air suspension went out with no warning!
 

just enjoying the day running around houston even had the jag detailed. after i come back from a store i start driving away i see a light with a reading. "car to low" then another light with a reading "air suspension fault" it looked like it was just the front of the car sitting low. but after its been parked, the back dropped too. now it looks like a low rider. the problem is i don't know where to start looking...

IF all air springs are not filling, it is probably the compressor not running to fill the reservoir since that is the most common failed component. Less likely it could be the control valve unit that regulates the amount of air going to the springs. Check fuses, listen for the compressor running and check out the numerous air suspension fault threads on this forum for lots of helpful advice.

The air suspension module (ASM), tries to keep the car level at all times, and relies on height sensors front and rear to do this, 1 front, 2 rear. Front springs are controlled together, rears independently.

So, if the front height sensor starts to give a duff signal the ASM could lower the car. Then the leveling will cut in and the rear will lower, but the rears are OK so the signal from them will tell the ASM that the vehicle height is out of limits, (too low in your case).

You need to get the fault codes read and translated. I have to say it looks like a height sensor problem, not a compressor one.

i did find some threads after looking deeper and gathered some knowledge on this topic. after just checking it out i came to the conclusion i lost an air spring. i can hear the compressor working. the driver side lays lower then the passenger side and from what i get it does make sense why the lower end of the car dropped too being the ASM is trying to level out. i have my insurance coming out monday to check it out. i thing I'm just going to have it converted from the air suspension. i don't want to have this headache again later on down the road. if one air spring failed I'm scarred that the others might start failing. i don't want this costly problem reoccurring. thanks guys for your help!

Is the car still too low, or has it self-corrected itself now ?

Remember, a leaking spring unit will always leak, and the ASM will not be able to keep the car at the correct height at any time, so if it has self-corrected, it indicates the problem lies elsewhere, maybe a duff front height sensor.

I would not abandon the air spring system before it has been thoroughly checked out, at least. Air springs are available on the internet at prices cheaper than Jaguar agents, but are not cheap, just not extortionate.

no, the height has never corrected it self its stays sitting low. the back will raise just a tad but not really noticeable. i looked at some air shocks online and compared to converting to blistens all around is just $300 more thats with my jag specialists installing them. even if the the rest of the air suspension checks out to be fine i would feel foolish to not wipe my self clean of this potential reoccurring trouble. i would end up kicking myself in the ass if the other goes out and 300 more dollars would of stopped it all.

While the potential is always there, not all Jag systems fail or fail completely. I am sure you have seen the Arnott replacement air springs as well as the coil over conversion threads here. It is no surprise the coil over conversion vastly affects the ride quality. As Frasier has commented, you may want to think really hard before giving up on it.

true, i know i'll put more thought into it. I'm having my insurance adjuster come and inspect/estimate this monday. so i have plenty of time to read more threads then hear what the jag techs have to say when they check the suspension sometime this coming week.

What is really odd is that apart from the compressor, most owners here in the UK don't seem to report many problems with the air suspension on "the other" Jaguar forum based in the UK. My local independent told me they have never replaced an air spring. Maybe its our damp climate !!

No doubt in more tropical climates dry rot is very common. Rubber seals here in the southern US often only last up to 5 years.

I wonder how another large market, the Middle East, fares.

How do XJs' do in california weather? I'm thinking of getting one.

It should not be forgotten that steel springs break. However, replacing them is normally fairly cheap. I think what puts so many people off air springing is the expense of replacement parts. Of course this has a lot to do with production volume; as a niche medium in car suspension, the cost will always be higher than steel springs. Why the shock has to be part of the unit puzzles me, it makes each unit cost a helluva lot to replace. The shock part should be separately replaceable.

Well my car is now 9 years old and OK so far, but fairly low miles, (55k).

Hell, why did I say that !! A hostage to fortune if ever there was one. I'm knocking on wood right now - Tap, Tap, Tap.

Actually, my suspension has not been totally fault-free, having needed an exchange compressor, rear lower spring unit bushes, and rear lower wishbones, plus a roll-bar link.

As a Sport it has quite hard suspension; a trip around our beautiful Derbyshire Peak District today on very lumpy and potholed local roads showed me how hard it really is. I would rather have had normal, (comfort) suspension, but the car was too good to miss at the time. Its fine on motorways, and autobahns especially.

with just here in the few days of posting my air suspension problem I've seen more than what i would like with air suspension problems. even if my jag shop says everything is great, it will do more convincing than that from them to not convert my suspension.

Is your Jag shop in Houston the main agent or an independent ? Independents will normally be able to look after your air suspension at much less cost than main agents. I would not rush to convert to steel coils unless you need a lot of costly parts.

