TD5 Suspension

redhotmax · Aug 9, 2011

Hi everyone,
When my 300TDI broke after 12 years of ownership, I bought a TD5-(air
suspension). I have no previous experience of air suspension and am not sure if it is working correctly.
If i jack up the front to work on it say or if i put a load in the back it will slowly drop is its haunces at the back end. When i then start up the engine the rear suspension will raise back up taking about 30 seconds or so. Is this behaviour correct. During normal driving and parking the vehicle sits and stays as you would expect.

Also the ride over bumps (speed humps) is very harsh - hard suspension,
is this normal

thx
Red.

iansoady · Aug 9, 2011

redhotmax said:
Hi everyone,
When my 300TDI broke after 12 years of ownership, I bought a TD5-(air
suspension). I have no previous experience of air suspension and am not sure if it is working correctly.
If i jack up the front to work on it say or if i put a load in the back it will slowly drop is its haunces at the back end. When i then start up the engine the rear suspension will raise back up taking about 30 seconds or so. Is this behaviour correct. During normal driving and parking the vehicle sits and stays as you would expect.

Sounds OK to me - this how it should work

Also the ride over bumps (speed humps) is very harsh - hard suspension,
is this normal

thx
Red.

The front suspension is a bit hard but the rear should just glide over things.

redhotmax · Aug 9, 2011

Thx for your reply,
yes its the front that is hard and the rear is smooth just as you say.

mastiff · Aug 10, 2011

redhotmax said:
Hi everyone,
When my 300TDI broke after 12 years of ownership, I bought a TD5-(air
suspension). I have no previous experience of air suspension and am not sure if it is working correctly.
If i jack up the front to work on it say or if i put a load in the back it will slowly drop is its haunces at the back end. When i then start up the engine the rear suspension will raise back up taking about 30 seconds or so. Is this behaviour correct. During normal driving and parking the vehicle sits and stays as you would expect.

Also the ride over bumps (speed humps) is very harsh - hard suspension,
is this normal

thx
Red.

I am no expert on these bloody motors. BUT! our rear suspension started dropping every time it was parked up or when you put any amount of weight in the boot. Eventually i got around to changing my air bags.

Now when we hook the caravan up it drops about an inch at most!

You need to change your air bags every 5 years or so due to the rubber disintegrating over time. Your compressor is not designed to fully inflate the bags lots of times.

check out www.discovery2.co.uk for a guide to changing them. Look at Paddocks for your new bags.

Hope this helps.

Rob

jamesmartin · Aug 10, 2011

spring conversion kit is cheap less than a £100 ,gives better ride ,anyone with hawkeye can turn ecu to coils and not air to put light out and leave compressor off

aviator · Aug 10, 2011

After I renewed both air bags last year, and found out how easy it was, I wouldn't even consider converting to springs. It takes less than an hour to do both sides and you don't even have to take the wheels off (I have know it to take longer to wash the thing). and about 80 quid every five years or so isn't going to break the bank.
The advantages of the air suspension far out weigh the problems in my opinion.

redhotmax · Aug 11, 2011

Thanks again chaps, plenty of info there and a very informative website.
Nice one.

dooroy · Aug 12, 2011

If the problem remains confined to airbags - that would be fine .
But as time goes on the height sensors and their connections will probably start to act up - and having to pump up the suspension too often will wear out the compressor (expensive ).
And the biggest pain is being let down at random - Disco sits on the bump stops and 5mph is the max speed you can tolerate .
I changed to springs having been let down (?) a few times - and would never change back .

Discomite · Aug 24, 2011

I would agree about the keeping the bags now that Paddocks are doing a Dunlop airspring for about £63 and changing them along with the sensors every five years or so is no big deal. I had one go on me about 4 years ago and actually saw the guy change it in 15 minutes and charged me about 250 as it was a genuine L.R. spring .Now I know I can do both springs and sensors myself for less than that. A pity though somebody hasn't come up with a repair kit for the sensors as I believe it's always the grommet/bush that usually goes...

TD5 Suspension

redhotmax

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iansoady

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redhotmax

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mastiff

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jamesmartin

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aviator

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redhotmax

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dooroy

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Discomite

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