I hope the $300 labor includes the updated software for the Suspension. Truck won't work right without it.

 

UPDATE:

Guess what? After assuring me my leak was being caused by a faulty compressor, Expedition Autoworks of Minneapolis went ahead and replaced it with a new AMK compressor that I found from Lucky 8 ($800). I couldn't get back to the truck until after the long weekend. When I finally did, I was extremely disappointed.

My truck, which had been sitting for 4 days, looked like it had been leaking air at the same rate as before. The front was about 3 inches lower than full. The rear was about an inch and a half lower. All I could think was, "noooooooooooo."

When I spoke to the tech he said that this was the normal amount of leak! I was furious. The whole reason I brought the truck to these guys was to address the leak. They fixed the compressor which was throwing a fault. True. But the only thing it was guilty of was that it was slow to fill the expansion tank and the valve on the rear of the unit might have been leaking. Ok. Great. So I was going to eventually have to replace that anyway, but it was clearly NOT why my truck was leaking.

So now we're at a crossroads. They apologized (but didn't admit fault) and gave me a car on the house so I could get back home. My truck has now been there for an extra 3 days. They just called me after doing an overnight test with the battery unplugged. They said my front right is dipping the most. The front left is losing a little and so are both of the rears. He said that my truck sitting on the bump stops might have damaged the rear struts. He also said that my rod mod makes the air bags less reliable.

His advice was to replace the front right strut and then "see how well it goes". He quoted a new strut assembly at $834.74.

Anyone else have other advice? I'm pretty annoyed. They clearly misdiagnosed the leak to begin with, so I'm not sure what to do here.

 

Replace the front right strut and "see how well it goes"? Seriously? I would run, not walk from these guys.

A much cheaper alternative (and one that you could do yourself if so inclined) would be to replace the front valve block. If you are leaking air from both front struts (yes I understand one is dipping more than the other) with the battery disconnected, then I think the valve block would have to be leaking. It's a much more common occurrence than a strut or air line leaking and typically happens as a result of the desiccant breaking down in the compressor over time into a fine dust and settling around the internal o-rings of the valve block... thus causing a degradation of the seal.

EDIT: Okay, I see you've done this already. I'm not sure how you could be leaking air from both front struts with the battery disconnected unless you either:
a) have a leak in both front lines and/or struts
b) have a leaky valve block

The valve block cannot open with the power off, so there must be a leak elsewhere.

I would suggest YOU do the test yourself. Simply park your car on a level surface, put it into off-road mode, turn the car off and then pull fuse 26 from underneath the hood. Measure the height from the center of each wheel (or the ground) to the underside of the wheel arch. Let the car sit 12-24 hours or longer and re-measure.

 

Thanks for the advice.

Here's another wrinkle. They claim that my truck is sitting too low in the front and that my suspension needs to be re-calibrated. Either my front is too low or my rear is too high. I've noticed this too since I purchased it 2 years ago.

I have a theory that this calibration problem is somehow compounding the issue with my leaky front end. If they truck thinks it's level when the front is about an inch lower and keeps waking up to even itself to even itself out, maybe that makes the leak happen that much faster?

Tthey claim that they can't re-calibrate the LR3's suspension without stock tires (I have over-sized tires) and stock rods (I have the 2.5 inch rod mod). Is this true? I figure the could compensate in their calculations somehow, but they claim it's not possible.

 

the rods argument might hold water but tires? Doubtful.

This logic seems lazy.

 

Yeah. I hear you. The last test they did was with battery disconnected. Front right was worst but all had some leak.

I'm really at a loss on what to do here. My truck has been there for 3 weeks now. I'm almost inclined to cut bait and take it to the Land Rover dealer and have them diagnose it then go from there.

 

Take it to the dealer and ask them to re-calibrate the EAS. That might just solve all your problems. Have them ensure that the indie updated the EAS software to accept the AMK compressor and that the relay was installed and all that....the AMK came with the relay, right?

There is no reason that the calibration would require stock tires.

 

Yeah, they updated the software and the compressor works as it should. Can't say for sure about the relay though.

 

Was there an electrical relay in the package with the compressor when you walked it into the shop? BTW, if you had an IIDTool you could do this calibration yourself.

 

I recently got my new AMK from Lucky8 and the relay was most certainly included.