimes out of the air hose and once out of the compressor but doesent anymore. i found an air ride computer at the junk yard but dont wanna buy it till i know what the problem is.

question 2. how easy is it to change the breaks? could i do it myself or do i haveto take it to a shop? im kind of a n00b.

i think thats it for now, thanks for reading.
 
Hehe... I almost feel like saying, "if you can't change brakes, you should not own a Mark VII", but I won't. ;)
These cars do require a bit of know-how. But perhaps she will start you on the road to learning new things about car repairs :)

Do a search on this subject, we've all answered this problem before, many times.

Just search air suspension and go through the list until you find the info you need.

Let us know what you find...
 
ive read a lot of suspension threads, but this is just illogical, how can it be pumping air into the back without the hoses being in the dryer?
 
CFH said:
ive read a lot of suspension threads, but this is just illogical, how can it be pumping air into the back without the hoses being in the dryer?
Click to expand...
Krikey! It can't. You're probably disconnecting the fronts instead.
Hey, if your "Boss" knows how to plug a "strange electric thing" into a blue wire and make something magical happen, well, none of us can't compete with that! ;)

But seriously...The only way backs can go up is if air is being put into them. And if the back solonoids don't shut off, then air meant for the fronts, will continue to go into the backs, since it's lighter.

You need to tell us what's happening when everything is connected properly. And no magical electrical things are being pluged into blue wires.

Buy the used computer and plug it in. How much can it cost? they're cheap.
 
51 bucks!!! i got like 100, plus i gotta pay gas for this 5.0, sooo, i was thinking of pocketing it, or sowing a pocket in my pants or something. tee hee, but yeah um

when everything is plugged in, the back goes up, whenever weight is removed, well i dunno it just goes up, i woke up one morning after letting two girls out of my back seat, and the back went all the way up, bounced like crazy. so for some reasone it wont let air out, when i close the door, i hear the rear solenoids click....click, no air comes out

i take out the hoses, it goes down a little cuz my plan was to make the solenoids open in order to put more air the back, but since hose isnt plugged into compressor it would let air out. well that worked, but not all the way.

but

what i noticed, is that today when i parked at a local head shop, i unplugged the rear hoses out of the dryer, put the key to "ON" didnt do anything, then i turned it off, closed the door and "PFFFFFFFFFFFFT" the back went down then shut off and lifted a bit. HMMMM... hoses are unplugged. what pumped the air into the hoses if theyre not hooked up.

before that my boss did his magic electric thing connected to the battery and dug into the blue wire right at the solenoids. and it went down, so he tripped them.

right now im back to my height sensor is messed up theory.
 
Sounds like a saturated dryer to me. If the solenoids are functioning, which from what you have stated they are, and the bags will drop with the air lines disconnected, then the dryer is the culprit. I would renew the dryer, double up the o-rings on it, and see where that gets you. You will only be out about $2 in o-rings, and this is something you should do anyway.

http://www.lincolnsonline.com/tech/00034.html
 
Parked at the local head shop? Hey a jacked-up Lincoln shouldn't look outta place, there, duuuude. And how the hell do you sleep with two girls in the back seat? That can't be comfortable ;)

I kinda suspect that the relief solonoid inside the compressor is corroded or stuck, so no air is getting out, although the rear sols open.
Now what about the fronts? Do they pump up and let down properly? If so, then then relief solonoid is fine and that should also mean that the dryer is okay. It's easy to take apart to check, tho. That's a good info link that Josh left for you. Be carefull, it's spring-loaded. Those silica beads can spill all over the place so keep it upright as you unscrew the top.

Could still be a bad computer. It can't hurt to remove the computer, take the cover off and have a look. You'll usually see and smell the part that fried itself.
Rear sensor could be faulty but it's rare. Inspect it to see that it's connected properly and that none of the plastic is torn away, exposing the insides to water, etc..
Verify that air is comming out of both hoses equally when you turn shut the door.

BTW - what year is the car?
 
Awesund said:
...I kinda suspect that the relief solonoid inside the compressor is corroded or stuck, so no air is getting out, although the rear sols open.
Now what about the fronts? Do they pump up and let down properly? If so, then then relief solonoid is fine and that should also mean that the dryer is okay...
Click to expand...

The front bags take more pressure to inflate, so it is likely that they are not provided the opportunity to over-inflate like the rear. They may not be venting at all, but the fact that they do not tend to move up and down as much leaves them from being noticably out of place. Many good thoughts on all of this, here.
 
im sorry. i mislead you all, apparently when my boss triggered the solinoids he took the hoses out, so the problem is the compressor cuz even when i take out the dryer from the compressor it lets air out when i close the door. the compressor isnt letting air out. so ive gotten like 2 compressors from a junk yard one didnt work i exchanged it, and same damn problem with the other one (wont let air out)

but thats my prob so i got 500 bucks for my car for my bday towards a paint job, but im gonna buy new front airbags from that texas thing 90/piece. and keep looking for a compressor at junk yards, till one works. maybe as well as a dryer since there is water in the air lines. thats where this Q comes in.

when i let air out of the back, water comes out both hoses a little bit. i dunno if thats just because the air is so compressed or the dryer sucks, does the dryer work both ways? when it lets air into the compressor, does it dry it? i really have no clue. ive tryed taking the dryer apart but no luck, wont come apart. thanks and once again sorry for confusing you.
 
