Hello all!
My question is.....I parked my 99 disco in the gargage and went out of town to photograph a job, on my return, I found the truck was leaning to the driver's side.
I started the disco and it started leveling its self. Is this normal?? or do I need to replace the air bag shocks??...if so where toI purchase these, or is this normal when a disco is parked for a while, it will take some tme to get up to level???

Thanks

Ralph

 

First check the air lines for tightness, do not overtighten though. Then soap up the airbags and lines while putting the suspension into off-road height and look for bubbles while the pump is running. The last option is one of the (I'm assuming here) solenoids on the pump system not closing properly and without top-ups allowing one side to sag. If any of these problems are present you'll need to solve it ASAP because it is causing your pump to run overtime to keep things level and this will wear it out. If you lose a pump your options are to hunt for a used one or switch to coils. If the airbags are holed you can find a set used cheap or just get some arnott bags if you plan on keeping things since they're not too expensive, easy to swap in, and warrantied for life.

 

Ralph,
Is this the first time it has happened? If it happens again, then as mentioned you need to look for a leak. Most likely though it will be a height switch starting to fail or the system may need to be reset through the ECU.

 

Mine's a '97 and has a starboard list all the time without the fancy air stuff. I figure the front right spring is fatigued.

 

On your 97, you most likely have more then enough miles to need all four shock, coils and steering stabilizer replaced. This is pretty normal, Rover coils don't hold up well then drop.

 

I just recently had the same problem with my 2001 model where it would sometimes sag to the right rear when the vehicle was shut off. At first I thought that it wasn't a problem that necessarily needed immediate attention because the vehicle worked fine when in use and the sag was something that only affected how the car "looks" when sitting unused. After studying the shop manual, it became clear this was an important thing to fix. The air conpressor that runs the Self Leveling System is not intended to run all the time and I found mine was running all the time just to keep the back end level. Since replacing the air compressor wasn't something I wanted to do, I decided to locate the problem. First I followed the procedure in the owner's manual to make sure the system was working correctly by using the mode switch on the dash. See below. It was. That eliminated the level switches, ECU, compressor and a few other parts as the source of the problem. As someone else has pointed out, I used soap on the connection at the compressor for the tube leading to the right rear air spring. No leaks. Ditto for the connection at the air spring itself. No leaks. I inspected the tube itself for damage. None. Soaped the tube along its length. No leak. I soaped the air spring and could find no sign of a leak. Based on all this, it was guessing time. Due to the nature of the air spring, it's not real easy to determine if it is leaking whereas the tube and connections were straight-forward. I decided to order 2 new air springs from arnott. See link below. $129 and 1 hour later, no sag. Usually I use genuine parts but it's hard to argue the $129 versus $338 price tag and lifetime warranty. BTW I replaced the air spring on both sides as per the shop manual advice. HTH.

http://www.arnottindustries.com/part...id4_pid48.html

With the engine running and all doors fully
closed, press the fascia-mounted off-road
mode switch (see illustration). A single warning
chime will sound, the off-road warning light on
the instrument panel will commence flashing
and the rear of the vehicle will start to rise. Once
the pre-set off-road height has been reached,
the warning light will stop flashing and
illuminate constantly instead. Constant
illumination will remain while the vehicle is
operating at off-road height.
To return the vehicle to standard ride height,
press the off-road mode switch a second time.
Note that a single chime will sound and the
warning light will flash while the rear
suspension is lowered.

 

The shocks are good, at least to the extent that they were ever really good. I don't doubt a failed spring, but at 10 years old and 85K I wouldn't call it normal. Typical, maybe, but not normal.

 

Normal is exactly what it is, you can tell the mileage and type of driving a Disco has had based on it height.
As for the shocks, they weren't very good when new and 85,000 miles will have finished them off.
Of course you can do whatever you want or take this information as true based on lot of years of Rover experience in the shop.