NEWBIE with a lopsided disco

hi guys and girls, i have recently purchased a 2003 td5 es facelift and am very very happy with it, however i came out to it this morning and thought it looked lopsided (slightly down on the drivers side), drove it around with no probs, pressed the suspension raise button and up she went...no probs, i have no warning lights coming up but as soon as i come to a halt, even with it running, you get out and its down on the drivers side rear, are there any checks i can do, to see if its something straight foward or not i.e new air suspension joint, dodgy relif valve etc

please help as its my new baby and she is not well

Pugo

possibly a leaky 'suspension air bag', spray it with soapy water to confirm...

ok did that........no leaks , and to make it worse it has now repaired itself...i.e it has not done it since ?????????????
what do i check now, as i am supposed to be driving to valencia next month to tow my boat back

please help.....

pugo

I have a 2002 TD5 which has recently started to do exactly the same, it does not leak but the drivers side has dropped an inch and stays an inch lower all the time now. I wondered if it needs the sensors checking or re-calibrating?? It is going back to the selling dealer tomorrow as he gave a years warranty, will let you know what the outcome is.

I suspect you should crawl underneath the back and very carefully clean all the bits and bobs of the suspension sensor things --- plastic lever things at the rear trailing arms. It sounds like they are sticking, and you want them freed off before they really stick and blow your airbags up with a bang.

Ask the forum guys if a good spraying with WD-40 would do the sensors any harm.

CharlesY

CharlesY

ok, the disco has done it again the other day and by turning her off and restarting it again corrected itself.........then i drove to yorkshire from essex and halfway there the A.C.E warning light came on, it stayed on till i turned her off at a coffee stop..........then that reset itself as well..........any ideas guys or girls ??????

pugo

Mine has been in and looked at, the problem has been solved by disconnecting the height sensor arms and allowing the suspension to fully drop, reconnect arms and start up car and the sls system resets and rises to the correct height again.

I would advise anyone with an air sprung TD5 to check the ride height sensors carefully.

Mine failed with the air bag pumping up to it's limit then exploding. It could have been catastrophic!

I replaced them today, along with the airbags, both the sensors outer casing was cracked, how that happened I dont know as it is shelded by a metal cup..?

if you are having suspension problems, remove the sensors (it's only three bolts) and check them over very carefully, any signs of cracks get them replaced.

Hi one of my problems was every now and then (it could be every two to three weeks) the back end would sit down this was due to suspension air bags. Possible problem is leaks where you cannot see them and they don't always leak it just depends at what angle the car is sitting. l rover recommend these bags are replaced every 5 years as the rubber starts to crack and you cannot see it unless you remove them like I did then put some air into them (use tyre pump) while immersing them in large bucket of water you should look for bubbles if you see them or any cracking where the rubber is attached to the ends replace them. last thing you want is the suspension to give way totally like mine did I was lucky I was not going fast but it could have gone on open road with caravan in tow. I dread to think what could have happened. Regards PS if changing them buy 2 new ones (check out ebay) and get some new top mounting clips the old ones will probably be corroded and you will only need 4.

Throw the air suspension bags, sensors, pump etc away and fit decent coil springs. You will have to use a pooter to tell the ecu that it doesn't have air springs otherwise it gets electronically upset and has a tantrum.

I think I've a sligtly lopsided disco too.

It's a 300tdi '94. Seams to lean to the driver side. bit difficult to tell as not been parked anywhere level in the last few days but seams to be about an inch diffrence either side at the rear.

Is there anything I should be looking out for or checking?

Teshu

pugo said:

hi guys and girls, i have recently purchased a 2003 td5 es facelift and am very very happy with it, however i came out to it this morning and thought it looked lopsided (slightly down on the drivers side), drove it around with no probs, pressed the suspension raise button and up she went...no probs, i have no warning lights coming up but as soon as i come to a halt, even with it running, you get out and its down on the drivers side rear, are there any checks i can do, to see if its something straight foward or not i.e new air suspension joint, dodgy relif valve etc

please help as its my new baby and she is not well

Pugo

Click to expand...

I had this exact same problem on my '99 TD5 a couple of years back. The control valve/compressor unit is faulty, needs to be replaced and set up again, (not cheap, needs plugged in at LR dealer). It can be run for a short time, just raise the suspension with the pushbutton and lower it again, but be careful, if it jams in the wrong position it'll over inflate both airbags and blow a hole in your wallet, (£16 change from a grand for mine).

Sharkey