What did you do to your Mark VIII today?

owned the car exactly a week now. didnt have time to really mess with it last weekend, so i got a few things done today.
1. removed chrome wheel arches
2. installed 6k drop in hids
3. air bag sensor 'drop' to lower the car.

dont have any before pics... fail on my part but here is how it currently looks.
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How much of a drop is that?
 
How many miles were on it when you dropped it? I want to drop this one but I figure if I drop it, the back bag's with 194K on them won't take the pressure and will leak!
Am I correct in thinking this???
 
Got my other oem air strut on yesterday. No more sagging front end :)

But dayamn it, now I am getting Check Air Ride on the highway.
 
How many miles were on it when you dropped it? I want to drop this one but I figure if I drop it, the back bag's with 194K on them won't take the pressure and will leak!
Am I correct in thinking this???

i didnt measure it, but im pretty sure it dropped about 2 inches.

as far as leaking, it is on my mind. I only have 103k, but it is still 16 years old.
 
Nice stance. Now get a pin stripe remover wheel and put it on a cordless drill and get the pin striping off. You'll love the difference it makes. The wheel I used on the black 94 I had was made out of some kind of hard rubber like polyurethane but I done the whole car and used a compound when I had it all off. The whole job from start to finish took me right at 45 minutes. Looked much better.
thanks!

awesome tip! my co-worker told me that i should remove the stripe. ill keep an eye out on one next time im at the auto parts store!
 
Yes it's definitely nice to have brand spankin' new air springs on there!

Haaaa, another air lover! Not sure what could be causing your check air ride though. Has to be something simple. It feels like a completely different ride now doesn't it? I know mine does. I love it on the HWY now. It just glides like it's on...... yeah, air.
 
saggy bags

Replaced the rear air bags in my 97. Heelp. The ass would drop gradually down to bottom on the highway. I had this same problem with the front on my 96 years back but went to springs ( will never do that again).Sat. am popped the new bags in the rear hoping this would solve the problem. Pump comes on and inflates the fronts and cuts off. It seems no air is being distributed to the rears. I checked the height sensor for damage , unplugged and plugged back in. Disconnected the battery hoping to reset something and still nothing.I have not replaced bags before just removed to install springs. Did i miss something? Hate to take to the dealer.
 
Replaced the rear air bags in my 97. Heelp. The ass would drop gradually down to bottom on the highway. I had this same problem with the front on my 96 years back but went to springs ( will never do that again).Sat. am popped the new bags in the rear hoping this would solve the problem. Pump comes on and inflates the fronts and cuts off. It seems no air is being distributed to the rears. I checked the height sensor for damage , unplugged and plugged back in. Disconnected the battery hoping to reset something and still nothing.I have not replaced bags before just removed to install springs. Did i miss something? Hate to take to the dealer.

Have you checked at the compressor to see if all 4 lines are connected. Almost sounds like that or two pinched lines for the rears or the air lines aren't connected to the rear air bags. Are you getting any "Check Air Ride" message?
 
Replaced the rear air bags in my 97. Heelp. The ass would drop gradually down to bottom on the highway. I had this same problem with the front on my 96 years back but went to springs ( will never do that again).Sat. am popped the new bags in the rear hoping this would solve the problem. Pump comes on and inflates the fronts and cuts off. It seems no air is being distributed to the rears. I checked the height sensor for damage , unplugged and plugged back in. Disconnected the battery hoping to reset something and still nothing.I have not replaced bags before just removed to install springs. Did i miss something? Hate to take to the dealer.

At what height did you support the rear of the car? If you use a jack and support the car a couple of inches below normal ride height, the pump should raise the rear of the car when you turn on the key and close the door.
 
Finally got rid of my CEL light - it had one code: 122 TPS voltage below minimum.

When I looked at it, IT WAS UNPLUGGED! I had no idea the car would run with TPS unplugged and I've been driving this car for months.

When I plugged it in, the engine raced and the voltage was 3.89v (no wonder it was unplugged). Replaced it with a spare I had and all is fixed!
 
Finally got rid of my CEL light - it had one code: 122 TPS voltage below minimum.

When I looked at it, IT WAS UNPLUGGED! I had no idea the car would run with TPS unplugged and I've been driving this car for months.

When I plugged it in, the engine raced and the voltage was 3.89v (no wonder it was unplugged). Replaced it with a spare I had and all is fixed!

wow. but it will run, the computer just gets to guess alot, and use the mass air meter. wonder how it schedules the shifts without a tps...
 
