I took my car for a four wheel alignment today. I knew I had a problem because the steering wheel was off by about 5-10 degrees in the straight ahead position.


The guy who did the alignment seemed very knowledgeable and he told me the camber was off a little on one rear wheel after he had finished. Though it is still within spec, the reason was that one side of the rear was higher than the other - by about an inch.

He offered to redo at no extra charge if I could get the back level. I figured it was probably a problem with the way I remounted the ride height sensors and plan to check in the next day or so.

I did check against factory specs and sure enough one side is higher than the other by a couple of centimeters. The other is spot on so I know which to look at.

Before I do, is there any way I can easily force the car to re-calibrate the ride height?


I do have an iCarsoft V2.0 for JLR but don't see a feature that will do this for me


Steve

 

I am guessing that once you have reset the ride height and maybe disconnect/reconnect battery

then drive it around it will reset the height correctly?

 

Hey Exile;

- Did you tighten control arms at correct ride height? This is important. If not, you may have one (or both) sides preloaded (influencing ride height), and your new (inner control arm) bushings won't last 200 miles

- See my recent posts on how to do it

- If this is for certain OK, then check position sensor mountings

- If still high on one side, you may have a leaking rear strut (disconnect battery and leave for 24 hrs. Leaking side will be pronounced)

Hope this helps...

 

Thanks for the responses. Oddly enough, 3 of the four wheels are perfectly at spec. The passenger rear is 2cm high as of this morning after she had a good nights sleep. I was very careful replacing the control arms to make sure I didn't pinch the bushes. I figured the torque wrench was not my friend for this job and the bolts all have nylon inserts. My conclusion is that I did indeed replace the sensor on the "bad" wheel in a slightly different position to the opposite side and will get the car on the lift tomorrow to check and adjust.

I did monitor the struts from my iCarsoft V2.0 and both ride height sensors have 5V inputs and have the same output values. I even made sure they changed as I rocked the car.

Does anyone know if the ride height sensor brackets are available without the sensors? Mine are looking a little rusty and feel soft

Steve

 

Where are you in FL? I might be able to help you attain the brackets you need.

 

Eric - I am in Weeki Wachee, about 50 miles north of Tampa on highway 19
Steve

 

What a disastrous day. I got the car on my lift with the wheels of and both rear ride height centers were in the exact same position. I did notice that the bottom of the sensor brackets were not flat on the control arm and I adjusted them both correctly. Unfortunately, this did not fix the problem and the right side rear is still one inch higher than the left. In the absence of any other apparent adjustment point, I will drive it for a while to see if she settles down.
Now for the disaster bit. When pulling the car off my lift, the front passenger tire slipped off and the passenger door slid into the rear lift post. I called a buddy over who has a hydraulic ram kit and after pulling the offending wheel, we were able to push the front of of the car straight onto the lift. Fortunately damage is very light. An almost invisible crease at the very front edge of the door and some slight paint damage - it just hurts a lot.
I plan to find a good body guy who might be able to take the crease out before I take her for paint. Worst case, a very small amount of filler will correct the problem. The rubber trim strip along the door saved it from much worse damage but will also need to be replaced. Bugger.

 

Sorry to hear about the lift incident. Regarding the ride heights, Jaguar FSM indicates to recalibrate the suspension heights whenever the height sensors are removed and reinstalled. I've gotten away without doing that most of the time, but now and again you'll find one that will be off slightly. Just need to run the suspension calibration routine in SDD. Will ask you to measure all 4 corner heights, readjust, and measure again.

-Michael