New to me 06 Air Suspension Problems

I bought it knowing it had some type of suspension issue. Runs and drives great when it`s not on the bump stops lol. Every morning all four corners are on the bump stops. Once I start it up it goes to normal ride height on its own. Anywhere from 15-30 minutes of driving I get the suspension fault code then it lowers back down to the bump stops. I pulled in my driveway and shut it off. Two minutes later I start it back up and its back to normal. I have noticed that the height switch in the center console does not work.

Things I have checked:
All fuses and relays
Listened for leaks
Reset the computer
Battery voltage is good

Winch, tires, lift are waiting for me to figure this out! Any ideas? Thanks
My last rig:

Sounds like a suspension leak. Also check the brake switch. Could be electrical as well (likely as a result of water ingress) since that switch isn't working.

With no error codes to go by but knowing the switch doesn't work you might check the wiring to the compressor. I actually bought a new switch and that didn't fix it so I followed another thread and if you remove the spare tire you can access a connector near the charcoal canister if I remember and it was a broken wire. My hard drive crashed a few months ago and I lost all my landrover stuff among which were pictures of repairs but if you search, there is a thread somewhere showing the fix. While I was doing that I also rebuilt my compressor and that made a difference in the speed of raising and lowering. Final reminder, if you do any front end work you need to run the calibration routine with a computer or it will give you the suspension error and drop to the stops. While I was trying to diagnose that I got pretty good slipping into neutral and restarting the truck on the fly...

Like noted before-sounds like a air leak in the system...there are a few types of leaks:

1. leak at either of the 3 valve blocks - easy test is to pull your suspension fuse before you park it at night - check how the car stance is in the morning (if a single axle is on the ground - ie if the rear is raised but the front axle is on the ground then you most likely have a leak at either the front valve block or both of the front air bags). Valve blocks are super simple to repair - just need to get an o-ring kit from britishpartsofutah or similar site and rebuild them - hardest part is just getting the valve out of the truck - front is straight forward - rear is quite a bit tighter but still doable - middle is super simple but rarely has issues.

2. if there is a leak at any individual air bag - and you perform the fuse test and if only a single wheel is on the bumps then that airspring needs to be replaced (I'd just replace the entire shock and spring combo - and I'd probably do the whole axle at the same time because when one air spring goes likely the other is just about ready to go too. Arnot makes a great factory replacement at a fraction of the cost - I've been running them for 35K miles now and still feel like the day I put them in so I expect them to last at least another 50K.

3. if the middle valve block is leaking (pretty rare but could happen) then just replace the o-rings and go with it - this could be indicative of the entire car on the bumps. I have had my valve blocks leak back into the actual tank as well and it makes it a little harder to tell what's going on - still only o-rings but acts similar to a single valve block leak.

note if you don't pull the suspension fuse the truck will automatically try to level itself by purging air throughout the night until all corners are on the bumpstops so by pulling the fuse it'll stop that and the natural leak will be exposed...a good way to verify if you have a corner bad is to mix some soap and water and spray down each connection and look for bubbles too. If the compressor is going it'll just take longer and longer to refill the truck until the compressor over-heats and will eventually fail due to excessive duty cycling...

RSW put out a decent air suspension diagnostic video...probably better then my explanations above as I'm on some heavy pain killers after I broke my leg so it may not make fluid sense...I did use this video when I started trouble shooting mine so may be of some help...there's also a video of removing each of the valve block and the compressor if you need it - those are a bit easier to find if memory serves. good luck!

To me it sounds like you’ve got a couple issues. An air leak that drops you to the bumps stops overnight, and an electrical issue that drops it while driving. I’m surprised no one has mentioned it, get a GapTool or something as capable to read the codes when it drops to the bump stops. You mentioned resetting the computer, but didn’t say how. Personally I think they’re an essential tool of ownership, especially since you plan to take it off road.

Kerry Patterson said:

I bought it knowing it had some type of suspension issue. Runs and drives great when it`s not on the bump stops lol. Every morning all four corners are on the bump stops. Once I start it up it goes to normal ride height on its own. Anywhere from 15-30 minutes of driving I get the suspension fault code then it lowers back down to the bump stops. I pulled in my driveway and shut it off. Two minutes later I start it back up and its back to normal. I have noticed that the height switch in the center console does not work.

Things I have checked:
All fuses and relays
Listened for leaks
Reset the computer
Battery voltage is good

Winch, tires, lift are waiting for me to figure this out! Any ideas? Thanks
My last rig:

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It definitely sounds like you have a air leak somewhere.I’d check first your compressor you make sure all the air pipes are secure and air tight. The problem lies before the front and rear air valves seeing its lowering all four suspension bags.Have you had any water ingress problems from your sunroof as water can damage to your cables and earthing points in your car. My car suffered from water ingress after my sunroof water drains had blocked off. Within days I was having suspension problems.I lifted up drivers footwell carpet and found many earthing points. Many of the earthing points had rusted badly so had to clean them with emery cloth then spray lacquer over the points to keep them dry. Thinking about it more now seeing your centre console switch is not working also I think now it’s more of a electrical issue.

No leaks. I pulled the fuse to disable the system. Height hasn't changed in two weeks.

if no leaks then it's almost certainly one of the height sensors thats starting to go or is reaching its travel limit and purging the air (because aparently that's the safest thing for LR to do - never understood that logic) - if you look on dash display when you raise and lower your truck if one is blinking that's most likely the one that is causing your issue but at this point you'll probably need to run the codes and see what if it reports any of the ride height sensors being out of whack.

You could may also try to re-calibrate them before you start replacing sensors just in case the calibration is causing one of them to exceed the limits of travel - otherwise I would just try replacing them and then re-calibrating the system. You'll need a GAP tool or RSW software to do a calibration if you don't want to take it to the dealer (would still cost less to get the tool and you'll likely need it later anyhow).

maxx4wd said:

if no leaks then it's almost certainly one of the height sensors thats starting to go or is reaching its travel limit and purging the air (because aparently that's the safest thing for LR to do - never understood that logic) - if you look on dash display when you raise and lower your truck if one is blinking that's most likely the one that is causing your issue but at this point you'll probably need to run the codes and see what if it reports any of the ride height sensors being out of whack.

You could may also try to re-calibrate them before you start replacing sensors just in case the calibration is causing one of them to exceed the limits of travel - otherwise I would just try replacing them and then re-calibrating the system. You'll need a GAP tool or RSW software to do a calibration if you don't want to take it to the dealer (would still cost less to get the tool and you'll likely need it later anyhow).

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This, get a tool and re-calibrate. Someone probably switched a height sensor and didn't calibrate it. The vehicle "wakes up" during inactivity every 4 hours or so and re-levels (this is what you disabled when you pulled the fuse). If the reading is too far gone, it can purge all the air in the system in an attempt to level out. If you plan on having the vehicle any amount of time the IIDTool will pay for itself. They usually run a Black Friday sale next month if you can wait for a deal.