air suspension questions

[ProfKenn]

FYI. I just today bought a 1996 Continental: white w/gray leather interior. It has 90k on it, and I got it for $2500. I was a bit wary, but it seemed too good a deal to pass up. The drive was great and the ride was even better! It has the 32v v8. I looked at the cv boots; they looked fine. The trans fluid actually looked very red and did not look dirty at all and there was no burned smell. Oil seemed ok, too.

My only concern is that I've searched the site and know that there are problems sometimes with the air suspension. I was wondering how I tell if mine is going out or has a leak? The compressor comes on when I first start it up, which I know is ok. The back end does not drag nor does the front. However, it seems that the compressor comes on a bit too often, but I really don't know how often it's supposed to come on.

Any advice on things I should do, such as maintenance, etc. is welcomed. I'm thinking of the serpentine belt, tensioner pulleys, etc. Are these a royal pain? I noticed that there's not much room with this huge v8 in there.

I also understand that the trans is a weak point, too. There seems to be a bit of a whine--not significant--when I accelerate. The trans seems to shift smoothly.

Thanks to all who can help me out.

 

[remote1234]

Air Struts
I had one side go out in my 96 cont. I replaced both fronts with active coil overs from stutmaster. These struts by pass the load leveling in front, but let you adjust the ride frimness. Thats what strutmaster says. I took me 2 years lots of agrivation to get them to work. If the ride is not exactly the same with the coil overs as the air struts, the computer will throw codes and the car rides very stiff, Every tar line shakes the car and passengers! Lincoln dealers will not look at it, speed shops screw arround for weeks at a time, and give the car back basically telling me the car is F...ed up. Strut master says go look at the trouble codes and fix the problem.
Problem codes were left front time out up, right front time out down. This means the ride height sensors need to be recalibrated. This procedure requires a Star Testor ll. This is an expensive dealer code reader. I located one, and the recalibrate procedure requires the suspension to go into the test mode. This will cause the suspension to raise up and lower to test output of the sensors, pump, lines solinoids. Once this is performed, this star tester will allow the suspension height to be adjusted, saved, and thus calibrated.
With the coil over struts, the up down setup test will not cycle and the calibration is over, no adjusting or calibration will be set. In other words Strutmaster said they cannot help me any more. The car rides like a rock, and the computer keeps throwing a code.
I was able to fix the problem my self. Don't ask me why the engineers at strutmasters could'nt figure it out. I placed the car on a level surface, used a volt meter to monitor the voltage out put of the front ride height sensors, reaching in with a 11mm box wrench, I adjusted the sensors to the correct voltage. Turned the car off, reset the computer, start the car, problem solved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Now the car rides great, I can adjust the ride stiffness, no error codes and the rear leveling works. The bad part is, had I checked the voltage in the first place, I would not have had to replace the air strut with the coil over in the first place, a very expensive mistake.
Some times you just have to tell the EXPERTS, to go jump in the lake, and think for your self. If you have any questions and you think I can help, contact me by e mail.
Christo.
chris.stoffels@comcast.net