Today I woke up to drive the car and to my surprize the car was super low.
Got in the car thinking my switch is on "Normal"(which it was), so I proceded to turn it to "High". As you know, after about 10-20sec you can hear the compressor starting and then followed by the car raising little by little.
Well when I pressed the button, i couldnt hear the compressor and the car wouldnt raise.
Now at first I thought "Damn my struts are gone", but then could both fronts drop at the same time? A bit of coincidence with the fact that I cant even hear the compressor.
Some ideeas I could try.
At the moment im doing the reset of the ECU and gonna pull the button out in the car as well to check the connections.
Pics below
Does it "look" (from past experiences) like my struts would be gone?
Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - 02:39 pm, by: Mark Paddick
Probably not struts. It is common for problems in the connections to the compressor motor. Mine has an intermittent connection inside the motor, J just wiggle the wires when it stops working. Interestingly although there is current monitoring of the motor you don't get a diagnostic fault when it fails, The best wat to check it is to remove the cover from inside R/H front wheel arch and disconnect the plug to the motor. Applying 12v to the motor directly (there are 4 wires, 2 lots in parallel so it doesn't matter which pair you power)will tell you if it is OK or not. Most auto electricians should be able to rebuild/reco the motor.
Check the compressor air filter as well, if it blocks up the motor can time out on a height change. Also check the air inlet hose is not dangling loose ready to suck up water. It should go to to the internal rectangular tube in the front bar. If a strut is leaking a lot the compressor can be disabled by the suspension ecu to stop it burning out.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - 06:55 pm, by: Andrew Vlamos
Unplug the compressor and hot wire the pump to see if it works...thats pretty easy to do. As Roger mentioned if that breather hose is not connected to the back of the bar it can suck water into the compressor.....then electrics will eventually die as it slowly fills with water
Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 09:17 am, by: David Janiec
Just a small question, if something like this fails, is it possible to still drive the car? Even just to the autoelectrician? I'd assume turning off the switch in the boot would be smart, but would it be OK to drive on?
Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 07:25 pm, by: Mark Paddick
David, you can still drive while there is air in the struts but if they are right down then it's not a good idea. It should be possible to pump up the suspension with compressed air if the pump has failed.
Thursday, August 25, 2005 - 10:21 pm, by: Roger Costello
Hi
The message I would be taking out of this is for all of us UZZ31 owners to check the compressor air inlet hose goes to the back of the front bar. Water is not good for any part of the the air suspension. It's very common for this tube to be left disconnected, especially if someone not familiar with Soarer's has done any work in that area. The water is a real hazard as it can cause lots of problems, not just with the compressor.
Friday, August 26, 2005 - 07:20 am, by: Mark Paddick
Definately Roger. In fact I would be tempted to run the hose up to the airbox, before the airflow meter. The hose is probably long enough and it wouldn't take much to add a hose fitting to the airbox.
Sunday, May 13, 2007 - 04:25 pm, by: Rich Bardwell(Janbardy)
Hi, i have tried getting my suspension to pump up but at the moment i am having no luck, i have stripped the pump and rebuilt it and it now runs but the car still does not lift, so i removed the next piece in the chain which is the part on the picture on the right, i have taken off the rubber cover at the bottom where the cables are soldered onto and when i put 12v to it nothing happens, what is this part , is it a solenoid or a motor ?, what does it do, and does anybody have or know where i can get a replacement, thanks rich
Thursday, April 22, 2010 - 04:56 pm, by: Niall Hughes(Hughezy_10)
I know this is a while since this post was put up but I have pretty much the exact same problem. I tried the reset and nothing happened. The worst thing is that the roads near where I live aren't the smoothest so every time I drive it is like riding a bronco. I was wondering how much it approximately costs to get the compressor reconditioned or just replaced ?