TD5 Air Suspension Strange goings on !!

Hi All,

I have a 2003 TD5 ES auto, 5 seater.

On two occasions now I have come out in the morning to find the rear suspension on the drivers side only to be completely deflated and the wheel arch virtually sitting on the tyre. Start the car up and after about two minutes up it comes. It happened this morning but has been fine since rectifing itself, even whilst towing out caravan back home.

I thought I may have a leaking spring but it doesn't happen every day, other mornings I come out and it's perfecly level - Strange !!

Any help or advice gratefully received.

Mark

might be a slow leak that only opens up under certain conditions. dunno if spraying soapy water over them and getting someone to operate the compressor would show anything up.

Stick a new spring on the drivers side or you will soon need a new compressor too........

eightinavee said:

Stick a new spring on the drivers side or you will soon need a new compressor too........

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Thanks for that - I'll get it sorted this week.

Mark

Is it ok to leave it in the deflated position or should I start the engine to lift it up once a day ??

I ask because I don't use my disco every day.

Strange that sometimes it doesn't deflate at all though.

Mark

The more times the compressor has to lift the car,the closer it is to wearing out.

Been stood all day and it hasn't dropped at all !!

Would the recommendation still be to change the spring, are any other individual components responsible for 'air release'.

change both springs, a couple of hundred quid for the parts and a surprisingly easy job to do... Make sure you buy a set of £0.45p clips for the top of the new springs, you'll probably bust one getting it off.

Been sat on the drive since Monday, not dropped an inch

Do you still think it's the air bag ? Needless to say man confused

Hi, I just bought my Td5 xs last Saturday and have noticed similar probs on same side (osr) I read many posts tonight so cant remember who or where on LZ it was posted but someone said there is a common prob of the pipe wearing against chassis on drivers side. dont know if its true but I will take a closer look at mine morrow.

Shodi said:

Hi, I just bought my Td5 xs last Saturday and have noticed similar probs on same side (osr) I read many posts tonight so cant remember who or where on LZ it was posted but someone said there is a common prob of the pipe wearing against chassis on drivers side. dont know if its true but I will take a closer look at mine morrow.

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I took it back to the dealer I purchased it from who in turn took it to a main dealer. I have all the main dealer testing documentation and they could find nothing wrong with it apart from a missing bump stop which they replaced all free of charge to me. At last a warranty that works.

Still strange though as it hasn't gone down since.

I have a 01 Td5 and the drivers side has gone down twice since last August when I bought it . The seller replaced the left hand one before I got it .
Last week I ordered a new airbag from Island 4x4 as my local main dlr wanted €280 + Vat (21&#37 for one .
I was conscious of burning out the compressor and was also considering changing over to coils altogether.
I will probably fit the new airbag and see how things go but like you I am very puzzled by the fact that it has only happened twice - but why ?
Air leaks don't usually cure themselves .

dooroy said:

I will probably fit the new airbag and see how things go but like you I am very puzzled by the fact that it has only happened twice - but why ?
Air leaks don't usually cure themselves .

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I'm with you on that.

I wouldn't consider changing to coil springs though as I have the ESP on mine and I love it.

Mine just went down again! I was lying across floor in back seat area working on CD changer unit (jammed mag) and after a while I heard a creaking sound and b4 long i was a damn site closer to the garage floor, still strange it stayed full height for 2 days then a little movement in the car and down she goes????

is it a bag, a valve or maybe a pipe?

Strangely (or not) the first time mine went down I was changing a rear bulb and was sitting in the boot - and it actually went down quite rapidly . Once engine was started it came up and stayed up for a few months .
I would like to keep the air suspension but the thought of it going down miles from home with a full load and failing to come up is what bothers me .
I presume it goes down to the bump stops and driving would be next to impossible - that's why the coils seem like a better option .
Many moons ago I had cars with leaf springs in the rear and a broken main leaf was something you always dreaded .

Mine deflates with certainty over a few hours if I'm bouncing around packing the car, or on the roof, etc. I think this is tied to the problem on mine as I see it:

I posted a long description of my air bag problems some time ago, I'll dig it out. Basically, after studying the schematics for a long time with a hydraulics engineer (friend who understoon the symbols on the diagram!), we concluded that a valve block was possibly to blame as the deflation was very sporadic, and more importantly equal on both sides, not just one side. We think that debris or wear on the valve that splits the air to both sides should be to blame. The valve is (apparently) a spring valve, which will seat a metal ball onto a hole in a non-return kind of way. We think this is occasionally sticking open a bit, or is being comprimised by a small piece of debris or pitting. To get back to my original point, I think bouncing aroundin the back or shifting weight in/out aggrevates this.

When the back does drop, it does it over the course of about 4-5 hours. And always on both sides, never on just one. Air bags can and do fold over to cause sporadic air loss, but in my case I can't see them both leaking/not leaking at the same time, every time... That would be too much of a coincidence.

I did think that perhaps if one bag was leaking, the vehicle would drop the other side itself to match (level the car) as it drops, due to the difference picked up by the height level sensor. This system does operate even with ignition off (deflate only, and only with all doors closed). But there are so many reports of people coming outside in the morning to find one side only dropped, I have ruled this out as somthing that could happen. Surely, if it were my airbags leaking, sometime just one would drop?

I think it's important to check that your compressor isn't hot after a long run, as you will then be sure that it isn't almost permanently on. I intend to find a power feed to the compressor and run an LED from it via a relay so that I can see when it's running. Just a little worried about upsetting the sensitive ECUs though!

In all cases, it doesn't cost anything to raise your rear suspension, whip a wheel off, and have a good spray with soapy water to check for leaks.

Intermittent problems are the most annoying and the hardest to fix though, of course!

I had the intermittent deflation on only one side and it was definately the airbag....I replaced both as a matter of course.......that was two years ago and not a problem since!

Also, its qite an easy job.

Hi all, I've just decided to replace both air springs and for anyone thinking of doing the same check out PADDOCKS I got the pair for £163. Best I could find anyway.

hi same problem with mine this weekend.
drivers rear side went down then both sides went down.
could i convert to coil springs and do they make a kit.
thanks

don't meen to seen ignorant but does the rear suspension work on load leveling sensors which look at the height of the suspension arms.

the fault could be due to muck on the load level sensors or it could be that they are intermitantly faulty.

my disco will drop nearly to the floor when i load it up but will pump itself back up within about 15 seconds even with over 1500KG in the back.