Help!! Air Suspension Prob

[Nikki]

Hi, my hubby just bought a 2.5dt 2 weeks ago, everything's was fine until a diesel leak turned out to be the fuel pipe at the tank, which he fixed, had to drop tank to do it, then when starting it up noticed the air bag was bent over, he got under and straightened that, since then the suspension has been weird, taking ages to get to right height etc, now with no warning at all, go up christmas day and it was sitting on the bump stops, the EAS warning came up and all the air suspension lights have stayed on and it is to put it politely a bone shaker of a ride. Obviously need to get it on a fault tester but was wonderiing if anyone had any ideas?? He wont be totally honest with me on what might have happened and im getting concerned that we might have bought a total wrongun! Any truthful advice appreciated for a mere mortal of a silly woman so that I may pass on to useless git of a hubby? lol

 

[Slam]

Well the air suspension is prone to go out. What year is the rover? You can expect the air suspnsion ot go out every 8 years or so. Now might be a good time to convert it to coil. Less expensive, less headache, and you can even lift it a couple inches! Give us more info.

 

[Nikki]

EAS Prob

Hi slam thanks for replying, the range is a '96 on an N, he has said if when he gets it fault diagnostic tested that if its too much he'll just convert it, he's not afraid to get his hands dirty, as long as we've been together ive seen him totally rebuild engines and fix any kind of prob on a car (not without throwing a few spanners first though)! lol I just had a feeling that its something to do with the air bag that got bent when he put the fuel tank back as it seems to have gone ever since he did that

 

[JackUnion]

HI Nikki, my guess would be that he jacked up the bodywork instead of the axle to get under it to drop the tank down or put it on a 2 post hoist to do it, these trucks have to go on a ramp style hoist (one where the suspension doesn't hang ) or the axle has to be straped so that the air bags aren't left hanging when jacked. It sounds to me like one of your air bags popped off, you may have to get that bag resealed or maybe even replaced then it will have to go on a LR computor to be reset. Anyone that has not worked on air ride systems before could make this mistake, it happens all the time. A conversion is not a bad idea if your having lots of troubles with the system and it does mean that your not always at the mercy of the LR computor but as I said before this is a easy mistake to make and unlikely to be repeated so I would say get it fixed this time (it shouldn't be too expensive) and see how you get on with the system afterwards.

 

[Nikki]

hi thanks for your reply, i do know that he did jack up under the axle and put onto axle stands but i guess it was left hanging, as i said the air bag was bent in half and he pulled it back over so could it be damaged and if so would it cause the rest of the system to be completely on the stops and cause fault alarm?

 

[JackUnion]

Sometimes if the bag has been left hanging it breaks the seal it has with it's base, sometimes they pop right off. You can slide them back on but like a tire on a alloy rim if you put them back on without cleaning the rim they don't always seal right. If this is the case then the dealer can slide it back on with a bit of rubber sealant around it, reset the system and it should be fine. What most likely set the codes was the height sensor on that corner. The height sensors (theres one on each corner) are like a pointed scribe on a printed circuit board, they tell the air ride computor what height each corner is at. Now these sensors spend most of their time within a certain "normal range" when they go out of this range ie: when a bag hangs or even when you take a older vehicle off-roading that has been mainly used on the road they go into a "dirty area" of the circuit board where they haven't been before, they lose the signal and set a fault code. One fault your in fault mode, two faults and your on the bump stops with your fillings in your teeth rattling!!