so we were driving home from the park today when all of a sudden I got a red error message/display about the air suspension and suspension fault - the truck went onto its bumper stops and kept giving a message to not go past 30 mph (but luckily the engine didn't go into limp mode so I was able to drive home with lots of bumping around).

When I got it home I did some more testing. Basically after every start I would get the same message. On each start I would here the compressor cycling on and off and after 3 tries I would get "special programs off" (and the truck was still on its bumper stops). So I got my jack out and raised the rear and then started truck and let it idle for a while. Once I put the rear down the rear was back in its normal position. So I did the same for the front. Unfortunately the front remained on the bumper stops. I took it for a few test runs down the street and would hit the 'raise suspension button' - it would always go into "special programs off' after about 1 minute - it would do this even if I just kept it in regular mode and not hit 'raise suspension'. In either case, after each test run the rear was still good but front totally on bumper stops.

Being I hear the compressor cycle, I believe it is good. Being the rear shocks are holding, I suspect they are good. I suspect issue is either the front shocks are leaking, or the line to the front shocks is leaking, or the block thingy is leaking.

Anyone have some suggestions on how to diagnose from here? I don't want to buy new front shocks unless I confirm that is the issue, as they are rather pricy. BTW - the truck has 250k kms, and all 4 shocks are original, but the compressor has been replaced twice (current one is about 7 years old).

A few other things to consider. For quite some time I have been getting the "vehicle raising slowly" message whenever I hit the raise suspension button, but it would also raise so I ignored it. Also for the last 2+ years I have had the yellow suspension error display on the dash, but it always worked fine so I ignored it (I believe one of the height sensors was bad - I have a Land Rover reader and would always get P012E on the suspension code error).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

You really need a proper code reader.

vehicle raising slowly is either compressor or a large leak that is not allowing the compressor to fill in a timely fashion.

you can always remove strut, fill with shop air and look for a leak.

 

For what its worth if you are in middle nc i would gladly hook up my gap tool for you. (from my understanding they can read other landies, just locked to the vin for programming. - correct anyone?)

 

so, this morning came to truck and all 4 were back on the bumper stops (yesterday the rear were good but front wouldn't lift at all). I did some reading and found that is cause after about 6 hrs of being turned off the LR3 will level itself to the lowest height sensor, hence the rears lowering. So when I got home I thought I would try to raise the rear again (and test the front again) so I could unplug the air suspension fuse and see if any drop the following morning (read that is how to test where a leak is). Anyway, I raised the rear with the jack, turned engine on and left idle for a few minutes. To my surprise when I dropped the jack the front was back in normal position? Raised the front with jack and let idle for a few minutes and when dropped the rear was at full height. Erased all the codes with my Nexus Land Rover reader/programmer and went for a drive - no errors and height was normal - hit the 'raise' button and it raised and no errors. It seems to be back to normal? Any ideas why and what to check?

What I did is after the test drive (and the height normal), I pulled the 2 air suspension fuses from the engine area, and then measured the height of each wheel to the wheelwell. I'll let it sit for 24-48 hrs and re-measure. I guess if one wheel is lower then that would suggest a bad air shock or leaking line at the air shock - if I get both front lower then I suspect that means leaking front valve block, and if I get both rear lower then a leaky rear valve block. Does that sound right? Anything else I should look for?

Thanks

 

so a bit of an update. Came to truck this morning (after 12 hrs of pulling the suspension fuses) and re-measured. Each wheel was on average 1/8" to 2/8" of an inch lower but nothing drastic. I will measure once move after work today (~24 hr since pulling). If I get the same results, I assume that is OK suggesting no major leak from any one shock, and no major leak from any of the valve blocks.

So my question is, what does the red vs amber air suspension warning light mean? As mentioned in my first post, I have had the amber light on for years now but the air suspension has been working fine so I have ignored it (I think one of the sensors is bad). But when I had this issue earlier this week I got the red light and truck went to bumper stops. What does the red light mean? Based on the fact that the air is holding, any suggestions where to look next. Being it is intermittent, seems electrical such as a sensor. Could it be the 1 bad sensor I believe I have, just that it totally failed?

