Drained Battery from sensor lowering? HELP!!!

[tiggerspr96]

Guys,

I have been going through battery hell with my 98 Mark VIII LSC lately. I have gone through 3 Optima Red deep cycle batteries in the period of a month. After recently sensor lowering my car, I have been having this issue. The problem kept happening after I let the car sit more than 3 days. I would get a brand new battery after autozone stated the battery was depleted. I would put the new battery in and whamo the Mark would start and be fine for as long as I drove it at least once or twice in a 3 day period. But if I let it sit for three days or more the car would be completely slammed (dropped) and the battery would be drained. I would try to turn the car on and get the click click sound.

It gets even more bizarre. After sensor lowereing the car, the car front end would always be slammed and the compressor would have to get it back up to the level I set it, but then when I would hit highway speeds I would get check the air ride system. And then the car would stay slammed in the front, until I would turn the car off and restart it again and the compressor would kick in and get it back to the level.

I am wondering do I have bad height sensors in the front because the rear just seem to follow in step in with however the front responds. I have brand new solenoids from Arnott, and get a new sensor from ebay for the front of car since the driver's front always seems to drop a bit lower and I would hear air hissing from that side. So, I guess do I need a new air struts in the front or just what? Should I convert to the coil suspension. HELL guys, I just need help as to what to do and to figure out why I am going through batteries like this and I want my car dropped just and inch all around since I have nice 18's on the car.

Well I know I have come to the right forum, so my Mark VIII friends, please HELP A BROTHA OUT!!!!!

 

[Dern Humpus]

I didnt venture into the sensor lowering myself, so I cant help much in that field. But, did you get your alternator checked out to see if it is putting out enough amperage?

 

[cavemansmarkviii]

I gree with Dern, get your alternator checked out. And from posts that I have read it is fairly common for the struts to go after sensor lowering.

 

[Jibit]

two things, you need new struts, and the air ride won't kill your battery like you described. The reason you're getting a check air message is because your car isn't rising back to its normal height within a certain amount of time. The car lowers at highway speeds and then raises back up. If its not able to it throws the error message. After the car is shut off the air suspension is only active for a short amount of time (not really sure the exact time but I want to say around 20 minutes), so after this time the car won't try to adjust itself. If your charging system was good you wouldn't have a problem. I would suggest replacing your bags and having your battery checked (I'm assuming that's the problem cause normally these cars won't run correctly if you alternator goes). If your battery and alternator are good, check the terminals, if all else fails put a meter on your battery and see what kind of current draw is being drained from it (shouldn't be much because when the car is off it only needs power for memory for things like the computer and radio)

 

[Jibit]

I gree with Dern, get your alternator checked out. And from posts that I have read it is fairly common for the struts to go after sensor lowering.

not necessarily, normally what happens is a bag has a slow leak from a small crack in the bag. Sensor lowering exposes the crack more so you then see the front end drop. If you didn't lower the car the front wouldn't drop cause overnight isn't enough time for it to lose a lot of air but eventually it would increase the size of the crack and drop. Essentially you're speeding up the process but the problem still exists either way, you're just finding it quicker. Sorry for the rambling..........

 

[Dern Humpus]

not necessarily, normally what happens is a bag has a slow leak from a small crack in the bag. Sensor lowering exposes the crack more so you then see the front end drop. If you didn't lower the car the front wouldn't drop cause overnight isn't enough time for it to lose a lot of air but eventually it would increase the size of the crack and drop. Essentially you're speeding up the process but the problem still exists either way, you're just finding it quicker. Sorry for the rambling..........

I know what you mean. Mine bags leaked before I did the conversion and my compressor was running 75% of the time in cold weather. This ended eating my alternator which was the final straw in my decision to get the spring conversion.