Leaking air spring replacement

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Joe77

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Did a little bit of off-roading last weekend and Monday morning I noticed the front suspension was very low with minimal space between the fender and the tire. Figured something was up so I went for a test ride and sure enough I got a suspension fault about 10 mins into the ride. As soon as I got out of the LR4 I could hear the air leak on the front right air spring so it's time to replace the fronts. Land Rover wants $1500 each for the air spring/strut assembly. There are also some options on Rock auto and Amazon. Some options include the complete assembly, or just the air spring. Before the leak the ride was nice so I think the strut itself is fine and I can get away with just changing out the air springs. Has anyone here replaced just the front air springs? I found a video of a guy replacing the air spring on a L322 and I'm assuming it's similar for the L319 but a search on the forum didn't turn up much. Any recommendations on brands or perhaps something to stay away from?

One other question, how do I tell if my LR4 has "active dampening". I'm assuming it doesn't but not sure.

Springs in this unit are still original and at 90K miles or 145K KM's. This unit has seen a higher than average amount of off-roading during it's life.
 
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ryanjl

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At 90k miles and a lot of offroading, do you really want to not just replace the whole strut? How much money are you saving? And when your shock goes in another 20k miles or less, are you going to be happy with your decision?

The OE brand was Delphi, which goes by some other names. Cheapest place to get those are from the UK from a place like LRDirect.

A lot of people like the Arnott units. I've had some on the front of mine for a little over a year and another set waiting to go on the rear.

I personally wouldn't go with any other option.
 

Joe77

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Yes that is a very good point. After looking up the Arnott strut assembly it's only another $100 per side. No Brainer on that.

Looks like I jumped the gun though. Just went to confirm with some soapy water and I discovered that the leak wasn't coming from the air spring. It's coming from somewhere behind the inner fender wall and the lower front right bumper. Kind of in the area where the fog light is. Looking at the manual it appears that the front valve block is in exactly that location. Hopefully it's just leaky line... Will hopefully inspect tonight.
 

Joe77

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Turns out to be best case scenario I think. The front valve block had worked its way off of it's mount and was laying in the space between the fender liner and the back of the bumper. It's been bouncing around for a while it looks like and it wore down the green air line and sprung a leak. I'll try to repair with some epoxy as a temp or maybe permanent fix. I guess the moral of the story is to not make assumptions and shoot your mouth off before you actually put eyes on the issue. On the bright side, when it's time to do the front struts the plan is in place. Arnott strut assembly or maybe look into Suncore. Thanks for the responses guys I really appreciate it.
 

Stuart Barnes

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I just replaced my shock absorbers with the bilstein units and they’re epic. I don’t use that term lightly.

The air springs I reused, they’re at 75k miles and after a good inspection they’re in remarkably good condition. Just make sure you use a seal kit for the upper portion, where the rod passes through the spring assembly, they need it. For the rears you need a bandit tool or long metal cable ties for the dust covers. Getting the air spring seated is a bit of a pain. If you don’t have a workshop compressor then forget it. You won’t get them rehoused.

Have a look at the forums in oz if you’re in doubt about the air spring life expectancy.
 

f1racer328

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I just replaced my shock absorbers with the bilstein units and they’re epic. I don’t use that term lightly.
Please tell me you made a video. What driving characteristics do you like about them?
 

avslash

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I can vouch for LRDirect from the UK. I have ordered several times from them and the shipping is very quick. Most recently replaced my rear struts with the factory Delphi units from them. No issues to report.
 

mm3846

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Please tell me you made a video. What driving characteristics do you like about them?
x2

I've only heard that people are not a fan of the ride. They're Bilstein 4600 (yellow) shocks.
 

ryanjl

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I believe the OEM shocks are made by Bilstein, as well.
 

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