expectations of repair costs

[Brentski]

Hi all,
I feel like a babe in the woods with my new (to me) 2006 LR3 se. I hope this isn't a stupid question, but I'm trying to find a trustworthy independent mechanic. I've been getting a suspension fault light every so often after driving it for over half hour or so. I've been noticing it sitting low in the mornings, but would bump right up to driving level on start up. I took it to a local European Auto shop, and their parts quote seemed really high to me. I was told that I had a leak in one of the lines, and needed new rear strut and compressor. Was quoted $1075 for the compressor and over $800 for the strut.

I've been seeing aftermarket and OEM stuff all over the internet for half that. The mechanic told me that was all Chinese and rebuild crap, I should stay away from it and he only gets the parts from the dealer.

There are a few other concerns I have with this mechanics knowledge base and honesty at this point so I thanked them and said I would need the car back this morning and would let them know what I decide. (I then took it to different European Auto shop). On my way out the hit me with a bill for two hours diagnostic ($190).

I guess my question is this: What brands of struts should I be looking for? I would imagine that some are better than others. I'm not looking throw a boat load of money in top of the lines stuff, but I also don't want to shoot myself in the foot by looking for crap.

 

[Houm_WA]

As far as I know the OE strut is Delphi and there is an Arnott replacement. I've never seen or heard of any others and I didn't think that the Arnott was so much cheaper than the OE that you'd blink at the cost difference. Basically the quotes you have received seem in-line with what I'd expect. The real question is whether or not that's your actual problem or if the mechanic is just throwing parts at it.

 

[cmb6s]

It seems to me that the struts failing is actually a pretty rare occurrence. Certainly not unheard of, but rare enough that it would be the last thing on my radar when diagnosing the EAS system.

My question would be "how do they know that you have a leak in an air line, a bad compressor, and a bad strut all at the same time"? Seems pretty far fetched... Usually, there is just one problem and the trick is narrowing down to the exact cause.

There are many posts on this board and others about how to begin diagnosing the system, but essentially, the first step is to park the truck on a level surface, raise it to off road height, then shut the car off and pull fuse #26. This will **** the EAS. Leave the truck overnight and come back in the morning and see if any corners have dropped. If one corner has dropped significantly more than the others, chances are you have a leak in the air line or the bags themselves. If an entire axle drops, it is more likely you have leak in one of the valve blocks (probably the most common issue). Other issues include a cracked cap on the air dryer (part of the compressor), which can be fixed cheaply and relatively easily and overly saturated and decomposing dryer bits (also relatively cheap and easy to fix as long as you don't let it degrade to the point where it clogs your air lines).

Of course, to check what the shop is telling you, you can always spray soapy water on the bag that they claim is leaking and see if any air bubbles form. I would spray it around the bag, but also on the air line connection into the bag. See if you get any bubbles.

 

[morrisdl]

Even most LR shops will just throw a new compressor and/or strut at it even when that cant pinpoint the leak with soapy water spray bottle. Two LR dealers wanted to replace my struts. I had this for years and wore out a couple compressors working against a slow leak. Mine would sink an 1" per night. If I pulled the fuses it would sink mostly in the front.

I sprayed everything twice with soapy water and could not find a leak. I replaced the front valve block first because that is the cheapest and a easy DIY. I lucked out that fixed mine and I hear its a common point of leaks. Some more skilled than me have even taken it apart and cleaned it with success.

Good luck!

 

[Houm_WA]

Do these slow leaks typically produce faults?

 

[tlt]

As far as I know the OE strut is Delphi and there is an Arnott replacement. I've never seen or heard of any others and I didn't think that the Arnott was so much cheaper than the OE that you'd blink at the cost difference. Basically the quotes you have received seem in-line with what I'd expect. The real question is whether or not that's your actual problem or if the mechanic is just throwing parts at it.

Arnott does not have them anymore -- and they were extremely cagey as to why, they had discontinued them...

I ordered the Delphi through British4x4outfitters. While I agree with the cheap Chinese knocks offs, your mechanic is probably not getting much of a discount from the dealer, then adding their own market.

I agree with everyone else, on their opinions about actually diagnosing the issue, rather than simply throwing parts at it.

As far as finding an independent, you might mention where you are so someone can provide a recommendation.

 

[morrisdl]

Do these slow leaks typically produce faults?

Mine didnt have any errors for 10-12 months until the compressor wore out and started getting "slow raising" messages. My compressor runs noticeably less often now.

The compressor used run from the time I started it up and drove out of the neighborhood (~2 min). Now it shuts off before I get to the end of my driveway. My LR3 used to drop an 1" per night. Now it doesn't move even after sitting 3 weeks.

 

[Houm_WA]

Mine runs a while before shutting off, but typically I only drive it every few days, sometimes a week between drives. I only get a "raising slowly" message if I go from Access to Off-road very quickly....like flipping the switch quickly I mean.

Also, if it didn't give you faults, how in the world did you notice a 1" drop? Just eye-balling it? Did you measure it too, just to make sure you weren't foolin' yourself?

 

[tlt]

LOL... some of us are a bit paranoid about suspension drop and have a good idea of the normal heights...

The first indicator of the raising slowly is a plugged up descant canister. It might be worth replacing that, to squeeze extra life out of it, or at least inspect it. What seems to be fairly typical is that it gets worse, until the air pump finally blows completely...

 

[morrisdl]

I didnt notice the 1" drop/day until mine sat for a week at the airport. IT was resting on the bump stops when I got home. Then I pulled the EAS fuse and measured each corner, and again 24 hours later and discovered the 1"/day rate. My leak was only this bad in the winter (<40F). Glad I fixed it or I was going to have to move further south.