Have you checked at the compressor to see if all 4 lines are connected. Almost sounds like that or two pinched lines for the rears or the air lines aren't connected to the rear air bags. Are you getting any "Check Air Ride" message?

i know the lines are good at the bags, and don't hear any air escaping. It sems like when the car is at highway speed the rear contunues to bleed out.Is there a valve that controls this, thaat could be bad? Started intermittent.The night before I did the bags I came into the garage bottomed out in the back. The car had not pumped back up as usual when I got off highway. This time i left it running b/c the pump was not coming on and the back obviously not rising up. A while later I went out and it was at correct height. In am it was still correct height.Front has a slow leak and ready to go.I am guessing the compressor is accesible from under the car pass. side up front?
 
wow. but it will run, the computer just gets to guess alot, and use the mass air meter. wonder how it schedules the shifts without a tps...

Funny thing was, it upshifted fine, but it wouldn't downshift unless I did it by hand. I thought something was wrong in the tranny, but I guess the down-shifts require the TPS input.

It ran good - I even used the cruise a lot. Weird it run so good with only the MAF input (for a LONG time - I've been driving it for months)!
 
Today, I put on a tight pair of faded Miss Me jeans, black t-shirt, Frye boots and made my gorgeous car growl! She's sitting at about 26" right now due to my air ride issue and looks positively f*@#%n sexy!!! I'm just cruisin' with the air ride off and taking it in. What a SWEET car... perfect in every way. Black on black... what more could a girl want?

Today, I enjoyed the privilege of driving one of the best looking and sounding cars ever made. Period. YUM!
 
Put an SCT chip in it with an off the shelf 93 octane tune. WOW! Major wheelspin from a dead stop and good bit of difference. My friend used to high hp cars was impressed with the before and after doing a quick 0-60
 
i know the lines are good at the bags, and don't hear any air escaping. It sems like when the car is at highway speed the rear contunues to bleed out.Is there a valve that controls this, thaat could be bad? Started intermittent.The night before I did the bags I came into the garage bottomed out in the back. The car had not pumped back up as usual when I got off highway. This time i left it running b/c the pump was not coming on and the back obviously not rising up. A while later I went out and it was at correct height. In am it was still correct height.Front has a slow leak and ready to go.I am guessing the compressor is accesible from under the car pass. side up front?

I'd try swapping out rear height sensors. You only have one back there and the whole rear is dropping or all this could be in the air ride computer. It's sending a signal to vent but no signal to stop venting. Pull your glove box and kick panel and check the wiring to see if anyone has ever installed a rays switch and left exposed wires. You got me on this one. It would be driving me insane until I found out.
 
the car sits lower at highway speed. this lower height opens cracks. the additional movement of the cars suspension opens the cracks even further.

tldr; you need new rear bags.

my fronts would do this. i could flatten the front under hard braking. squatted the air spring enough that the cracks opened and the front just dropped.

and yes, all this being intermittent is normal. air temp, how you park, where you park, all makes a difference.
 
I have one good front bag/shock for the Mark - already sold the other one; it's in really good shape. The rears are old, cracked, and no good.

But I have that good front - I've forgotten what side it is (I'm not sure it makes a difference). If you're interested, I'll get some good pics.
 
rear bags don't fill

Have you checked at the compressor to see if all 4 lines are connected. Almost sounds like that or two pinched lines for the rears or the air lines aren't connected to the rear air bags. Are you getting any "Check Air Ride" message?

Thanks for your reply. I checked and NO "check air suspension" message appears. I guess i will have to go back under the car while pump is on and see if there is leakage at the connection. I removed the bags from my 96 ( they were new) and have been stored for a couple years, I assume they are good for the 97. The connection seems a bit loose ( rotates easily)but clip is on correctly, I am assuming also the connection firms up when it is pumped up.
 
I'd try swapping out rear height sensors. You only have one back there and the whole rear is dropping or all this could be in the air ride computer. It's sending a signal to vent but no signal to stop venting. Pull your glove box and kick panel and check the wiring to see if anyone has ever installed a rays switch and left exposed wires. You got me on this one. It would be driving me insane until I found out.

This is my 3rd mk 8 they all seem to give me suspension issues at 110 - 120k yes making me nuts but I am motivated by the lovely ride of a 2000 grand cherokee with 150k -75 miles a day to get the mk's ass back up again!!!
 
The connection seems a bit loose ( rotates easily)but clip is on correctly, I am assuming also the connection firms up when it is pumped up.

Try new, properly lubricated, o-rings on the solenoids.
 

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