Today, while I was on the road, having travelled almost 15 miles, "Air Suspension Fault" followed by "Vehicle Too Low" warning came up. I was near an Autozone, and I took the car there; they did the diagnostic and could not find any fault. I requested them to check the battery and was advised that the battery was good but needed charging. I had the battery charged and drove back home, hoping that the fault would clear, but it did not. The rear end seems lower than the front. Can someone please guide me on what to do? It is a 2008 Jaguar Vanden Plas. Thanks!

 

You have to have a scanner that can read the modules in the car, not just OBD-II codes like Auto Zone can read.

Is this new behavior, or did you just get the car and don't really have any history. Mine didn't do this on the test drive, but I didn't go 15 miles. It did it after I bought it, the first time I did go that far, though. I bought a scanner, got codes that pointed to a failing compressor, bought a compressor rebuild kit, and on disassembling the compressor found the desiccant chamber was completely full of water and the air outlet valve rusted solid. At that point I abandoned the air system, ordered Arnott coilovers, and haven't missed the air system at all. That's my advice to you: COILOVERS!!!!

The car rides better than it ever did since I've had it, doesn't give me grief about ride height being off, I don't have to wait for it to raise every morning after it sags overnight, and it's dependable enough for 800-mile weekends. Get the coilovers. The price of those could easily be exceeded by throwing parts at the air system trying (and failing) to get it working. The air system is about twice the age it was expected to survive.

Second recommendation: if the battery was low on charge and you've been driving the car, replace it. The cars are very sensitive to low voltage, and you'll get messages like "Cannot release parkbrake," or "Cruise not available." I was seeing those, and replaced my battery with a DieHard, and it's been perfect. At one point it was bad enough that the car couldn't sit even 3 days without being on a maintainer. Do not skimp on the battery! It's a BIG battery, at least 900 CCA!

 

I checked this morning, and the problem seems to be with the rear left shock. The pump works. It tries to lift the car, and the rear left side moves up, but within a few seconds, it loses air and goes down again. The rest of the three sides seem fine. Before I order a new air shock, can someone please suggest a way to narrow down the fault? Could it be a connector or a leaking pipe/joint? I have checked the hose connections in the trunk with soapy water, and there were no bubbles there. Moreover, I heard a noise from the rear left shock while I was doing that. Thus, the leak is on the rear left side. I shall now remove the wheel and will spray the soapy water on the shock to try and pinpoint the leak.

 

Wfooshee thank you for the reply and the guidance. I have owned the car since 2019, and the suspension has been doing fine till now. As the problem seems to be with only one side, I would rather try to get that fixed instead of moving to coilovers in order to save some money. Rock auto has "FCS99036Air Strut" for $397, and Arnotts can be found for $600. I have also found a used Arnott shock with comfort ride, the correct AS 2889 version for $300, including shipping. I am going to try and rule out leaks in the connecting hose first. If the shock is the culprit and not the hoses, I plan to go with the used Arnott option, it is 2022-built and should have life remaining. Any suggestions?

 

It could also be a height sensor, your car has 2 at the rear and 1 in front. But this fault can only be detected by a car specific code reader.

Best regards,

Thomas

 

Thank you for the suggestion. It seems to be the shock, the system tries to raise it but after rising a little, it drops down with a hissing sound coming from the shock. As the car is too low to drive and the nearest dealer is an hour away. I guess i will get the shock changed by a mobile mechanic at home. I have ordered a used Arnott strut for $260.
If that doesn’t work I will have to figure out a way to take it to the dealer. These days i live right in the middle of nowhere in Hazleton, PA and don't know of and Jaguar INDY.

 

Yes, accoding to to your description, it seems to be the shock. The rear ones are actually easier to replace than the fron ones.

If you want to do some preparation works for the obile mechanic, you could already remove the lining on the floor and the left hand side of the boot/trunk, as the strut cannot be removed with the lining in place.


Best regards,

Thomas

 

I agree with the above posts that the issue sounds like the strut itself is blown, so maybe you'll get lucky with that being all there is. But absolutely get a code reader and a friend that knows what it's for!

