They will rebuild yours and pay shipping both ways. It you can go a week or ten days without the strut.

 

You would want the Arnott coil/spring conversion. That's what I did with my 2005 Jaguar XJ8L soon after I purchased it in 2014, and have never looked back. In some respects, the ride and handling with the coil/spring is superior to that of the trouble prone air suspension.

Kiss that air suspension good bye as it's not worth the anguish and grief nor the time and expense of continuing to nurse it along.

Driving a vehicle down the road with the body dragging over the wheels can only lead to even more expensive repairs. Take my advice, and just go for the Arnott coil/spring conversion.

 

I have read the latest coil overs from Arnott use Monroe struts. They were Bilstein before.

 

My car has done 107,000 miles on original air suspension. No problems so far.

Some people have complained that it is way to "squishy/sloppy" which is something that I have not seen on my 2005 XJR.

I have driven plenty of sports cars in my life and I think the CATS system on my car is superb. No complaints whatsoever.

I am very pleased to know about RMT.

 

Ok, I have a question for Panelhead, if you don't mind.

My wife has decided to go with my recommendation. Right now if we both need to drive somewhere I drive my company car and she drives MY Jag, so obviously I need to get hers fixed as soon as possible! Not that I don't love her enough to let her drive my XJR, but I'd really rather her be driving her own Jag so mine can wait safely in the garage until I get home.

I want to place the order for the RMT re-built air shock, preferably tonight. Their customer service closed at 5pm EST. So, my question is what exactly do I need to order? Her car is a 2004 XJ8. I don't know if the air shocks are different for XJ8 verses XJR, comfort or sport etc. I only see one option listed for her car, so it seems there isn't much of a choice to make, is there?

Thanks. If I don't hear from you tonight I'll just wait until tomorrow and call their customer service number.

This has NOT been an easy decision. My reflex is to convert, but I guess after considering all of the variables we are just not ready for that yet...

 

the lady that answers the phone is very knowledgeable.
I THINK the damper is the same for both XJ and XJR. The air bag is different.

 

Thanks. I'll give them a call in the morning. I guess it wouldn't ship any sooner if I ordered it tonight! haha. I'm just anxious to get this resolved.

What about fittings, lines, adapters...etc. I will search on here for some basic directions, but I presume other than a couple of extra connections it's much like changing any other strut/shock? I have the JTIS software on this computer, I'll search through that, too.

We have a plan!

Edit - Ok I found the step-by-step procedure in the JTIS software, looks pretty straight forward. Only question then is are there fittings or lines that should be replaced in the process? Thanks again...

 

Look at this thread:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...cement-177296/
There are useful links and videos to grasp what is at stake and giving advices.
I can also add this one with pics:
jaghelp.com: How to change the front air springs (suspension struts) on your Jaguar XJ
In principle there is no need to change fittings or lines.

 

The rear that just came in has an o-ring. No fitting as a freebie. The lower bushing has been replaced on the rears.

 

I talked to someone at RMT in Pompano Beach this morning. The order is placed and she said it will ship out today. I should expect it mid-week next week.

Thanks again everyone. I will update this thread to let you guys know if the install goes smoothly and if the new unit operates properly.

 

It came in within a few days but my schedule has not allowed me to do the install. I am about to begin now.

The directions I have say to support the front of the vehicle.

1) Is it ok that the rear stay on the ground?
2) Do I release the air pressure by slowly undoing the air supply line to the strut I am removing?
3) Do I set the car on the ground first and then re-connect the battery after installation?

Like many things, I'll figure it out as I go. But, if anyone has a quick answer, well...thanks!

 

Disconnect battery.
1. I just do it like changing a tire. Break lugnuts. Jack up with two stands. TAke off wheel.
2. Break airline and bleed off.
3. After swap, install tire, install lugnuts handy. Put on ground and torque. Reconnect eCAT, install airfitting. Reconnect battery. Let aircompressor run for a minute and shut off vehicle. Let if cool and then drive it around a little to recharge system.

 

On 3.
When you put the car on ground, it will go completely down because of no air left in the circuit. I believe that this is not recommended for the shocks.

