Congrats on finding the leak!! I had a similar scenario in that I found the leaking hose before I had commenced with the procedure to replace all. Could have fixed the problem without removing supercharger, etc. I had that same connection malfunction as you did a good while back. However, it was apparent that it wasn't the valley hose or something that would mimic a valley hose leak. It was all up front. Go figure.

Some years back, I rebuilt the compressor. A fairly easy job. However the bumper cover had to come off. I am hopeful that you don't have to do that. As you know, there are many experts on the suspension system here. I know you will get the advice you need.

Have a great week!

Steve S.

P.S. If you are able to see the Sound around Elliott Bay, the j/24 Worlds are being raced all week. The races start around Shilshole. With so many boats participating, it will be a beautiful show.

 

Hi MrWhite,

Congratulations on completing all that work!

Regarding the rubber hoses that connect to the metal pipes, my recollection is that those are the heater hoses - the pipes run back to the heater core.

P1000 is not technically a trouble code. It just means that all the codes were cleared and the vehicle has not been driven enough for the readiness monitors to reset. Eventually the P1000 will turn to P1111, meaning systems like Evaporative Emissions, the Oxygen Sensors, etc. have passed their self-tests.

I don't find P0322 in the DTC Summaries for the '04 X350, but P0332 indicates low voltage at the Bank 2 knock sensor.

If the metal pipes you are referring to are on the left as you are standing in front of the vehicle looking into the engine bay, that is the ABS/DSC control unit and modulator and the metal pipes are the brake lines.

Sometimes it is possible to detect a leak by ear. If you can get the car to raise up all the way, shut it off and listen for the leak. Aside from the air hose fittings, common leak points include the small O-rings on the pressure-retention valves (the brass cylinders where the air hoses connect to the air springs), the air bladders in the air springs (listen at the front wheel wells), and the exhaust valve on the compressor, which can stick slightly open due to rust.

Unless your car is an early model with two front ride height sensors, both front air springs are connected to the same air source, so a leak in one air spring or air line will cause the other side to leak down as well.

Cheers,

Don

 

Correction: Thankfully, I didn't have the same leak; I was confusing what Mr. White pictured with the similar cooling hose fittings about the expansion tank, etc. - No matter. Hope you get the suspension fixed.

Carpe diem noctemque,

Steve S

 

"Seize the day all night long?"

 

"Connected to the same sensor", surely, but.. my 2005 single front sensor (verified when new struts were recently fitted), had been sagging into the 'leaky' right front strut side.

LEFT front was staying up. I surmised the sensor and commands are indeed common, but that the solenoid control valve block does NOT share the air passages, remains shut once idled. such that said left front strut was staying up, whilst right front leaked down on its own.

Further confirmed when I got a L/R calbration mis-match off the back of replacing each front strut with a week or two time having passed in between.

Solution was to loosen the fitting, allow the 'high' side to bleed-down onto a jack-set height. ON LEVEL GROUND.

Cycled the system. Both sides came up to where were they needed to be.

Low-hassle the 2005 Jaguar air struts.... compared to a 2011 Range Rover Sport where the air suspension is even involved in setting federal interest rates and deciding who is permitted to do what, with which, and to whom at off-road or foul weather excursions.

 

Hi Bill,

The front air springs on the single ride-height sensor cars can be adjusted separately during a ride-height calibration, but apparently the valve block treats both springs as one unit during normal operation. It sounds like your 2005 may differ, but on several 2004 cars I have worked on, as well as my own 2004 XJR, when one front air spring would leak, the other front spring would also leak down. There must be communication between the front air springs inside the valve block.

Cheers,

Don

 

I'd surely expect "the effect of" fluidic-level "communicaton".... at all times whilst active. The con-puta just tells them what to do whilst assuming there is no leak, least of all an assymetrical one.

Once it is put to bed, I expect the valve-block end stayed closed, all ports, THEN the leakey strut gradually collapsed.

Back when the leak was still slow or "manageable" in all but cold weather, when firing-up, next morning, initial state lopsided, there would be an initial rise, left-right leveling, (rears alone are able to detect that need), then a let-down , partial, - now level - and then a start to rise all over again. Air pump would be told it had run out its time, so ignition OFF, wait a mo. Try again.

