Disco II Air suspension – the definitive guide

rjsdavis said:

Sounds like one or possibly both of the sensors is buggered....

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Solonoids cleaned and lubed. Been OK for a few months now.

Another update. My TD5 has now been back into the garage at their request and at no furthur charge. I have had her back for 24 hours and so far so good no drops yet.
Thank you so much for all your advice.

tomoldboy said:

Hi all, as with others i am new to this forum too, i have had problems with my air suspension on one side but managed to locate the problem. it appears that the fuel line has rubbed away on the near side air supply hose and created a fair sized hole. when i located the fault i noticed that the fuel hose was quite hot and was concerned that it hadnt just worn a hole but maybe melted one. is it usual for the fuel pipe to be this hot and how costly and east is it to replace the hose?

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:cool2:Hello, I too have had this, first changed a good bag and then discovered the leak in the line.... Slipped some 5mm heat shrink tube over the pipe, covered hole in black gasket sealant and slipped tube back over the stuff then shrink the tubing. Problem fixed- no issues for the last year.

This thread was invaluable in helping me tackle the bag.. Thanks..

HI

My first post to this forum, I have a td5 2001 discovery and I have an issue with it. Sometimes ( not always) when i turn off the ignition their is a pump that continues to run long enough to drain my battery. I've work out this is the suspention air pump on the left side of the car attached to the chaisis under the passenger seat. I can hear and see the pump going even with the key out of the ignition. After a while it does stop but i'm talk good 5/10 mins and sometimes much longer.

Yesterday the pump kepted going after key out and was making iratice pumping noise and then stoped.

My thought is either defective pump or stuck relay or worse something up with the computer control system. ( i dont know much about the workings of it, just what i've read) I need to keep cost down so anyone got any ideas, as i say it does not do it all the time so maybe not the pump itsself !!!1 i dont know.

Can anyone help, would be grate to get answer.

i no longer have a td5 but mine had problems and to keep cost down i went for a coil conversion cost about £80 for coil kit on ebay and cost me £60 to have it fitted

hi just a quick question
does anyone have the colour code for the passenger side height sensor connector
took it apart to clean the connections but never took a note of the wiring

thick i know
:doh:
many thanks

Td5offroad said:

HI

My first post to this forum, I have a td5 2001 discovery and I have an issue with it. Sometimes ( not always) when i turn off the ignition their is a pump that continues to run long enough to drain my battery. I've work out this is the suspention air pump on the left side of the car attached to the chaisis under the passenger seat. I can hear and see the pump going even with the key out of the ignition. After a while it does stop but i'm talk good 5/10 mins and sometimes much longer.

Yesterday the pump kepted going after key out and was making iratice pumping noise and then stoped.

My thought is either defective pump or stuck relay or worse something up with the computer control system. ( i dont know much about the workings of it, just what i've read) I need to keep cost down so anyone got any ideas, as i say it does not do it all the time so maybe not the pump itsself !!!1 i dont know.

Can anyone help, would be grate to get answer.

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Sounds like the ECU is buggering around - (which is bad news) - however there could be several causes (including the WABCO pump itself). The only way to be sure is for some quality diagnosis.

Ideally, you need to take this into a MD or quality LR only specialist with a Test Book computer or very good code reader / fault code diagnostic tool. For something like this, don't take it to a general garage, otherwise they'll spend ages buggering around not having seen it before. LR specialist only for diagnosis only at this stage - then get the bits you need from Ebay / breaker to keep the costs down.

Hi all. Got an issue with my suspension. It's not dropping and its not raising. Compressor not coming on. There are 3 plugs within the compressor housing. Blue plug which I get about 3v accross. Another which I'm getting 14v. both these plugs go to the solenoids then there's a black plug connected directly into the compressor this also has around 3v accross. Do these readings sound right? As I'm getting 14v which I take is because engine running to one plug does this mean its the compressor that's no good? How can I diagnose if its the ecu?
Cheers guys

You can't diagnose it like this - by just running a voltmeter on the input plugs. You need to get it to a local specialist that can analyse the stored and current fault codes. BUT, from what you've described, it does sound like the compressor has packed up - they are are a very common failure on Disco's.

It's unlikely to be the ECU (but not impossible).

Get it diagnosed first. You don't want to spend 400 notes on a new compressor and find it was something else!!

when i get more time i will read all this thred thanks

Thanks will get it diagnosed

Hi. Great guide, thank you. I live in France and have (I think) a faulty ride height sensor as the left hand bag is pumped right up. As my garage is an hour drive away I thought I would let some of the air out of the left hand bag by slackening the junction at the compressor then disconnect the power supply to the compressor to get me there. Trouble is that if I slacken either left or right union then both sides go down. Two questions, first is my emergency solution a reasonable idea and secondly could the fact that both bags seem to be connected to each other at the moment be a symptom of the problem that I thought was the ride height sensor. Any advice much appreciated.

Jamiesonide said:

Hi. Great guide, thank you. I live in France and have (I think) a faulty ride height sensor as the left hand bag is pumped right up. As my garage is an hour drive away I thought I would let some of the air out of the left hand bag by slackening the junction at the compressor then disconnect the power supply to the compressor to get me there. Trouble is that if I slacken either left or right union then both sides go down. Two questions, first is my emergency solution a reasonable idea and secondly could the fact that both bags seem to be connected to each other at the moment be a symptom of the problem that I thought was the ride height sensor. Any advice much appreciated.

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From what you've described - it's almost certainly a dodgy ride height sensor!

Firstly - DON'T let the air out of the system in the way that you suggest - bad move. It's fairly dangerous with all that weight waiting to drop down on you.

