2006 LR3 SUSPENSION HELP

I have a few questions regarding the suspension.

1. Can you find out which compressor you have without taking anything apart?
2. A hissing coming from the front right wheel well means the strut has a leak right?
3. Will replacing the right passenger height sensor help at all if you hear the hissing coming from the same side?

I have refurbed the front vavle block with new rings and that seemed to have helped a bit but it didn't solve the issue completely.
I also noticed that on the 4x4 display the right front wheel indicator mark goes all the way up right after I get the suspension fault about 10 to 15 minutes into my drive.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Have you read the code that goes along with the fault? After you get the fault, do you get dropped to Access Height or does it drive as normal? Is the fault amber or red?

The whole truck doesn't drop. I feel like the right side drops within a few minutes after the amber alert but once I park the front drops after some time. I don't have any codes for it.

1. Can you find out which compressor you have without taking anything apart?
I'm not sure on this but I think if you can get the acoustic cover off you can tell. The AMK is way larger and sits on a stainless steel mounting bracket. I don't think the Hitachi uses that bracket.

2. A hissing coming from the front right wheel well means the strut has a leak right?
Probably. The old soapy water spray test is one way to check.

3. Will replacing the right passenger height sensor help at all if you hear the hissing coming from the same side?
I doubt it. If there is hissing and the strut is leaking air then the sensor has no affect on that. Also, if you are going to replace the height sensor, how do you intend to then calibrate the EAS??? I presume that since you don't have codes, you don't have a device that can do the calibration.

You should get a GAP tool if you are going to keep the LR3.

Houm_WA thanks doe the advice. Any suggestions on a GAP tool that won't break that bank?

When I say "GAP tool" I'm referring to the IIDTool by GAP Diagnostics. There are others (Autel, iCarsoft) but I can only advise about what I know, which is the GAP. The Blue Tooth version is about $500. I don't think they even sell the non-BT version anymore.

$500 might sound like a lot, but consider it an investment. This tool will pay for itself 5x over, easily.

ovdchicago said:

Houm_WA thanks doe the advice. Any suggestions on a GAP tool that won't break that bank?

Click to expand...

There’s really no way around the cost. You can buy cheaper code readers, but they’ll be generic and certainly won’t help in this situation. Bite the bullet and buy one of the quality vehicle specific tool (I also recommend GAP), you need it to maintain this vehicle.

2. A hissing coming from the front right wheel well means the strut has a leak right?

Audible hissing is a large leak, should be easy to find with soapy water. Considering you refreshed your front valve block, which is also at the front right wheel, I would get the valve block in addition to the strut. The Voss connectors are prone to leaking after they’ve been removed and installed a couple times. I’ve rebuilt my valve blocks and each one had one leak at a Voss connector once I reinstalled, and they were fine before.

If you pinch one of the large o-rings between the two halves of the valve block when reassembling, that will make a big leak also. Ask me how I know!

ovdchicago said:

I have a few questions regarding the suspension.

1. Can you find out which compressor you have without taking anything apart?
2. A hissing coming from the front right wheel well means the strut has a leak right?
3. Will replacing the right passenger height sensor help at all if you hear the hissing coming from the same side?

I have refurbished the front valve block with new rings and that seemed to have helped a bit but it didn't solve the issue completely.
I also noticed that on the 4x4 display the right front wheel indicator mark goes all the way up right after I get the suspension fault about 10 to 15 minutes into my drive.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Click to expand...

Re 1. above, in theory yes. Attached is a picture showing the cover of the newer AMK compressor that replaced the original Hitachi. The new case was deeper than the original and hence clearance was reduced a bit but primarily it is a slightly different shape than the Hitachi case. My thinking is that the AMK compressor is not that much better than the original Hitachi, hence if I needed a new compressor, I would still go with the Hitachi; also I would not have to do the software update the AMK requires.

Re 2. above, I guess something is leaking but it might be at the fitting on the top. Those air springs are tougher than one thinks however I now have four new air springs on my 3 (400,000+ km) but I replaced them not due to air spring failure but I wanted new shocks and replacing the whole assembly was easier than just the shocks.

Re 3. it never hurts to replace a height sensor except do it one at a time as you would need the GAP tool to calibrate them if you did more than one. I gather that one at a time, the onboard air suspension computer can self calibrate a single new height sensor. Monitoring the 4x4 display is a good way to see what the height sensors may be doing. I will also mount something like a curb, one wheel at a time and watch what the display shows. A significant difference in view of one of the sensors would suggest something wiring or sensor related.

It sounds as if you have a pretty good knowledge of the air system if you were able to rebuild the front air block. You might find the files within the link below of some value however. There is much more than air system stuff within the files and some of the material has over five thousand views.

I think you still need to recalibrate after changing a single height sensor.....