Note: the ASM tries to keep the car level, so its just matching the rear to the low front; there ain't necessarily a problem at the rear.

I have an 06 XJL with low miles (26k). How can you tell when the system is starting to go out? My 06 is starting to lower more evidently when turning off.

yes my car is in a shop in houston its jag and land rover specialist called motorcars. i wouldn't say I'm rushing into the conversion its just the practical think to do.
i know the ASM is lowering the car to try to level it out. I'm just saving myself an inevitable future headache.

@ williamsinhb sounds like you have a slow leak coming out from some where. as your driving the air system keeps the car up but when you turn off the car the compressor is no longer working thus making the air escape and making the ASM to let out the air from the other shocks to level out making your car have a low stance. this is "my" theory at least.

A couple of reasons.

First, as Frasier pointed out in a recent post, the air ride suspension provides several sophisticated benefits over conventional shocks such as load leveling, lowering at speed for better aerodynamics, compensation for different road surfaces and compensation for cornering (less body roll).

Second, based on what others have said the car felt like after they converted to coil-overs. Something about increased body roll, softer ride and handling.

Something else to consider, if you have HID headlamps, the active suspension addresses leveling as a courtesy for oncoming traffic. Of course some may not care about dazzling other drivers.

Anyhow, I am not telling anyone not to do it and if all original shocks need replacement, it might be a good option. But just because relatively inexpensive component failed does not mean you should jump to spend more money to "dumb" down your ride. My two cents...

I am glad to hear it worked out so well for you!

I understand how many get frustrated with the air suspension. Personally I will never give up on it.

By the way it would be helpful if you have not already, to post your experiences with the conversion and a review of the results.

I remember coming to a point over this in another thread that Arnott finally came to, after I bashed them for using the public as a test bed for their "real world testing".

I too am a firm believer in OEM. Think about this: How long does the typical traditional OEM shock/strut last? Certainly the manufacturers of suspension components recommend changing them at around 70K miles.

Our cars came from the factory with AIR SUSPENSION. If you bought the car expecting to have the pricey suspension components last forever, then you were in fantasy land, and holding those components to a standard well beyond the conventional units found in more earth-bound cars.

I bought a Jag, not a 300 SRT, the only other car in the running for my dollars. I knew all this going in. I'm not about to change the very character of my XJR to save dollars or add peace of mind. But hey, we all have our opinions. I've read some good arguments for coil-over conversion. In the case of a strut-conceived car like a Mustang, it's a step up, IMO. In the case of the X350, it's a huge step down.

Good points SuperTrav. After 50-70K miles, how much does Arnott charge for replacements?

With a $300 compressor as the weakest link that I have yet to hear fail more than once, inexpensive height sensors rarely need replacement and occasionally an airbag will spring a leak for around $400 each it is a no brainer to keep it stock the way it was engineered to be.

The invalid argument "I have a leak in one part I had better replace the entire system with an inferior one" could apply to any component in a car, at some point something is going to break and require service. It is inevitable...

Of course, it is your car and are entitled to do anything to it you please! :D

Well, my tuppence (= 5 cents) is that I do sympathise with people who have converted to steel springs to give piece of mind. I suspect this is mainly the peace that comes from not having to think about BIG bills maybe coming up in the future. Not everyone has a big bank balance, or more probably, an understanding wife/partner when it is big spend time.

The main parts for this suspension, the air springs, are very expensive, no doubt about it; even at internet aftermarket prices. As to a compressor for $300, it is more like £300 here in the UK and that is for service exchange. From what I have seen so far, these are the main parts subject to early failure. I had to replace my compressor in late 2010, with the car on 33k miles. Not a lot of miles, is it ? Yet since then the car has been perfectly OK, (knock on wood - Tap, Tap).

We have a UK forum, and I have never read about any air spring replacement, it is a very rare thing in the UK. Of course, like "musical chairs", one can end up as the guy with no chair, and having to replace an air spring costing many hundreds of pounds, whereas steel coils will be around £100 maybe £150, a big difference.

FWIW, I intend to keep my car original with its air suspension. It could be difficult to change to steel, as one would have to declare this to the insurer as a modification, and also one would lose the DSC, and this saved me from an accident last year, so well worth it.

DSC is a function of the braking system isn't it? It takes input from the steering wheel angle, master cylinder brake pressure, wheel speeds and lateral/yaw sensors.

Aparently DSC "manages the braking system to enhance the drivers control of the vehicle".

Granted you would lose the CATS systems ability to alter the switching sequence of the shocks on cornering but do you think DSC gets disabled as well?

Sorry, I stand corrected, the DSC only uses brakes and throttle control, not dampers. Anyway, I am sticking to the air suspension. My local independent will use used or new components depending on customer preference, (poor guys like me)

What is great about this forum is the sharing of experiences, knowledge and ideas. There are quite a few new members and new to Jaguar members joining every week.

