air ride HELP!!!!!

richduty455

richduty455

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Ok, so I'm having a bad month, the air ride isn't working.....I start the car up and get "check air ride suspension" And the compressor isn;t running. So I figure the compressor died, I get a new compressor and dryer and put it on, same thing "check air ride" as soon as i start it. ok maybe the relay is bad, I go to the yard and grab like 5 relays, none of which did the trick, I even switched in my ABS relay to see if it was the problem. Next I played with the wires, nothing, I checked the wires going into the relay and they're getting juice, I even jumped the relay and it turned the compressor on. I also cleaned the grounds off of the wiring harness and checked all fuses. Anyone have any thoughts of ideas why this is going on??? Luckily my bags are good and the car isn't on the ground (i turned the air ride switch off to go to work) PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(
 
Error right away can mean a few things. Bad relay, height sensor out of bounds, etc. Would be a hard fault. If it comes on after about 45 seconds then it may be a major leak, slow or dead compressor. It will error out if the car does not reach proper height in a set time - 45 seconds.

So my guess is a bad relay or height sensor off its mount.
 
bad relay +1

your compressor is probably getting tired, and has popped the relay

test it by taking the abs relay from the drivers side car and swapping it with the air ride relay.
 
I replaced the compressor, which I tested before I installed, I also installed in a few relays (got 5 from the yard) they didn't work so I put my ABS relay in and still no luck :(
 
its definatley a hard fault issue like unity says.

sorry I missed the relay stuff in your original post
 
but when you bypass the relay it works?

sounds like a bad connection in the relay plug connection
 
Hmmm time for Coils LOL ... Mespock the Destroyer of Mark VIIIs to the rescue ... when the air ride become more of a problem than a luxury dump the system... and go back to enjoying the Mark VIII ... LOL ...

Let the rants begin...
 
Uh... Oh... Rich is on a Mark VIII destroying rampage!!! Lol.

:F
 
So the compressor runs when you bypass it. It wouldn't pump the car up because the bag solenoids are not opening to allow the air in.

The compressor has a timeout of 90 seconds by the way!

So we know it's not the compressor, and likely not the relay. Are the height sensors on the ball studs properly? If they are, then it still could be a bad height sensor but probably not likely. If you could get the height sensors on the junkyard car for cheap, it would be an easy thing to rule out.

Beyond that, it's potentially a short in the circuit somewhere or a blown fuse, or a SCM (suspension control module).

But you never did answer, does it error immediately or does it take a few seconds, time it and report back.
 
Not likely a height sensor indeed, but I remember a user that thought the same. Found out that the rear sensor came off and was the cause of the issue.

I repeat though, that if its a height sensor you will error out right away.
 
yea the car errors out immediately, so hopefully that'll do the trick.....I'm tired of working on this and it not working...ugh!!
 
sensors are all in place, so we're gonna take it from there....my batt light is on though.....wonder if thats not making it work??
 
richduty455 said:
sensors are all in place, so we're gonna take it from there....my batt light is on though.....wonder if thats not making it work??
Click to expand...

The whole problem "could be" a bad charging system or battery. From what you've described, the very first thing I would do is to get the charging system up to par. If the suspension module doesn't get the correct amount of voltage on startup....it'll turn the light on and shut down the system. I'm not saying theres nothing wrong with the air suspension, but I wouldn't touch the air system until I fixed the battery problem.
 
Good point Eddie, reference and supply voltages...

and if anyone would know.. EDDIE would.

+1!!
 
hmmmm, i got ANOTHER new alternator last night and still the lights on, battery is good, anything else would cause that light to go on??
 
Get a voltmeter and check voltage AT the battery, AND at the Alternator.
post the numbers and we'll get back to you.
 
need "key off engine off" voltage at the battery

also key on engine ON voltage at the battery

and Key on engine on voltage at the alternator
 
cool thanks! I'll check them out tonight and let yous know. I did get the car hooked up to a scanner (don't think the guy knew how to use it thought) but he said it was coming up with no codes, which i don't believe since the check air ride message is up on the dash right away
 
did he scan the "eec iv" port? (on drivers side of motor)
Or the suspension port (on passenger side by the air box)
 
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