In the Bilstein video, they do all the airlines and eCAT connections before lowering the car.
Btw, they do not disconnect the battery during all the process... (different from the Arnott instructions but the Arnott video is mute on the handling down of the car).
Then they let the car go down with the lift only until the wheels touch the ground with the vehicle still supported by the lift.
Then only, they start the engine and lower the vehicle down (380 mm between wheel center and top of wheel arch), and after a couple of minutes, they further lower the car down to 340 mm and wait until the compressor raises it back to the correct level.

Personally I would tend to disconnect the battery before the whole operation as Arnott recommends, and as you intend to do, to avoid any electrical issue.
To also avoid any possible impact on the recorded heights (if you do not intend to recalibrate heights with IDS-SDD), I would shut down the engine and disconnect the battery before raising the front end with jacks and stands for both sides.
When the shock replacement would be completed, and the airlines and eCATs reconnected, I would remove the stands and lower down the wheels to an height of about 380 mm or slightly lower and then only reconnect the battery: in principle that means that when you will start the engine, the compressor will refill the circuit and the ASM will instruct to catch up the latest height recorded which should be the correct one. And then only I would lower the trolley jacks.

 

The lower T60 strut mounting bolt is heavily corroded and had a generous amount of red loc-tite on it, not easy to remove. The threads at the end are good but the central part of the bolt is corroded. I have no choice but to re-use it since the new one only came with the upper mounting nuts.

I have some red local-tite, should apply it to that bolt when I re-install?

 

I just got back from a long test drive; car rides wonderful...as it did before. No error codes and no excessive compressor running.

I lowered the car an inch or so at a time with the engine running. Each time I lowered it the compressor would kick on. I would wait until it stopped and then give it a couple of minutes to cool, then lower it some more. Eventually the jacks came out from underneath and the car had leveled itself perfectly.

Time will tell; and the true test will be some cool weather. I feel very optimistic though.

Thanks so much for all the advice and help, I really appreciate you folks.

 

Wonderful!
Thx for the feedback, useful for DIY apprentices like me.
That T60 is sometimes a pig to unscrew. Luckily you could do it without having to sacrifice it.
No issue in reconnecting the airlines on top of the struts (perfect sealing)?
Also do I understand correctly that you followed more or less the approach I suggested re. battery/ignition/lowering?
I think I will do mine this summer

 

Affirmative paydase, I basically followed the steps you outlined.

The T60 required GREAT care and patience to remove without damaging. It was covered in red loc-tite; it took a 3 ft. breaker bar to do about 80% of the turning. It never seemed to get loose! I torqued it back to about 135 ft. lbs. (JTIS says 175 nm, which I believe is about the same as ~130 ft. lbs.)

The RMT unit came packed with a new O-ring for the airline connection. I think the trick is to resist the temptation to over-torque the connection. I just got it snug with the new O-ring in place and I don't detect any leakage.

As always, if anything significant happens I will update this thread.

Thanks again!

 

Maybe two more questions:
- did you dismantle the height sensor linkage (to avoid damaging it) and remove the brake line holder as instructed in the video?
- did you put new self-locking nuts at the top of the strut tower and to mount the ball joint for the upper control arm as also recommended?

And now, don't forget to do a new axles alugnment!

 

I saw no brake line bracket that was in the way OR height sensor. Perhaps because I was working on the passenger side (RH) and the directions are for the drivers side (LH)? I don't know...

Upper lock nuts are new; came with the air strut. Re-used the nut for the upper ball joint. The upper ball joint was in somewhat rough shape so I will hopefully be replacing it within a few months anyway. You can't tell it from the ride, but it's fairly worn.

I can't imagine why an alignment would be necessary. It doesn't seem I could have changed anything that would have affected alignment, but I guess I could be wrong. It drives and tracks exactly as before (I know, that doesn't mean it's properly aligned!) haha.

 

Thx for the further clarifications.
No height sensor because indeed you were on the RH side (your 04 XJ8 probably has only one sensor on the front). Otherwise, it is advised to dismantle it (but then there may be issues in height recalibration).
New self-locking nuts seem to be required, good that you fitted them on the top of the strut. In principle you should do the same for the upper ball joint but you may do that when you change it next time.
Wrt axles alignment, a small deviation may not be noticeable on driving but may use irregularly your tyres. Best is to do it.