Suspension lowering intermittently?

Hi All, My Disco 2 has an annoying problem with the air suspension. It keeps going down but not all the time. It will happily stay up for a week then I park it up and 15 minutes later it's flat on it's axle?? Occaisionally I was getting the 3 amigo's which clear and now seem to have gone. I have just changed the shuttle valve switch thinking that was the problem but got up this morning and it's flat again. It was showing 'shuttle valve electrical fault' which cleared so I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction as to where to go next
Cheers in advance Dave

Hi Dave,

Welcome to the loonyzone.

Shuttle valve may have resolved your 3 amigoes, but it should have nothing to do with the SLS system ( air suspension)
Have a read here:
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/disco-ii-air-suspension-–-the-definitive-guide.171995/

Also, I would suggest downloading the Rave manual, if you do not have it already.

Is it flat on both airbags? or just one?

For a sinking car on one side, A good first start is to check the airbags for a pinhole , soapy water in a spray bottle sprayed over the bags when in ORM , may show the issue. If you do replace the bag, it is good practice to replace booth bags at the same time. It is not unknown for both bags to seem to fail at the same time. Bags are easy to replace and relatively cheap if in doubt.

Also to trouble shoot, you can get these.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281754172327?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Cheers

If you are changing the airbags then it might be worth changing the ride height sensors as well. A pair isn't expensive and simple to change. Mine were in a sorry state with steel bushes missing and plastic split. An example of one below.

neilly said:

Hi Dave,

Welcome to the loonyzone.

Shuttle valve may have resolved your 3 amigoes, but it should have nothing to do with the SLS system ( air suspension)
Have a read here:
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/disco-ii-air-suspension-–-the-definitive-guide.171995/

Also, I would suggest downloading the Rave manual, if you do not have it already.

Is it flat on both airbags? or just one?

For a sinking car on one side, A good first start is to check the airbags for a pinhole , soapy water in a spray bottle sprayed over the bags when in ORM , may show the issue. If you do replace the bag, it is good practice to replace booth bags at the same time. It is not unknown for both bags to seem to fail at the same time. Bags are easy to replace and relatively cheap if in doubt.

Also to trouble shoot, you can get these.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281754172327?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Cheers

Click to expand...

neilly said:

Hi Dave,

Welcome to the loonyzone.

Shuttle valve may have resolved your 3 amigoes, but it should have nothing to do with the SLS system ( air suspension)
Have a read here:
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/disco-ii-air-suspension-–-the-definitive-guide.171995/

Also, I would suggest downloading the Rave manual, if you do not have it already.

Is it flat on both airbags? or just one?

For a sinking car on one side, A good first start is to check the airbags for a pinhole , soapy water in a spray bottle sprayed over the bags when in ORM , may show the issue. If you do replace the bag, it is good practice to replace booth bags at the same time. It is not unknown for both bags to seem to fail at the same time. Bags are easy to replace and relatively cheap if in doubt.

Also to trouble shoot, you can get these.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281754172327?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Cheers

Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick repliies!! I was sure it wasn't a leak because it will stay up for a fortnight then will go down in 10 minutes as if it is being told to lower. It seems to be lower on the drivers side more than the passenger as if that side lowers first then the other one follows it

The air bags are prone to getting pinholes / porosity in the folds on the bag. So if you move them in certain ways or they end up sat in certain ways then the "holes" are open, whilst on other days they might for all intents and purpose be closed on others.

Which is why a spray bottle and the bag in ORM height may help you find a small leak.

Someone else recently had almost exactly the same problem, after a lot of searching he found both bags had small leaks. It may not be the case on yours, but it is a good starting point.

Cheers

okay thanks Neilly. Just been outside and tried your suggestion, raised suspension and sprayed it it with leak detector spray and seems ok??
Could it be a faulty ride height switch making it go down? I raised it,switched off the ignition and it happily stayed at full height for 10 mins and its sitting there now without moving!! I;m sure it's laughing at me!! I changed the airbags around 2 years ago so they are not that old

Hi Dave,

Did you watch it while it lowered and raised once sprayed with soapy water? Sometimes these leaks are a PITA to find. Alternatively it could be another fault in the system. There is a good write up online of how to link those air valves into the system to give you the ability to isolate the compressor from the bags to help with trouble shooting.

I cannot see a faulty sensor causing the issue, ( but it is a LR, strange things do happen).
If it was a dodgy sensor , I would expect it to be sat at an angle when running and when off.

Mine , will drop on one side if I park with one rear wheel on the kerb, As if it is trying to level itself up. I never worry about it TBH. If I park with the vehicle wheels on the road then it sits level for days.

Maybe it was @Shimsteriom , who had the airbag issue??

Oh, and Yes , they do laugh at you.......... I am positive some D2's are inhabited by mischievous spirits......

Cheers

Thanks again. I didn't watch it no so I will wait until my wife gets home for assistance so she can operate while I watch. It did have the 'shuttle valve electical failure' alarm code on again which has cleared and it is now sitting ok so I'll let it sit for a while try again later.

Cheers

Hi Dave,

Have you got a copy of the Rave manual?
Also what diagnostics are you using?

Oh, and if watching the moving suspension up close, DO NOT get your head caught in there, It will hurt.

Cheers

I think I have a copy of the Rave manual somewhere I'll have to dig it out. I have the icarsoft i930 reader which does the basics. Not sure where to start with the Rave but any hints would be gratefully received
Cheers

I would suggest downloading the rave manual, it is easier to use on a laptop.

Here is a link if you need it.
http://www.myrangerover.co.uk/rave-workshop-manual/

With rave have a good read of the descriptions section, and the electrical descriptions , it may help you understand how it works.

If you have the opportunity , it may be worthwhile seeing if anyone local to you has a diagnostics unit, like Nanocom / hawkeye / lynx, as these are often considered to be better for analysing the issues found on the d2's. Even if it is just to confirm the i930 is giving you a good cause for the 3 amigoes.


Cheers

In my opinion, you have two problems here.
First the SLS suspension, as another member on here once said, "When you've convinced yourself that the fault isn't with the airbags, it's the airbags". Many people seem to get into a lot of trouble trying to over-analyse the problems. My advice is to change both airbags, first as last.

Your "Shuttle Valve Electrical" fault is more than likely not the actual switch plate, especially if you've replaced it, but on the two pin connector inside the ABS modulator which the switch plate connects to.
My advice for this SVS fault would be to carry out the modification as shown in "Option B" on this website page:

http://landroverclubvi.weebly.com/abs-mod.html

You'll have to scroll almost to the bottom of the page to get to it. It also gives some idea of how to check the SVS switches with a multimeter. The mod can be done in an hour or two and costs no more than a couple of pieces of wire.

Mine is behaving itself now, although after changing the bags, it would drop either both bags, or just one for no reason. It was / isn't a leak, as I could actually hear the exhaust valve open, and then shut off when it reached a certain height. After using the Nanocom, I did try to set the heights, but that didn't want to work either. For the past week, it has been OK, but I'm still not convinced. I'm going to order a coil conversion kit anyway, just in case the problem decides to reappear. As I'm not towing, and have removed all but the two front seats, I can get away with the coil conversion without affecting the insurance or ride of the car, but I won't be removing all the gubbins of the SLS system, as I'd like to get around the resolving the issue eventually, but at the moment, I just need a car that works.

wildfowler said:

okay thanks Neilly. Just been outside and tried your suggestion, raised suspension and sprayed it it with leak detector spray and seems ok??

Click to expand...

The leak might be in the roll-up section at the bottom... or could you see the entire bag when you had it lifted up?