I HAVE been "watching" for years, and tears when others might have already done a repair or coilover conversion, but AFAIK that 2005's behaviour is "normal" ......if one but takes note at 'enough' intermediate situation points to spot the transitions and their situational context // apparent causes?

BTW... having delayed replacement of the slower-yet leaking, REAR struts whilst paying attention to such nuances....... the increased compressor run time sez their rate of perishing has sped-up.

Guess I'll soon shift from being an OCD-Nasal observer to an OCD-**** observer?



UNcharacteristically, as I had usually been the sole operator whilst SWMBO ran the Town & Country or the L320 Rover, hauling Wife & M'In-Law about - with sports gear, outbound, shopping or foodstuff 'loot' added on the backflip, etc.?

I can't really see any significant diff - the way I drive it, and on the roads used - off the back of losing CATS damper modulation for unmodulated, fixed valving.

That said? I AM glad - VERY glad - that I retained the auto-load adapting & leveling air-struts vs fixed-rate coilovers for leveling alone. Still very useful at keeping headlamps properly pointed and suspension travel 'within due bounds'.

 

Thanks for the responses guys.

The car is running beautifully with no more check engine light coming on. I think it just needed a few runs to calibrate after being disassembled.

However, every time I go to the car to drive it, both front air shocks are bottomed out. As I said before, it wasn't like this before I did the valley hose job. Once the car is started, the shocks quickly inflate and the car drives well.

Don, Thanks for clarifying that the metal tubes on the front left of the engine bay are the brakes and not the air shocks. This really helps.

I'm going to mix up some extra soapy water and put it in a spray bottle. I'll see if I can locate the source of the air leak. I think I'll also try a mechanics stethoscope. I might have to remove the air intake and air filter housing as the left front air shock supply line seems to run under that. I hope I can find the problem, I want this project to be done. I'm getting tired of tinkering.

 

Another helpful tool for listening for air leaks is a length of rubber hose, around 2 feet long, used like a stethoscope. Hose with an inside diameter of 3/8" or so is a convenient size.

 

Ok.... I don't know if I should start a new thread as now we've switched from coolant leaks to air suspension leaks but since I started it here, I'll continue on.

I took everything out of the boot and sprayed the air distribution manifold and the compressed air reservoir tank with soapy water. There were no bubbles anywhere.

I let the car sit on the driveway running and timed how long it took for the air suspension to settle and then re-pump up. The compressor kicks on every one minute and 45 seconds and the car raises up by a little more than 3/4 of an inch each time. After it pumped up to full height, I quickly shut off the engine and started listening for an audible air leak. When I get my ear close to the top of the left shock tower, I can hear the hissing of escaping air. The right shock tower is silent. However, when I spray that area (left shock) with soapy water, I don't get any bubbles. Also, once the car is pumped up to its full height, if I listen at the wheel arch, I can also hear air hissing, but not as loudly as when I put my ear right over the top of the shock tower.

I replaced both the front air shocks in 2018.

Any suggestions as to what to do next?

I hope this doesn't mean I'm going to need another air shock. I just looked on the RMT website and they are out of stock.

 

I just called RMT to see if they had any suggestions. They don't sell these anymore. Also, if you ship them your old one for rebuild, they won't even do that any more. They said they no longer stock the parts and materials to do it.

 

From your description, it sounds like the front left air spring bladder or top seal is leaking. The fact that the leak sounds worse when the car is inflated to maximum ride height may tend to suggest a bladder leak. The bladders fold/roll down over themselves as the vehicle lowers, which can slow a leak in the bladder, but once the bladder is inflated again and unrolls to its full height, the leak opens up again.

Are you certain there is no leak at the base of the pressure-retention valve where the air hose connects? There is a small O-ring on the fitting where the valve threads into the top of the air spring housing, and those O-rings perish over time.

The valves are designed to be removed and installed with a special two-prong tool, but you can use Vise Grips/Mole Grips if you're careful to not clamp them too tightly and damage the brass.