Unfortunately my Nexus Land Rover reader does not give me enough info on the ride control readings. I do get some codes, but they do not give me enough details to pinpoint the issue - I get P3501, P012E, and B1200.

Oh, one more question. We take our LR3 during winter every year across provinces to visit family - is is about 2000 kms round trip. This recent failure concerns me, as that would be aweful if it happened in winter over the mountains. My question is, if this is intermittent, if I just pull the 3amp fuse before my drive, I assume that would prevent the LR3 from lowering the suspension to bumper stops even if it detects a failure - is this correct? Being I now know I have no major leak, I just want a way to prevent the truck from automatically releasing air to bumper stops if I go on a big road trip.




Thanks

 

If it’s not a major leak it’s:

- out of calibration
- faulty height sensor
- bad compressor

 

So any one of those 3 issues would cause a red warning light - right? If I pulled the 3A fuse from the engine bay (for air suspension), would that prevent the truck from lowering itself to the bump stops if it were to detect a future issue? Again, if I go on a long road trip I want to know if this would prevent the truck from lowering if something went wrong.

By any chance, anyone in the Calgary area with a Gap tool? Unfortunately my Nexas unit does not do calibration of the sensors.

 

....is my guess, and that's generally due to a bad calibration. It could also be out of calibration as a result of whatever that Amber fault is plus your compressor getting tired.

Cruising around with an active fault for a year is a bad idea. It doesn't sound like you have the ability to calibrate your suspension, either. So....if it were me in that situation I'd take it to the shop and ask them to calibrate the EAS and then diagnose the Amber fault as well. Then fix the cause of the Amber fault.

Yeah, you can pull fuses...but that's not gonna fix the issue and you'd just be doubling-down on bad practices.

 

more of a update. So got home after work and re-measured. Truck was basically at same height as this morning (and yesterday) on all 4, so good news is that it doesn't appear to be leaking. I then took for a spin and put into offroad height mode - I heard the compressor going but got 'vehicle raising slow' message but eventually truck said it was in offroad mode - went to re-measure and funny enough only the rear raised (the front stayed the same) - as I started driving got "special programs off" probably cause the truck sensed a big difference between the front and rear. Turned engine off and on again and drove faster to have truck automatically go back to normal height - went to re-measure and truck basically back to the same height as this morning (all 4 matched the fronts) - I didn't get the "special programs off" message as they all matched.

Got it home and plugged in my Nexas reader (specific for land rover) - although it doesn't recalibrate it can see 'live data' for the air suspension system - so I set it to view each sensor height and also to read each sensor voltage and each valve block % open. Definately got funny readings as if the sensors are way out of calibration. Although each wheel was less than 1" difference in height the FL read a height of -4mm, the FR read -6mm, the rear left read +9mm and the rear right read -13mm. So I then turned on the engine and again hit the offroad raise button - instantly heard the compressor and looked at the 'live streams' data on the Nexas - only the rear valve showed 100% open but the front valve showed 0% open - also only the 2 rear sensors showed they were getting 1.4A power while no power to the front sensors - and sure enough when it was done again only the rear raised.

So I think I have 2 problems - first the sensors need calibrating (probably why I have had the amber light for the last few years). But I think the front valve block is dead which is probably why I got the recent red light and bumper stop issue - I suspect the only reason the front raised again since all this happened is due to me lifting the truck with my jack which allowed air to enter the air shocks - I don't think they got any air from the compressor.

Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks

 

Changing out the front air valve block is super easy.

I suggest before doing anything, you buy a GAP tool. A shop will charge you at least $100 to calibrate, there is your first savings.

Once GAP is in hand, change out valve block and calibrate suspension. If the valve block is indeed bad you will never be able to calibrate the vehicle.