 

Thomas-S and Wfooshee --- Thank you for all the help. I was finally able to get the air strut changed yesterday. The air suspension warning is gone and the car is back to normal height. It was the rear left strut that was leaking. I paid $ 220 for a used Arnot strut, and the mechanic, who came to my place to replace it, charged $160.

 

Hi Farooq,

thanks for the feedback and glad that you could solve the issue.

Best regards,

Thomas

 

Hi Farooq - I am in your vicinity (90 minutes west of Binghamton) - I have been to Scranton and Hazelton (Archibald pothole) years ago --- I have come across several Jags for sale in your area, but never got down in time

The jag dealers by me (Buffalo and Rochester) are not much help for our cars -they have both refused to work on anything significant on cars older than 10 years --- best bet is to find a competent indy mechanic. I have been screwed several times in my area by the so called Euro experts. Lately I have been trying just regular mechanics and getting them printouts from our forum suggestions or TSBs - It's not foolproof yet but I have been getting better results than the Euro experts

 

Hi Edward_Woodward, thank you for the message. I agree, the information in this forum is pure gold. I have been able to fix minor issues simply by following the forum. I also use an indy mechanic for repairs and replacements. He is very economical, but is new to Jaguars. Therefore, I do not think he will be able to help me with more technical issues when they arise. I am looking for a Jaguar specialist near me but no luck yet.

 

That's not just a Jaguar dealer issue, but pretty much any dealer of any vehicle, cars or motorcycles. New parts aren't out there, and a dealer can't work on anything they can't get parts for. Those of us in the DIY world, and indy shops, can use salvage used parts when necessary.

 

Had the same done yesterday, the following should be referenced somewhere for the rest of us

 

There is a new twist in the story. I took the car for alignment and wheel balancing, and the mechanic told me that the Arnott strut was taller than the OEM one. The difference was not huge, but it was there and would create problems later. I must add that on a levelled surface, both sides seemed even, probably because the auto levelling system was doing its job.

Based on that and the fact that struts should be changed in pairs, I also decided to change the rear right strut. Today I received the strut and compared it with the one I had taken out earlier. It seems that the mechanic was right. The Arnott strut is at least 1 or 1.5 cm taller than the OEM strut. I thought I would share this here as someone might find it useful. Thanks.

 

I had watched that, more than once. I rate the Bilstein (OEM) X350-specific You Tube videos - one front, one rear - better as more concise and more 'universal', and with near-zero distractions..

I LOVED Bilstein's simplicity of "calibration" with an ignorant carpenter's tape measure, too. The tape measure. Not the carpenter.



2CW

 

Maybe, maybe not.

We would have to compare two brand-new struts, and at the same retained-pressure condition.

Lest we forget, there is a valve just below the air-line fitting that closes the line when pressure drops to its preset.

If/as/when a strut has failed by leakage, the loss below retention target can no longer be controlled. So a(ny) NEW airstrut should be longer at-rest before being plumbed-in... than an old one....IF

A) the maker shipped it pre-charged. Highly probable as that preset minimum is to protect the bladder from a specific type of overstress.

AND

B) the removed one had been leaking. Also highly probable as they don't generally get involved in politics or other kinky fornickry that rates termination.

ELSE NOT. EG: We can't be sure on casual observation.

 

Question for all you that replaced your struts with brands other than OEM (i.e. Arnott)... did you have to get an adapter from the maker of the strut? I replaced the driver rear strut with an Arnott one recently and my car kept throwing me a red error code about my suspension. Reached out to Arnott and they sent me a contraption that I plugged into where the strut was and the code stopped. I ask because I desperately need to change out the other three but can't afford Arnott's at the moment but can find some that are supposed to work in my price range. But I don't want to go through all the trouble we did with the other one and a code being thrown because the strut couldn't talk to the car. Recommendations? Thoughts? Damsel in distress here. :-)

Should add that my signature says 1998 VDP, but she's been replaced with a 2008 VDP.

 

I replaced mine with used Arnotts and did not need any adapter. They are all working fine and i don’t have any warnings.