Problem with air suspension

Hi - I'm a newbie here and i am sure that this will have been discussed many times but ive searched online for 2 days now and cannot find the answer so please help.
I have recently bought a RR 2.5DSE with Head gasket gone which i have now fixed and all seems OK tocuch wood!!
But there seems to be a problem with the air suspension (unless its supposed to be bouncy!!)
It all seems to function OK i.e goes up and down when you push the switch and seems to without any delay and no fault lights or messages. It rises up to normal road level but when you drive along it seems quite hard and bouncy - i have never driven one before but i sort of expected it to glide over the bumps or am i wrong in thinking that.
Any help will be appreciated - by the way its had a new compressor and it doesnt seem to sink down overnight a great deal so i suspect there are no leaks - many thanks in advance.

No leaks = no drops for several days, just to start with.
From what you've said your system sounds fine. When you say bouncy, how do you mean? When I first got mine I realised that my ideas of not having to slow down for speed humps were.. valid but not comfortable - there's a lot of play in the suspension (for off road use). I find that it glides unnoticed over a pothole, ie small dints, but lurches over big obstacles.
It might be worth having a look at your shock absorbers, check they all look OK.
Otherwise, welcome to the forum and I hope you enjoy your Rangie

hi
it just seems like there isnt any suspension as if it were riding on the stops (which it isnt) - havent tried road humps yet!!

A bumpy ride can be a result of a few things. The Rangies I had had completely different ride characteristics. The main reasons for this was mainly the age of the airbags. When they are old the become less flexible. Old shocks don't help either but replacing them (on mine) had minimal impact. I also noticed the ride hights were wrong by a significant amonut which is easy to fix.

One huge cause for a rough ride is outsized wheels (19" and above) and extremely low profile tires.

Hope some of this helps.

If its bouncy after you've driven over a bump could well be your dampers ( shock absorbers ) they only have a shelf live of about 60,000 miles most people don't bother with them till they cause a problem but if they've never been changed and your air suspension works as it should with out leaks look at them

hi all - thanks for the advice - i will have a look at the shocks and see if they are cream crackered - its got normal 18" tri spoke alloys with 255/55 tyres on it.
Maybe i was expecting it to be smoother than it actually is supposed to be and never driven another one i have nothing to compare it with. I think i will just live with it until i can cadge a drive of another and see how it compares.
It didnt cost a great deal so im not expecting it to be perfect but its just nice to get everything i can sorted to make it all the more enjoyable
Just got a gearbox and engine oil and filter change to do now (not today though) as gearbox a bit slow to respond and no idea when it was last done - oh yeah and clean the inside - i think the previous owner mixed sand and cement in the foot well!!
Thanks again for your help.

18" wheels do give a harder ride than the 16's

Both my 4.6's had 16's and were alot smoother than my recent DSE on 18's...the difference was quite marked....

Change the dampers if they are knackered, also look at the bushes too and check the ride heights are correct (do a search on here for the ride height measurements...)

Saint.V8 said:

18" wheels do give a harder ride than the 16's

Both my 4.6's had 16's and were alot smoother than my recent DSE on 18's...the difference was quite marked....

Change the dampers if they are knackered, also look at the bushes too and check the ride heights are correct (do a search on here for the ride height measurements...)

Click to expand...

Or have a look in the "How to" section.