If you're prepared to let air out in the way suggested, you might as well get the replacement height sensor and just fit it yourself - the system is self levelling, so once fitted, the bags will adjust and bring the overly high bag back down again.

I'd be inclined to simply disconnect the compressor so that it doesn't burn out from attempting to continue to pump air into the affected corner, and then drive (max speed of 45mph) to your dealer if you're unable to change the ride height sensor yourself. If you're lucky, once the compressor stops pumping air into the system (after disconnection) to keep the affected corner high - in theory, the bags should self-level in any case making it relatively safe to drive (ish) - it goes without saying that the "official advice" should be to call the RAC/AA type organisation and get it towed there!

rjsdavis said:

You can't diagnose it like this - by just running a voltmeter on the input plugs. You need to get it to a local specialist that can analyse the stored and current fault codes. BUT, from what you've described, it does sound like the compressor has packed up - they are are a very common failure on Disco's.

It's unlikely to be the ECU (but not impossible).

Get it diagnosed first. You don't want to spend 400 notes on a new compressor and find it was something else!!

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Thanks. I am going to get it on the computer, but it just makes sense to me that if I have 12v to the compressor then the compressor should be running which it isn't. I have 12v to the right hand solenoid which to me is telling the solenoid to open to allow air to the right bag. This bag is slightly lower than the left so again makes sense to me. The left solenoid and exhaust solenoid have 0v so are not being told to open.

If I disconnect the electrical plugs from the solenoids and the compressor can I disconnect the air line from the compressor to the solenoids so I can remove the compressor without the bags going down?

Thanks

rjsdavis said:

From what you've described - it's almost certainly a dodgy ride height sensor!

Firstly - DON'T let the air out of the system in the way that you suggest - bad move. It's fairly dangerous with all that weight waiting to drop down on you.

If you're prepared to let air out in the way suggested, you might as well get the replacement height sensor and just fit it yourself - the system is self levelling, so once fitted, the bags will adjust and bring the overly high bag back down again.

I'd be inclined to simply disconnect the compressor so that it doesn't burn out from attempting to continue to pump air into the affected corner, and then drive (max speed of 45mph) to your dealer if you're unable to change the ride height sensor yourself. If you're lucky, once the compressor stops pumping air into the system (after disconnection) to keep the affected corner high - in theory, the bags should self-level in any case making it relatively safe to drive (ish) - it goes without saying that the "official advice" should be to call the RAC/AA type organisation and get it towed there!

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Thank you for that. I did in the end let it down but when I pumped it back up again the dodgy side went up faster than the good side but I am further ahead than I was. Trouble is that the good side has now dropped all the way down so I wonder if the connection at the compressor is leaking. I don't think I'll try to change the sensor myself as we live in the middle of nowhere and would be in trouble without a reliable car but at least we are mobile again. I took the relay out to stop the compressor running which seemed like a good idea? Cheers

Hi All

First post new member !

My disco 2 air spring went bang on one side while i was sitting in the house drinking coffee
WOW it was so loud all the neighbours came out
anyway i have ordered original parts 2 x airsprings and height sensors
is there anything else i should assume caused this problem ??
Regards Jay

TD5mm said:

can I disconnect the air line from the compressor to the solenoids so I can remove the compressor without the bags going down?

Thanks

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NO!

The compressor forms part of a sealed air system. If you remove the compressor, the airbags will deflate.... You won't be able to "plug/block" the very small airlines either to keep the air that's in the system in there, whilst you drive to your garage for diagnosis. Leave the compressor where it is, and defo don't drive the car fully down on the bump stops unless it's an emergency and no other choice....

Jamiesonide said:

Trouble is that the good side has now dropped all the way down so I wonder if the connection at the compressor is leaking.

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Probably not, otherwise the "bad" bag would rise up to over-normal height and stay there. A basic test of whether a compressor works ok or not is to simply see if the Disco will go into off-road extended height mode - if you press the button and the car doesn't rise - the compressor's probably on its way out... Slounds like your compressor is working ok, and you've got a sensor problem - the good news is that this is a lot cheaper to resolve than if the compressor needs replacing!

Be careful though - if one side of the car is fully deflated on the bump stops - the spinning driveshaft "could" then make contact with the flexible part of the rear ACE pipes (if fitted), and basically chop a hole in them causing a fluid leak - this is very bad news as the rear ACE pipes are V E R Y expensive and a real sod-box for a mechanic to fit (no LR mechanic likes this job!) - so don't drive the car on the bump stops with ACE fitted....

Jamisonide said:

I took the relay out to stop the compressor running which seemed like a good idea? Cheers

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Yes - sounds fine - this will stop it from continuing to inflate the bag because of the dodgy sensor, which in a short space of time, would kill the compressor = B I G £££'s!

Super Jay said:

anyway i have ordered original parts 2 x airsprings and height sensors
is there anything else i should assume caused this problem ??

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Nope - an exploding airbag is usually caused by a faulty height sensor, but you only need to replace the single bag that exploded and the height sensor on that side - replacing both sides is good practise if you're getting stiffed by your main dealer for a big bill, but not necessary.

If you are going to replace both - drop me a PM as I'll take the used ones off your hands if you don't want them (don't leave them at the garage).

Jamiesonide said:

Thank you for that. I did in the end let it down but when I pumped it back up again the dodgy side went up faster than the good side but I am further ahead than I was. Trouble is that the good side has now dropped all the way down so I wonder if the connection at the compressor is leaking. I don't think I'll try to change the sensor myself as we live in the middle of nowhere and would be in trouble without a reliable car but at least we are mobile again. I took the relay out to stop the compressor running which seemed like a good idea? Cheers

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Have you tried cleaning and lubricating the solonoids while there was no air in the system?