I just don't want some to get the wrong idea about the reliability of the air suspension. I believe the issues discussed affect very few cars and are not as dramatic as some make them out to be. At the same time, there are many of these cars on the pre-owned market and potential new owners should be aware of the maintenance costs on these and any high end automobile. Frankly, Jaguar still remain one of the easiest and lowest cost to keep running compared to Mercedes, BMW & others.

Please be aware there are many systems on the XJ that require IDS programming, not just suspension and hopefully you have a service facility available to you that has this equipment.

I still feel the reason behind gutting the air suspension system before a problem occurs is not much different than removing say all of the seat motors because they will fail at some point and are expensive to replace (even more than the suspension) and converting to manual levers.

My two bits... ;)

Enjoy your ride, it is a beautiful machine.

well I talked with the jag shop on my whole suspension problem. turns out both air shocks in the front are bad, my compressor is weak, the ASM sensor went into over load trying to level out the car so drastically. I need a few new air lines ran too. so the total as of Friday evening was $4,228 with labor. ( I do have some other things thats being replacing aswell but that's a different total ) as supertrav did make very good points, and arnot's conversion kit keeps coming up as the only conversion available. if I do decide with a conversion I'm going with bilstein. I've read great reviews, also the jaguar tech that is working on my car put some on his 2006 portfolio and let me drive it around just to assure me of ride quality and I really felt no difference in ride or drive quality. even with a life time guarantee on parts and labor unlike the air suspension still im on the fence. with me $ isnt the issue. it's knowing I can go on road trips without becoming a low rider at any given sec. and take a chance on ruining something else on my car to make it to civilization while being stuck in B.F.E.

Wow, that's a lotta flipping money. I just bought a Super and I do have a few things I don't understand about my car. Seems that the front is higher than the back (ride height sensor?), but the biggie is that from left to right the right side front is higher that the left. I did see a post that suggested that the dealer can reprogram to level the corners out. Wished I had noticed this before I bought the car. I might not have bought this particular car. I've book marked this thread. Keep us in the loop!

dave

Is that with Jaguar parts? The Arnott air shocks are $800-$875 a pair with a lifetime warranty and a new updated compressor is $392. I would think the total would be under $2K. Nice that you were able to drive a converted car.

This from their website: We have worked tirelessly over the years to eliminate many of the weak design flaws on the OE shocks. Our design eliminates many of the common high wear designs such as the leaky upper seal, noisy upper mounts, and the weak lower rubber sealing design.

jahummer I don't know where you live but stay there lol every I looked in Houston to replace the shocks 1300 - 1500 new and the used ones were 1100 - 800. the compressor 400 and not sure about the price on the airlines. or a new ASM. I will not put used parts back on my car if I stay with the air suspension it will be new 100 % and in the back as well.

also driving his 06 portfolio around a major part of the uptown area I. was able to drive
spirited and take some corners rather fast and went over a patched up road and it absorbed nicely. I respected the mans car of course that was the least I could do after the tossed me the keys. bilstein Seems to be the proper conversion kit for doing so.

air suspension conversion update:
 

after much deliberation and debates in the forum, "air suspension vs conversion." i decided to go with the conversion. not only because of the cost factor but the reliability that was offered, maintenance, unscheduled repairs, predictability etc. i put myself in a situation: how safe would i feel on a lengthy road trip? being that this wasn't my first time dealing with the air suspension, and a great portion of this forum is about air suspension problems, plus being quoted nearly 7 grand for my air suspension repairs and a little under 3 grand for the conversion. it was a no brainer. my 2 front air shocks and compressor needed to be replaced, also 1 of my rear shocks had a slow leak along with some bad air lines.
it took two days for the conversion to be complete. after so i went for a drive to see how i felt about my choice. after a twisty fast paced drive i couldn't be happier, i know i made the right decision. it truly feels just a good as my air suspension. i was incredibly impressed! i expected to be underwhelmed from threads I've read on the arnot conversion. but this conversion is a bilstein kit. the car has correct stance it doesn't look too high nor too low. it comes with the software for the headlights to adjust accordingly. the ride soft when it needs to be and nice and tight in the bends. i haven't seen anyone else who does the bilstein conversion other than motors cars ltd. if i heard correctly they did say that this was "their" kit and software. i believe motorcars ltd is only texas wide. 2 shops here in houston 1 in dallas and 1 in austin. if anyone is interested here is their site along with a link to the conversion kits page. again i am very impressed and happy with my choice.

XJ8 Spring Conversion Kit - asc.kit.xj8

Jaguar Parts, Land Rover Parts. Used Jaguar Parts, Used Land Rover Parts.