air suspension gremlins

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coedthesheep

Member
Posts
18
Location
Wigan
Hi all,

I have a disco 2 millennium edition with persistent problems on the air suspension.

Both air bags have been changed and LH sensor changed this last couple of months, RH sensor replaced approx 4 years ago.

Initial problems getting the ride height correct on the LHS, this was due to a basic error by mechanic not storing settings.

A friend replaced the M8 bolts securing the lower part of the sensors on both sides.
Within 4 days, after initial drive and parking up, I came back to the vehicle to find it had dropped on the LHS.
I fired the car up and watched as the LH pumped up then lowered itself a couple of times before settling at the correct height, no more problems for the rest of the day.

The following morning I drove the car approx 1 mile and both air bags dropped with the fault flashing up on the dash for the air suspension system.

Turn off, restart, the dash warning light clears and bags pump up, drive 200m and bags deflate with warning light again.

Its happy to sit and tick over with no probs but as soon as I start to drive we have the above.

Borrowed a nanocom evolution, which is happy to talk to my car with no warning lights on and tells me there are no faults on the SLS.

When I force the fault to appear by driving, I get an error message from the nanocom telling me it cannot connect to the ECU and is unable to read any car data on any of its menus.

Because I can't drive it, I can't get it to my local Land Rover chappie to take a look, to be quite honest, I been to and from him with it for the best part of 6 months and we're about to give up and put it on coils. (LV are happy to insure with the modification and are not charging stupid money)

Any ideas please?

Thanks.
 
Hi @coedthesheep

OK , for a start with the nanocom.

You say the ECU gets locked out while driving, you should be modifying the SLABS system. Is this the one? If yes , this is by design after 8 km/h you are locked out, and cannot be changed. But any fault codes should be saved and viewable when stationary.

BUT: While you have the nanocom , it sounds like it would be a good idea to also check the height set for the suspension. As it can be adjusted and set by a nanocom. There is a specified measurement.

Have you tried the soapy water trick on the bags when the bags are fully inflated?

upload_2017-1-30_9-48-40.png


Have a read of this.

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/disco-ii-air-suspension-–-the-definitive-guide.61211/

Also, for trouble shooting , to separate the bags from the compressor side you can always use isolation valves that will allow you to focua on the problem area. look here:

eBay item number:
271935006590


Cheers
 
Hi,

how stupid of me with the nanocom, will get the fault to appear and then plug it in.

Either the fault isn't storing (nano says no faults) or it will only read presenting faults.

No haven't tried soapy water yet, its sat on the drive quite happily pumped up for days without starting as before I had the bags changed, it would drop approx 20mm each day until it was sat on the bumps.

Previous to it's recent turn, the LH air bag kept over inflating. So to drive it any where, I would fire it up, let the air bag fill to required height, stop the engine and take the under bonnet fuse out for the compressor. This was during the episode where the heights had not been stored correctly.

Thank you for the ebay item nudge.
 
I would at the very least change your 4 year old sensor prior to recalibrating your system.
Its 15 min job, but make sure the battery is disconnected.
Also worthy of greasing the bolt that holds the bottom arm of the sensors to the trailing arms.
 
A quick down and dirty hint:

If you ever think the problem is with a height sensor. Then disconnect the battery ( that bit is very important). Then you can swap LH for RH. They are the same. But do make sure you put them on in the correct orientation. I was asked for help from someone who had a car that would not rise on one side. It turned out he had put a new sensor on , but back to front!! :oops::oops:

Cheers
 
the day this particular trouble started, whilst driving the vehicle over a half mile stretch of particularly pot holed unmade road, I heard a loud pop.

The last time I heard this kind of noise was some years ago when an airbag gave up.

I haven't really put too much emphasis on hearing this noise as the bags seemed to be fine for the rest of the journey until later. And the fact that they blow up and stay up when stationary?
 
A quick down and dirty hint:

If you ever think the problem is with a height sensor. Then disconnect the battery ( that bit is very important). Then you can swap LH for RH. They are the same. But do make sure you put them on in the correct orientation. I was asked for help from someone who had a car that would not rise on one side. It turned out he had put a new sensor on , but back to front!! :oops::oops:

Cheers
Hiya,
I've been out to it and checked, they are facing correct way!

Thanks!
 
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