Erratic Suspension Leak

[norcalfarmer]

Hi, I'm new to the forum. Looking forward to you guy's lr wisdom.
The front left corner of our lr3 leaks down. Sometimes it will stay up reasonably well over night but the next time will leak down in an hour. Have tried leaving in offroad height with fuse or battery cable off and it stays up..... Is it possible that it would leak only in regular height? Could it be a leak in the valve that makes it vary? Or the air bag? (right one went out bad soon after we got the lr several thousand miles ago). Or air line? I hesitate to go after the leak with soapy water as it will mean pulling things apart....... Feel free to ask questions if I'm not clear.
Thanks

 

[remember5]

If you don't already have them, attached are the two sections of the manual that may help with diagnosis. When I had one side dropping overnight I replaced both front air bags to resolve the issue. You really need a diagnostic tool to see if there are any codes being set. Gap tool, Nanocom, etc. will give you a clearer picture of what's going on. If there are no codes then that almost a guarantee that it's a mechanical issue like a valve leak or leak in the bag itself.

 

[Houm_WA]

If it doesn't drop down overnight with the battery or fuse pulled them it sounds like a calibration problem and not a leak.

 

[NorthwestDriver]

It’s actually quite reasonable for the vehicle to stay at height, or leak less slowly, at off road height than when at normal height. It’s fairly common, in fact.

As the air bags are filled or deflated, different surfaces of the bag are sealed against the strut casing and different surfaces are exposed. This leads to each car leaking in subtly different manners.

Additionally, your car can leak very quickly initially then “seal up” as the bag deflates and then not leak anymore. Conversely, an air bag can leak slowly over several days (or hours) until the bag exposes a crack or worn area and then leak very quickly.

If your leak is erratic, that is indicative of an air bag leak, especially if it happens at different rates at different heights. If the leak is constant at any height, it is symptomatic of a leak from a valve block or line (most likely at a connector/fitting).

Trouble shooting all air leaks is done the same way. Raise the car to normal (or off road) height, pull fuse 26 in the engine bay, and take measurements of each wheel arch and monitor over several days.

 

[norcalfarmer]

Ok thanks for the input and the docs. I would love the gap tool but you know, $$$$$$$
As the air strut on the other side recently failed, I'm hoping a new strut will fix it. You know how it is, the leaks arent really an emergency just a pain and shortens compressor life.
Also is it normal for the whole machine to follow the leaky corner down? Or does that point to a calibration problem.
It obviously tries to keep the vehicle level when the ignition is off. Even though all four corners are lower than when parked, I can see which is the lowest (I think it lowers the whole vehicle to a certain level and then the leaky corner leaks down farther yet to or near the bump stop)

 

[remember5]

Right. As the vehicle sits it monitors the position of the other sensors and adjusts as need to stay level. From section 204-05 Vehicle Dynamic Suspension Description and Operation page 7:

Periodic Re-levelling - When the vehicle is parked, the air suspension control module 'wakes up' two hours after the ignition was last switched off and then once every six hours. The vehicle height is checked and if the vehicle is not level within a pre-set tolerance, small downwards height adjustments may be made automatically.

 

[Houm_WA]

I'm confused...did you already put in a new strut?

Also, if a GAP tool is too much money this may not be the right vehicle for you. The GAP tool saves you money in the long run.

But all that aside, you need to pull fuses/batt and measure, them measure again in the morning. Otherwise you don't know if it's a leak or a calibration issue.

 

[norcalfarmer]

Right. As the vehicle sits it monitors the position of the other sensors and adjusts as need to stay level. From section 204-05 Vehicle Dynamic Suspension Description and Operation page 7:

Periodic Re-levelling - When the vehicle is parked, the air suspension control module 'wakes up' two hours after the ignition was last switched off and then once every six hours. The vehicle height is checked and if the vehicle is not level within a pre-set tolerance, small downwards height adjustments may be made automatically.

That's interesting........

 

[norcalfarmer]

We did replace the right front air strut recently. It's the left side that leaks........ It seems possible that the struts would have the same life span....

 

[norcalfarmer]

Will do a pull fuse and measure tonight......