Ok, im attempting to change out the worn out upper controll arms but in order to get the bolts out the Air strut has to come out. the problem is this, even though the batter is disconnectd, the air line is totally disconnected, the strut still 15million Psi in it and will not compress to be removed. Does anyone know to to releave the pressure from these oem turds? I think if i can get the air line fitting recepticle to unscrew that should do it but of course its recessed down in the body of the car so its hard to get a grip on. Any ideas are greatly appreciated

 

You will need to fully remove the air suspension module. You can follow this video to get an idea as to how to complete this..

 

Thanks for the video. Taking the stabilizer link loose gave me enough room to get it out. For some reason the Arnott on the passenger side compressed and came out easy.
The Jag dealership claims the upper control arm swap is a 3 hour job. If you know how to do it it might take an hour. So i saved $480 on that one side alone just in labor lol

 

You don't want to completely deflate a suspension unit anyway. They have valve in them to preserve a minimum pressure to ensure the rubber membrane always stays in place. If it's completely deflated the membrane collapses and may not go back in the right places when re-inflated, which could lead to premature, or even immediate, failure on re-inflation.

 

+1
This is specifically mentioned in my copy of the X350 Technical Notes 2003.5

 

Haven't got that one. But I do know that new suspension units have quite a short self-life (months). Presumably they have to go back to a Bilstein depot to be checked that they haven't lost too much pressure, and get topped up (30psi ?)