Cheers,

Don

 

Mr. White,

My right front was behaving EXACTLY as yours & I posed the same questions and tried the same things. Finally, I said: "What the Hell!" and ordered a new shock on Amazon. Problem solved.

Good luck,

Steve S.

 

Well, I removed the left from air shock today. I then removed the brass air fitting from the shock. I went to the store and replaced both the rubber O-rings. I reassembled everything. Upon reinstalling the lug nuts, the one with the keyed shape in the top shattered and disintegrated. Then, when I lowered the car, it went so far down on its air shocks that I couldn't get the jack out. Even with the car running, the compressor would not kick in, and the shocks would not inflate. I had to rig wooden blocks and a pry bar so that I could lever the car up enough to get the jack out. I took if for a slow drive, and by the time I got to the end of my street, it had inflated and leveled. I drove it a mile or two up the highway and back and it drove well.

Once I got it back on the driveway, I waited see if the front end would drop. Sure enough, about every minute, the car raises about a half inch. I switched off the car and listened at the front once more. I can still hear an air hiss. I'm suspecting that I need a new air shock, but I also find i very odd that the shock was just fine before I started the Valley Hose job. I think it would have been far more likely that I had done damage to the air supply line some how. I just can't find a leak though.

Since RMT no longer sell these, I've looked on amazon . I found two:


and


There's a big price difference. Has anyone tried that SUNCORE brand?

 

I installed a set of Suncore air springs/dampers on a friend's X350 and they seemed to behave fine. The set came with an electronic bypass module to fool the computer so no CATS warnings would be triggered (like the EBM that comes with the Arnott kits). My friend sold his car, so I don't know how durable the Suncores have been, and I do not know what would happen if you installed only one Suncore unit.

Cheers,

Don

 

No-name struts here - suspected to be Suncore, but not branded.
Bought off eBay (shockmasters) as a front pair.

Nothing special happens.

Ran with new one at right front ONLY for quite a while before also replacing the left front.

Bought a 'rear' pair, same source, but have been up to my wrinklies in other stuff, so not yet installed.

Mea Culpa... they've only started leaking badly since the front are riding so nice I've been taking speed bumps faster than a snail!



Applying a 'cheater' resistor per-each connecter AT the area of the connector instead of attaching some gadgetry one-time for all four corners at a go ..... was all it took to silence the CATS error message for my 2005 MY XJ8-L. Other threads already in-forum explain early and later versions of that subsystem.

Damping is "average". Best of all, it is STABLE and predictable, so I am delighted to be RID of the UNpredictable CATS ....which had been forcing lower speeds .... by screwing up the damper predictability.

 

I was just about to order a new air shock on eBay. The Shockmasters one is $177 w/ free shipping. That doesn't sound too bad to me. However, they only have the comfort shock not the sport one. It says that they are the Suncore brand, so it's the same as the one on amazon, but $15 cheaper.

Any issues with having a sport shock on the right and a comfort shock on the left?

 

I have not tried it, but I would say that you should not mix them.

They are not called "sport" or "comfort" for nothing, but I do not know how big the difference is. According to the Jaguar technical spec the comfort version has a "high air volume" for a softer ride, whereas the sport version has a "low air volume" for a stiffer ride, unfortunately without going into details.

Best regards,

Thomas

 

Technically speaking, you should not mix Sport and Comfort units on the principle that unequal suspension response on opposite sides of the vehicle can lead to stability issues, especially on rough surfaces or in an emergency avoidance maneuver. But since your Sport air spring/damper is probably tired at this point, you may not notice much difference. It's probably worth a try, and worst case, you can order another Shockmaster/Suncore for the other side.

Cheers,

Don

 

So long as the struts and dampers are consistent at wot they dooze, even if wot they dooze is WRONG, that ain't NEAR a much of a challenge as those lazy buggers who not only permit imperfectly balanced ROADS to exist, the expose them to your sight in real-time, scant warning.

A "driver" has to deal wit' dat'.

Actually driving the motorcar beats all Hell out of dying of boredom though.

Or so the grownups claim.