Well my air susp. has finally stopped working. Its a 2001 Range Rover HSE 4.6. The indicator lights that show you what driving mode you are in, well all of them are lit up and its basically sitting about 4 inches off the tires.

I called the dealership and she said that if was a computer problem, it could run about 3000 dollars, but if I switch to coils and get rid of the air susp. all together, that it will run me about 1700 dollars.

I guess what I am asking is, is there any tests I can run myself to make sure of whats going on , or does any one have remedies to try before I start forking out the cash.

Thanks so much for all your help.

-B

 

well, 4 inches off the tires isnt all the way down... it could be a whole lot of things, from a 60 dollar sensor to a 2500 dollar valve block. without the right equipment to clear the code and test the systems its hard to check yourself. pay the diag fee and see what it is, then think about what to do

 

Thank you Roverguy, I was just kind of hoping for something really, because I'm going to have to have it towed 45 miles away to the nearest RR mechanic. only then to find out that its going to be 3 grand, which I don't have at the moment. Then have it towed back

I apologize for not being more clear and thanks for helping anyway

-B

 

Provided that you don't have any issues with the air bags or the associated airlines that feed them your best bet (in the short term) would be to invest in a MARS recovery system. This will allow you to use your vehicle by introducing air to the bags by way of a regular tyre inflator and will run you about $100 and an hour or so of your time. The reason for your current woes could quite honestly be caused by something absurdly simple or horrifically hard to find, unfortunately, the dealer will just throw parts at your car and hand you the bill but with a little patience, you can fix pretty much any of the probable causes for pennies on the $. As an example, you can head off to the "stealership" and get anally reamed for the replacement of the valve block but for under $20.00 you can rebuild the unit yourself. Coil conversion ? It might be that you have a cracked or split bag and the stealer wants to convert you to coils for $1700 ? I just saw a full set of Arnott Gen III air bags sell for $700 and you can get the OEM Dunlops from the UK for around $350 IIRC. Factor in around three leisurely hours to install them yourself and you just saved yourself enough cash for a nice vacation. Ride height sensors can go bad but I have known plenty of folks who have had success by simply swapping them left to right to take advantage of the unworn tracks within.
Good luck and please let us know what the diagnosis is, maybe we can talk you through the how to's of the system and save your wallet from an unecessary beating.

Chris.

 

wow RR,

Thank you so much for chiming in with that great explanation and with it comes some questions. I really want to stay with the air suspension if I can

1.Ride height sensors: I am guessing these are behind the tires, I read somewhere else, that I should hit them with a hammer and that might work?

2.OK SO lets say I buy the mars revoery unit, which loks awesome by the way, will be faults still be on in the interior, with the lights blinking and stuff, or do I need to go to the dealership and have them disabled

3. Is there a manual or online tutorial showing me how to replace or switch out the sensors. I just want to make sure I do it correctly.
Should I change them from left to right or front to back


4. What is its the actual computer? my fuel Gage works when it wants to and the radio doesn't put out any sound, but does function(very strange). Plus every light on the driving mode is on and it keep saying in the odemeter,do not exceed over 35mph max.

Man I really hope I can get this fixed myself. RR would you please keep an eye on this tread and I would appreaciate you or roverguy or anybody that could bascially nurse me through this.

Thanks so much guys

-B

 

I found this helpful when my EAS had issues. My compressor went out, I found a guy who bought a new one and never installed it. I paid $450.00 and installed myself (with the help of a freind) It solved the airing up the bag issues and then we reset the code and all was well. http://www.rswsolutions.com/media.htm

 

Ok, good for you. The EAS is vastly superior to a coil converted vehicle. I recently drove a coiled version of my own personal ride and the difference is amazing. The ride was harsh and since the coil equiped car had been set to "regular" ride height it did not feel as stable at highway speeds.

In answer to your points;

1, LOL, do NOT hit them with a hammer, I don't know who told you that little gem but i'd hit him with a hammer before hitting the sensors. You are correct in your assumption as to the location. They will appear as a centrally located circle of metal with two arms set at approx 45 degrees connecting to the both the frame and chassis of the car. As the angle of the car changes, a potentiometer located within the central hub changes the signal voltage to the computer which then in turn can level the car to the desired height settings. Each of these units is calibrated through the computer to give an even stance and to allow various other parameters such as auto dipping and tailgate loading. You can swap side to side but not front to rear. When they are exchanged, you are exposing fresh track to the sensors. It might cause the car to sit not quite 100% level since they are individually calibrated but many folks report that this works well enough until you can get them re-programmed.

2, the annoying "Max Speed" will still be displayed but you can live with that until you get an EAS buddy box from a guy I know. (I'll pm you his details tomorrow) this little widget will reset your computer, allow you to read codes and reset your parameters for less than the cost of a visit to the dealership. You might need to build yourself an interface cable but it's cheap enough and easy.

3, RangeRovers .net.ViewForum has a wealth of knowledge and tutorials to waltz you through every aspect of the EAS but simply changing the sensors from side to side is a simple enough job achieved with basic hand tools. I would however reccomend downloading a copy of RAVE from their web site. It's free and will unlock many of the mysteries that are unique to Range Rover.

4, Not sure about your radio issue but regarding your fuel gauge, many folks have had issues with bad fuel sender units. Unfortunately they are located within the fuel tank so I would be checking all the ground wires before taking that on. We can go that route another time. Just keep an eye on your mileage vs fuel fill up figures for now and figure that you will be getting around 12mpg / US gallon as a lowball number on average. It's not a hard job to drop the tank but it would be preferable to have a very low fuel load to bring the weight down.

Where are you located ? Your nickname suggest Australia. I have some good contacts down under who may be close enough to give you phone or real live help. BTW, I wouldn't be changing sensors (or anything else for that matter) until you get the codes pulled. It might be something as easy to fix as a bad compessor seal or a stuck exhaust valve. You wont be able to get the car back up until you have cleared the codes and simply swapping things around will achieve nothing before that happens. Your car has gone into a hard fault situation. What exactly was happening before this arose ? Was the car slow to raise or was this a sudden thing ?

Hope that helps a little,

Chris.

 

Well it started about 6 months agao, I would go out side crack the car up, not noticing that it was lowered all the way. Hell I wouldn't even notice until I hit my first bump,(which was about 2 seconds later) and wow, that about sent me through the roof. So i pulled the car over and let it warm up for about 15, and sure enough, it rose. this became more and more frequent as time went on. Until one night I had to work late and it was freezing outside. I knew before I even got out to the RR, there was going to be trouble. As soon as I cranked it on, all 4 indicator driving mode lights were blinking. then they went solid and the display came up telling me to not go over 35 mph. That was 3 months ago and I haven't driven it since, just because right now with this economy, I cant afford an opinion.

Which is why I am really happy you stumbled onto to this post.

I'll download RAVE tonight. I won't attempt to change anything until I can talk to your buddy about getting that EAS buddy box. As soon as you give me his number, ill call him.

BTW, I live in South Carolina. I use to be really big into snowboarding when I lived in Co., and almost got sponsored by Billabong, but ended up smacking a tree one late drunken night and got 5 titanium plates in my face, the nickname is just a reminder for me of what may have been.

Thank you RR for taking so much time to help me

-B

 

Go read what Storey has on his site, RSWSOLUTIONS.com

 

I just bought the buddy box