Dealer said that as per the code showing in the OBD it's the air compressor not working as its suppose to but I only see the front shocks down in the morning and only during winter.
When driving in the highway it shows the fault and it goes low only when is below 55 degrees.
I replaced the rear shocks about 8 months ago and they are great.
I think there is a small leak in the front shocks.
Any opinion would help, thanks

 

I'm not sure just what the dealer was trying to tell you but a standard OBD reader can't pull codes for the air suspension so that's a non-starter. If he was using a Jaguar SDD scanner he can pull codes but not with the kind of specificity that would allow him to say with an real certainty that it's just the pump.

Cold weather really affects the suspension but usually not until it gets into the 30's so if it is true that yours is lowering even in the low 50's I'd be looking for a leak.

We could be of more help if we knew what year your car is since the early production 2004's still had four height sensors but the late '04's and later ones only had three with only 1 to do both fronts and they react differently as a result.

 

Hi rf69,

There are literally mountains of information about the air suspension already posted in this forum, if you want to do a little research, but my advice would be to check for an air leak at your front air springs/dampers by carefully spritzing soapy water from a spray bottle onto the air hose fittings on the tops of the front air springs (accessible in the engine bay). Take care not to spray water onto the electrical connector for the CATS solenoid. Bubbles indicate an air leak and if it's at the air hose connector it will probably be simple to fix. Let us know and we can tell you how.

The other common associated contributor to the AIR SUSPENSION FAULT warning (ASF) is the air compressor not pressurizing the system within the time limit alloted by the Air Suspension Control Module (ASM). This is most often due to a worn piston ring in the air compressor, which is easy to replace and inexpensive from forum member bagpipingandy (bagpipingandy.com). The typical Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) that indicates a problem with the compressor is C2303, which is defined in the Chassis section of the Workshop Manual as "Reservoir Plausibility Error," which your dealer understands to mean a problem with the compressor.

Here are links to photos showing how I replaced the piston ring in our compressor. I also replaced the desiccant in the air dryer, but most owners don't bother:

Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page


At the link below you can download the Air Suspension section from the X350 New Model Introduction Dealer Training Manual, which is the most detailed description of the system available:

http://www.mediafire.com/view/7rdkgg...on_Section.pdf


Please do add your car's year, model and engine to your signature line just to help ensure that others give you the best information possible. It's easy to edit your signature in your User Control Panel.

Cheers,

Don

 

Reading through the training manual NP-04 I didn't see a specification for ride height, but I take it from the hand written notes that the measurement from the wheel center to the lip of the fender (wing to you British folks) should be around 380 millimeters. Is there a specified range for this measurement?

And thanks for the link to the manual - it explains a lot, like why I got a "vehicle too low" warning when I backed one rear wheel up on a low bank last week. At least I didn't get the bogus Sum Ting Wong and We Tu Lo pilot names of that chinese air liner awhile back.

 

I think the ride height specs are in the Chassis section of the Workshop Manual. The front spec is 386 mm and the rear is 373 mm, and as you correctly noted, it's from the wheel center to the highest point of the wheel arch. Jaguar makes a special tool for taking the measurement, but I've found it to be relatively easy to eyeball with a metric tape measure.

Cambo's post on lowering the ride height is the best explanation I know of and is just as applicable to calibrating the factory-specified ride height:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...e3/#post531488

On both our XJR and a friend's XJ8, I found that one corner did not want to get all the way to the spec ride height, even after running the calibration routine in SDD three or four times. So I used Cambo's trick to "lie" to SDD by under-reporting or over-reporting the actual measurement (by 10 or 15 mm) in order to get SDD to bring the corner all the way to spec. BTW, in my experience, the best you'll be able to achieve is within 1 or 2 mm above or below spec on all four corners. There's just that much imprecision inherent in the air suspension system.

Cheers,

Don

 

Ok, I know it's a breach of etiquette to jump into a post but I am having a similar problem with my 2005 Super V8. I have read all the threads and tried disconnecting the battery for 48 hrs and my car doesn't drop. I drive it ten minutes and the air ride fault comes on and the passenger side drops! If I turn car off and back on it rises and lasts ten more minutes. It only occurs when being driven, it can idle for an hour and not drop. Does that sound like a ride height sensor? How do you test them? Thanks in advance for any help!!

 

Excused !

You need to get the fault codes read and interpreted. If it is a 2005, there should be one height transmitter on the front and two, (one per wheel) at the rear. Front is controlled together, rears individually. If you have a fault message, clearly the system has detected something is wrong, so it could be an air spring, not a height sensor.

When car is in motion, the pressures in the air springs can go much higher as the car moves over bumps and so on. At idle this is not occurring, so you may have only a small leak, but it lets out more air on the move. Other thing is that when idling, the system is in 'Stance' mode and levelling is much quicker. On the move the system filters the height sensors so the height is adjusted much more slowly, so a leak may show itself quicker.
BTW, I'm only going through my thoughts here based on what the technical notes say about the air suspension.

 

Hi dp69stang,

The first question that comes to mind when reading your description is this: When you say that "the passenger side drops," do you mean that both the front and rear air springs drop, or only the front or rear?

I don't know if you've read the document at the link below, but it's the best description of the air suspension operation that we've sound so far:

http://www.mediafire.com/view/7rdkgg...on_Section.pdf

Cheers,

Don

 

Yes, the passenger side drops. I replaced the front with Arnott last year but not the rear. When the front was leaking it went way down, below where it goes now. I could hear and see the air leaking from the top relief hole. This time I can't hear anything leaking. I did think it was funny that the entire side lowers. Any thoughts would be appreciated. I hate to go to the dealer and get beaten over the head just to run the codes! Thanks again for your help!

 

Actually, I failed to mention that when it first started acting up and the light came on the front end lifted to the top and would stay there until I shut the car down and restarted it. I'm not sure if that helps anything but that happened for two days and then the side began dropping.

 

Reading the codes would tell you what the car believes is wrong, which would probably speed up your diagnostic process.

Until you know the codes, you might gain some possible clues by searching the DTC Summaries manual for all references to "Suspension" where "M" appears in the MIL column, indicating that when that fault is detected a Message is displayed in the Instrument Cluster, such as your Air Suspension Fault.

You can download the full-length version of the DTC Summaries manual at the link below. Use the Adobe Acrobat search function to search for key words (hold the Ctrl or Cmd key and press F to open the search bar):

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...03388427,d.cWw


Cheers,

Don

 

Well here's my story. I was driving today and went over a speed bump (sleeping policeman to the Brits) and heard a lound "THUNK" sound. I got out and did a visual inspection and saw nothing wrong. Got home, went into the house and had to come back out because I had forgotten something in the car.

I noticed that the right front side of the car was down as if the car was sitting on the wheel. The left front was normal for when the car is parked. I started the car and listened and I could hear the air compressor pushing air to the suspension. I waited a minute and could see the car rising as it normally would. After it rose to normal height I drove around the block and back. No issue.

So a bit later I go to get something to eat and the Air Suspension Fault warning came on while driving. I shut the car off, start it up again and the warning is gone and the car is normal drive height.

Guess who will be sitting at the repair shop tomorrow????

 

I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune. That is exactly what mine is doing, the right side is down a bit but not flat. Almost as if it where in high speed mode on one side. Please let me know what the determine to be the problem.
Regards
David

 

Got mine repaired today. Turns out that it was a broken air spring that tore the air bladder. I just had them to replace both.

I think i'm just going to trade this sucker in soon and get a newer model X351 XJ...with a warranty.