Hi

I have a jaguar xj8 3,5 2005. The car did get new front suspensions from rmt (rebuild ones)
They look like new, and i have not had any problems after i replaced the old leaking shocks.

But i notice that when i park the car and turn of ignition, to step out of the car. I can hear the compressor lets out air from the air compressor, and the car sinks some front and rear.

Why does it do that? And when i drive the car on the road it feels hard. Like the ride is to high.

What could my problem be, or what should i try doing?

The air suspension fault yellow light came up one day after a drive, but the next day it was gone. And have not seen it since.

Any help or advice to get here? Could it be just a rebuild of the compressor thats needed? Or what could it be?

Thanks for your reply

 

Hi Cbrooen,

I started getting the odd air suspension fault light come on as the weather started to get colder. The colder the weather got the more faults I started to get.

I took the plunge and replaced the seal and o-rings in the compressor. The fix cost on about £25 and simply time in getting the compressor off the car and stripped down.

This fixed the problem and I have not had any air suspension faults since then which was almost a year ago.

So it may be worth while if you get that done if you haven't already done so. It's so cheap and easy to do that it's worthwhile doing even if the issue you are having is not being caused by this.

Even though I replaced my compressor seal and o-rings I still get the air release sound from the compressor when I switch the car off and the car does drop a little and continues to drop to a certain level. I'm not sure if that is a fault as I have always had this and I've never asked other drivers. Sometimes it does not release the air straight away and the car continues to let out small releases of air over some time in small bursts. But I've not had suspension faults though since replacing the seals so I don't think this is a problem for me.

I think the important thing is that the car rides at the correct height and raises to the correct level upon start up within the correct amount of time. When I had issues the fault light would be shown because the car could not get the suspension to the correct level in the correct amount of time as the pressure was not sufficient.

The compressor pump seal kit I purchased was from a guy in the UK that manufactures them. They are available here:
XJ8, XJ6 Compressor Seal Kit

The kit is excellent. Comes with piston seal, bolts, rubber o-rings and installation instructions. I have some pictures somewhere if you decide to do this so give me a shout and I'll give you my experience of getting the compressor out and doing this replacement.

Thanks,

Chris

 

 

I would expect there to be an air release after the driver exits to compensate for the loss of load.. Same for the removal of heavy objects from the trunk.

 

Hi,

Yes as I said in my reply I too get the release of air many times when switching off the car and getting out of it. If it does not do this straight away I do notice it do it over time (an hour or so) once I've left the vehicle. It only tends to do it once or twice but it does noticeable lower the car to a resting level. When I start the car you can clearly see the car rising back to a normal level at an acceptable speed. I think this is perfectly normal. Hopefully some others may comment on their experiences to confirm if their cars do the same.

I only replaced the pump seals as I was getting a lot of air suspension fault warnings on the dash as the weather started to get colder, as the weather now is doing here in the UK. The pump seal replacement fixed all my suspension warnings afterwards and I've had no problems with it since then. It was well worth doing for such a small cost.

Hopefully it will help with your problem. At least if not then you haven't spent too much money as it just takes some time to get the compressor off the car and do the replacement.

Just a tip on getting the compressor out. I strapped up the compressor with a couple of bungie ties before removing it to support the compressor once you've got the bolts and hanger off. Otherwise you have to undo and remove the hanger whilst trying to hold the compressor! I did the same to get the compressor back on the car.

Also be careful with one of the air pipes attached to the compressor. It's attached with a brass nut that you can easily over tighten. Be careful not to thread or overtighten it.

I found that there is a horn/speaker looking device next to the compressor. I removed this (leave it's cabling attached but unmount and move it to one side) and it's mounting bracket to make some room to get my hand in to remove all the connections and air lines from the compressor. With this out of the way it was much more accessible to get the compressor out.

Let us know how you get on. Good luck.

Thanks,

Chris