Front air suspension leaking?? Out of warranty but........

[spizzi]

Hi all,

I ran out of CPO warranty back in June 2009. I think my front air suspension is leaking as I will lower my truck into the ride access height (lowest setting), park the truck and let it sit for a few days, then when I come back to start the vehicle (after sitting for a few days) it is sitting even lower almost to the bumper stops. Then, I will sit in the vehicle and turn the key to the first stage without starting the car --- at this time the vehicle will make its correction of the air suspension for the front left and right and the compressor will give both front and left side fronts a "blast" to pump them up to the ride access height.

The obvious question is: are they leaking? If yes, do they need to be replaced?

The air suspension seems to not noticeably leak overnight as I have tried my test sequence (written above) and the vehicle does not give the slightest hint of a compressor "correction" blast of air.

Lastly, if they do need to be replaced, I am concerned that I brought my vehicle in to LR while under warranty at least 3 times for my suspicion that the air suspension on the front has been leaking. All three times I was turned away (less $150 every visit).

Thoughts on if I there is any recourse here?

Thanks in advance!

-spizzi

[Dan_UK_1984]

I'm amazed you paid $150 dollars to be told its fine 3 times. That's the price of a new airbag Here

A decent LR specialist or someone with air susp' experience should be able to fit. But you might also have a sticking valve block or leak in the air line. I would pay a reputable company to do a leak test.

LR dealers are all crooks - you've learnt that. If you are prepared to fight and have documented evidence that you've reported a leak to them within warranty I would get them to cover all costs or do the work for free. But be warned they will probably break something else whilst its in there to teach you a lesson!

[woldd90]

Take a squeeze bottle with water and dish soap in it an spray the connections in the valve body, then check the connects at the air bag the same way.

After have a P38 for 6-7 years, all air bags leak after a while. You may not need to replace them yet, but you can keep an eye on them.

[bsolidgold]

Do the Arnott conversion to coils... I did it and haven't looked back since. The adjustable suspension is nice but it's just a novelty when you're talking thousands of dollars in maintenance and repair.

[spizzi]

bsolidgold, I was considering the Arnott conversion but I am thinking of selling this vehicle to my parents and want to make sure they will not run into problems with this conversion from both a technical aspect (throwing error codes etc.) and from a comfort aspect (i.e. is the height of the vehicle too high? will they need to get running boards?).

Thoughts?

[bsolidgold]

As far as comfort goes, it rides better than it did before, imo. Height: it's only about an inch or two above what was access height. Error codes will be a problem (until someone figures it out) on any RR between the years of 03 and 05 (Arnott has a solution for 06 and beyond).

[Malafax_dand]

You could keep one of these in the vehicle and clear the fault codes when the occur. It certainly would not be a long term solution to your leak problem, but It can get solve the short term problem and also provide a bit of comfort knowing that you can clear and read the fault codes. The EAS Activate also is a heck of a lot cheaper than continually going to the dealership over and over again just to have the computer reset.

http://www.rswsolutions.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=268&Itemid=77

[gw2doc]

Very interesting...

I was expecting to see people jumping all over you for advising someone to go with a coil conversion like they do in the P38 forums...

saying "a RR without air suspension isnt worth the trouble, blah blah blah"

My 2003 is not coil converted and i dont plan on converting it, but i did own 3 P38's one of which was converted and it was IMHO the better handling and better driving of the three RR's because of the coils.

... and it was also the oldest and most beat up, 98 4.6 HSE.