Front Air Suspension is toast
#1
03-31-2009, 08:12 PM
Front Air Suspension is toast
I am very confused as to what is wrong with my suspension:
Problem 1: Sometimes I can leave my car over night un-attended and the suspension will stay just as I left it. Other times I will park for 5 minutes, come back, and the front right end is all the way down and wont come up. If I do drive like this I can tell that its only the front right side because any bump I go over directs all the pressure to that side of the vehicle. I can sit there and wait for it to raise for over 20 minutes and i wont get any results (MOST of the time). This is what's most confusing to me. Sometimes I have no problem, and other times i'm completely screwed.
Problem 2: My suspension will be seeming to work fine, driving along nicely, when all of a sudden my level lights start blinking, indicating that for some reason my suspension is lowering (kind of like I have it too high and due to the speed it automatically drops even though i'm going slow on the first or second setting). If I let it keep going down it eventually gets to the point where even the bottom level light starts flashing, and my ride-level warning lights start to flash. It seems as if once they get all the way down, the front right side gets even lower. When this happens I will try and raise the suspension but it won't even let me, so I have to pull over and restart my car for it to take action. Now it's getting to the point that It won't even correct itself when I pull over.
If anyone had any answers for me that would be great! I've read around on other posts similar to this one and have found replacement parts, but I have no clue to what exactly could be wrong, and wouldn't want to replace a part that doesn't need to be fixed.
Thanks for your time.
Problem 1: Sometimes I can leave my car over night un-attended and the suspension will stay just as I left it. Other times I will park for 5 minutes, come back, and the front right end is all the way down and wont come up. If I do drive like this I can tell that its only the front right side because any bump I go over directs all the pressure to that side of the vehicle. I can sit there and wait for it to raise for over 20 minutes and i wont get any results (MOST of the time). This is what's most confusing to me. Sometimes I have no problem, and other times i'm completely screwed.
Problem 2: My suspension will be seeming to work fine, driving along nicely, when all of a sudden my level lights start blinking, indicating that for some reason my suspension is lowering (kind of like I have it too high and due to the speed it automatically drops even though i'm going slow on the first or second setting). If I let it keep going down it eventually gets to the point where even the bottom level light starts flashing, and my ride-level warning lights start to flash. It seems as if once they get all the way down, the front right side gets even lower. When this happens I will try and raise the suspension but it won't even let me, so I have to pull over and restart my car for it to take action. Now it's getting to the point that It won't even correct itself when I pull over.
If anyone had any answers for me that would be great! I've read around on other posts similar to this one and have found replacement parts, but I have no clue to what exactly could be wrong, and wouldn't want to replace a part that doesn't need to be fixed.
Thanks for your time.
#5
04-15-2009, 10:25 PM
air bags
My allroad would do the same thing. If i left it at level three over night it would stay at level three. But when it was at level 2 or 1 the front right air bag would leak.
Park your car in level 1 and turn it off and listen next to your front right tire and you'll probably hear a hissssss noise. If so you most likley have a leak. You can also spray soapy water and watch the bubbles.
Arontt is the way i went. Didn't take to long to install myself.
Heads-up... When i took my allroad to the dealership when this first started happening they told me that three of my air bags were bad. They were wrong. don't get screwed by these people. Go to a couple of places and shop around. Buy the Arontt bags and buy a shop to install if you don't think you can do it yourself.
good luck.
Park your car in level 1 and turn it off and listen next to your front right tire and you'll probably hear a hissssss noise. If so you most likley have a leak. You can also spray soapy water and watch the bubbles.
Arontt is the way i went. Didn't take to long to install myself.
Heads-up... When i took my allroad to the dealership when this first started happening they told me that three of my air bags were bad. They were wrong. don't get screwed by these people. Go to a couple of places and shop around. Buy the Arontt bags and buy a shop to install if you don't think you can do it yourself.
good luck.
#7
05-05-2009, 03:02 PM
buy the arnott bags and install kit. If they do not have an install kit get an "airbag install kit" from a dealer.
More than likely you have a bad airbag, if you are not mechanically inclined or a Do it yourselfer have a friend help you. First, test which bags are leaking by mixing a heavy mixture of dishsoap and water an put it in a spray bottle, next spray it all over the bags, put the car in the highest level and work your way down feel around the bag with your hands while the car is lowering they usually leak around the bottom of the bag on level 2 but it can leak on any level. check both bags, order how many front bags you need, the back bags usually dont leak for a long time.
On a side note you may want to get this done soon, I wouldnt keep riding around letting that pump work all hard like that it is only made to run for around few minutes at a time after that it can get hot and shut off, and / or start to become ineffecient at raising the car in a decent amount of time. this means if you keep driving like this you will be needing a new pump so dont wait to get a bag just suck it up and buy a bag or 2, because you must buy a pump from the dealer and it is expensive.
as for the bags it is a simple install as long as you are moderatley handy, BUT, if you are unsure i would not do it yourself this is a steering coponent and could be dangerous if your skills are lacking. there is a writeup on the install if you wish to do it yourself i found it helpful when i installed mine.
More than likely you have a bad airbag, if you are not mechanically inclined or a Do it yourselfer have a friend help you. First, test which bags are leaking by mixing a heavy mixture of dishsoap and water an put it in a spray bottle, next spray it all over the bags, put the car in the highest level and work your way down feel around the bag with your hands while the car is lowering they usually leak around the bottom of the bag on level 2 but it can leak on any level. check both bags, order how many front bags you need, the back bags usually dont leak for a long time.
On a side note you may want to get this done soon, I wouldnt keep riding around letting that pump work all hard like that it is only made to run for around few minutes at a time after that it can get hot and shut off, and / or start to become ineffecient at raising the car in a decent amount of time. this means if you keep driving like this you will be needing a new pump so dont wait to get a bag just suck it up and buy a bag or 2, because you must buy a pump from the dealer and it is expensive.
as for the bags it is a simple install as long as you are moderatley handy, BUT, if you are unsure i would not do it yourself this is a steering coponent and could be dangerous if your skills are lacking. there is a writeup on the install if you wish to do it yourself i found it helpful when i installed mine.
