Well I changed all four corners this weekend, pretty easy job really.....unless you have a previous owner who for some reason believes bolts should be soaked over night in blue locktite prior to installing.....even the head !!!!!!!
So I have four nice new shiny air springs one of which is still in the box and not on the car........despite using a ten foot piece of rigid pipe to try and undo the lower strut bolt......oh how I hate torx bolts.....you would think that having to use an extension to reach the bolt would have inspired those pesky engineers to maybe make the torx hole a tad deeper..or how about using a regular hex bolt that never give anyone any problems ......anyway, not a problem as soon as I can get round to it.....this weekend was the first free weekend I’ve had in months.......and I don’t know when the next one will be......the trials and tribulations of our President boosting the economy by a million percent and filling up our order books.....bummer eh....lol.

Anyway, my car is a 2004 vdp......and I have a right side height sensor, when apparently I am not supposed to have one.....and it’s that right side that is giving me all the problems right now.....car made earlier and registered later perhaps......so the car won’t rise at all now.......I’m gonna check out those ride height sensors and cut off the bolt and install the new strut as the old one may be bad.....it sits lower than the left hand new one......and that was the side that always sat low and would raise if I started the car and bounced on it once or twise.......have to check the compressor although that was working before doing the work....may just change it anyway.......I did the drive at 2mph plus thing but to no avail.......car still won’t rise.......
And why am I not getting any fault codes.....my car couldn’t go any lower right now......it’s even lower than my Roush Mustang which was really low......and of course I live in NY which would be a perfect testing ground for the Mars Rover......

I am also intrigued as to how some members have said they raise and lower their cars at will.....how the hell do you do that ?

I have the icarsoft reader but that is pretty much useless.....apparently my car is not eligible for obd2.....which will be news to the Cheap *** version I got from harbor freight which reads codes great but isn’t set up to read the Jag ones......anyone else had issues with the icarsoft......?

As an aside......if anyone is having their car go nuts with the rear brakes coming on and the traction control being disabled which after you pull over clears itself with a DT reset......look at your handbrake cables where they make the turn.....chaffed through to the cable as the cable is sitting on a pointy thing......cheapest option is surprisingly from Jaguar and are easy to replace......you may need to cut the right hand one to get the clip out but still an easy job.......

 

If you have the iCarsoft LR V1.0 and you have updated it with a download, then that is your problem. You will need to ask them to email you the older version which will still work fine with OBD11 if you select it from the menu, then click OK again at the Diagnosis screen?

 

I'm guessing it is one of the front lower shock bolts that has seized. This was a common problem on earlier cars, although funnily enough, not on my 2003 that I once had. The shop that did the job told me they only provide estimates for the front shocks because of this known problem. The guy that did my job told me he sometimes had to remove the shock unit and lower straight wishbone as an assembly, take it to a bench and saw through the bolt ! It seems to be a combination of rust and some stupid person on the assembly line putting Loctite on the bolt in the wrong place.

 

Yea that’s a possibility. The left side bolt was also tricky and covered in loktite....even the head....arnott front shocks so someone at sometime changed them...I’m guessing it was third owner who built hot rods and every bolt was also impact driven on.....impact guns and Jags do not make good bed fellows....for instance....wheel lugs.....
im gonna get under there one night and cut the shock bolt of with a sawzall or fyne tool.....either way shock is shot so it’s coming off one way or the other . At least then I’ll have four new ones and can then dig deeper to why the car won’t raise.....Funny thing is....if no bolts gave me issues I could have changed all four corners in less than two hours. And that includes at least two coffee breaks......

 

Yes, it's quite an easy job if all the bolts undo !

 

Just like in the Arnott video when things go well.

Otherwise things can get pretty ugly when the lower torx bolts seize in place.

Had the pleasure of both ways of disassembly, replacing the front shocks on mine.

You only have one giving you issues which is a plus.