My Turn! Had to happen.
So the front suddenly went down to the stops. AIR SUSPENSION FAULT, VEHICLE TOO LOW. Stopped roadside as soon as I could. Air compressor works (~2mins at a time) and does pump the front up but as soon as the compressor stops it goes back down in a minute. Drove home ~2km.

My Indy is 4km on good roads. Question: would you drive or flatbed? (no lawsuits for opinions ). There's about 2cm (1inch) above the tyre, and it can steer if "not too much".

Backstory: I'm an avid follower of air suspension on this forum for 5yrs now, and would prefer to keep Air. BUT...
NOT ONLY: never mind the expense...an Indy not DIY at my age. And I would pay for original Bilstein air struts, (if that turns out the issue).
BUT ALSO: Reliability question (Coils vs Air). If this happened anywhere but a few km from home never mind on holiday, it's a flatbed job and end of holiday! So, I now get a tick in my neck whenever I think about taking it her on holiday.

I am not looking for diagnosis - Indy will do that. Opinions on Air Suspension vs Coils - fine. Opinions on flatbedding vs driving 4km - fine.

Thanks guys.
[and I love her...I love her...]
92k km 58k miles, original struts I believe which means they did 15yrs if that's the fault. No Pfhissy noises but then I'm deaf to both noises and common sense like my Honda .

 

Not sure about driving them on the bottom stops since I haven't had to try that . Its probably not going to hurt the struts since they are likely going to get tossed.
How soon do you need to return? Is sourcing and changing the front units (or locating the leak) before you drive back a possibility? Maybe not.
I spent the money on OEM fronts plus OEM pump at the same time and don't regret it . But there are choices .

 

Would the 2 front struts both fail simultaneously ?
Could be the height sensor, is one only on your model/year ?
Could be some other problem in air supply to front struts.
My stepson has my 2003 XJ350 now which is still on the original struts at 150,000km.

 

Bad luck old boy!
I would have it transported and hang the expense.
Sounds as if there is big leak in one of the struts
and once that is replaced and maybe the other front one
you will be good to go. It's not a big job but a bit expensive.
Just spend some of the money you have saved by not buying
new cars and after all you are in love with her!
I understand your worry about reliability.
My car faults usually happen when they are in my garage! (touch wood)
I think the worst faults are the ones when you can't find the root cause.
Not a problem in this case.

 

These are the presumed original front air struts.
Does anyone know why the ringed rubber boots would be different on each side?

For those on tenterhooks, replaced with "OEM air struts".
Back to checking my bank account...marvelling that at least the air must be free...


Edit: I don't know which side was which. But I can tell the faulty one because I can push it down by hand, the other one I can't. I just replaced both front units, as you do...
"Had them replaced" that is

 

Hi Chris,

Our exchange rate is just awful at the moment, which makes it so much worse when you can't schedule such a purchase for a more suitable time.
Glad you got it sorted out, but sorry you had to go there in the first place.