You have reassured me that the dryer is the problem. Your compressor is fine; stop buying them. The dryer will come apart, you just have to persuade it. A monkey wrench on the "hex" on the top of the dryer typically makes short work if it. Stop spending money on parts; you can fix this issue for free, and I would suggest tossing $2 in new o-rings at it as well.
 
no no no it has to be the compressor, because like i said when i take the dryer out of it, with the hoses in the dryer, it lets air out. so thers no question that its the compressor im just gonna go to junk yards looking for one its only like 40 bucks otherwise its like 170.

what does replacing the orings do anyway? i doubt theyre leaking, i bought a whole set of orings but theyre all diff sizes. didnt replace em tho and i bought them for the compressor but then i found the one i thought i lost. i dunno w/e
 
It could still be the Suspension computer. The relay that triggers the relief solonoid in the compressor could be fried.

"Boy, I just think this air suspension system is the neatest, most wonderful thing ever!. And it's just as reliable and long lasting as a coil spring.... isn't it?" ;)
(hint: answer is "no")
This has to be the single most troublesome part of these cars. Such a dumb idea. I forget who it is, in here, who says they love air suspension systems. :eek:
 
go on strutmasters and look for you car and there are rebuilt as well as new compressor and dryers and bags and so on stop paying for used stuff when you can just order them for less than the junk yard stuff. Josh actually gave me some pointers on my 88LSC and so far so good.
 
i doubt its the computer, when i let air out of the valve thing one time right after it started effing up a bunch of water came out, im gonna try to open the compressor or maybe see if i can test out the computer i found at the junk yard

and strut masters has the same prices as the texas place, but they only give 1 year waranty the texas place gives lifetime.
 
I see what you are saying now. Sounds like the system is saturated and has failed your relief solenoid in the compressor housing. I would recommend rebuilding the dryer first, as you need that to get the moisture out of the system. From there you should do the air suspension diagnostic to have one more solid piece of information to pin-point the issue.
 
pricewise coils are more expensive, my plan is to fix my compressor, free, replace the o rings in my dryer, 5 dollars, get new front air bags with a lifetime warranty 200 dollars, the look on everyones face who doubted me, priceless, for everything else theres mastercard. lol
 
pricewise coils are more expensive, my plan is to fix my compressor, free, replace the o rings in my dryer, 5 dollars, get new front air bags with a lifetime warranty 200 dollars, the look on everyones face who doubted me, priceless, for everything else theres mastercard. lol
 
Awesund said:
...
This has to be the single most troublesome part of these cars. Such a dumb idea. I forget who it is, in here, who says they love air suspension systems. :eek:
Click to expand...
hehehehe
Yeah ... we love you too!

The air ride suspension of the Lincoln Mark VII makes up the SECOND largest section of our shop manuals. Our brakes section is number one.

Remember, I'm a collector and NOT a mechanic, but I do know this; if you continue to throw money and parts and guesses at a problem with a Mark VII, then your last post here will be, "I just sold that piece of Junk and bought a nice reliable Honda Accord!"

Diagnostics is the first step toward any repair. Anything else and you're just guessing. I guessed for years and now I have the wallet to show the fruits of my efforts. After having a blowout at 65 mph, you stop and look to see which tire blew the hell up. That's called a diagnostic.

Do a search for [air bag suspension diagnostic] and perform it. It costs the price of one grounding wire and maybe a screw to anchor the wire to one of the holes in the frame of the trunk and maybe borrowing a screwdriver and pair of plyers. When the one or two operations fail the test, then, and only then, PERFORM THE CORRECT REPAIR WITH THE CORRECT NEW PARTS.

(Nay Sayers start here)

Look at the age and condition of the part(s) removed and the fact that they did exactly what they were designed to do for (at least) the past fourteen years. If everything was done exactly as designed without cutting any corners, then sit back and enjoy your air ride suspension for another 14 or more years (considering that you even KEEP the car that long).

or install springs
or buy a Honda Accord, the car with the best maintenance record in history.

Rant over.
Holy :q:q:q:q.
Where's the Tylenol?
 
JoshMcMadMac said:
I see what you are saying now. Sounds like the system is saturated and has failed your relief solenoid in the compressor housing. I would recommend rebuilding the dryer first, as you need that to get the moisture out of the system. From there you should do the air suspension diagnostic to have one more solid piece of information to pin-point the issue.
Click to expand...
Bags ;)
371001_25_full.jpg
 
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