Help - air suspension question

[1993 Legacy]

Hi to all,

I am desperate. I have a problem with my air suspension and I hope to manage to fix it with your help.

Here is what happened:

The front of the car was up on jack stands as I was servicing the front brakes (changing pads, inspecting the front suspension, etc). My 10-year old daughter was wondering around pretty bored and asked whether she could sit in the car. I said: no problem. A couple of seconds later the front wheels drop (extend fully) as she turned the ignition key to switch on the stereo. aghhhh... I lower the car right away and there is (apparently) no air in the air suspension and the ride height up front is the lowest I have ever seen. I start the car and the compressor kicks in and raises the car. However, the compressor seems to be on forever. I drove the car for about 20-25 minutes and it didn't want to switch off. I did not notice any change in the ride height once the car rose and it seems to stay on the same height. However, after the 20-25 minutes in the car the ride height button started to flash. I presume it had some sort of error code in the system but I have been unable to figure out how to retrieve the code. The compressor starts right off as soon as I turn the ignition key. I have left the car overnight on level ground and will check the height tomorrow morning.

I have a suspicion that something went wrong with the height sensors. How do I proceed to retrieve the code? I have Haynes and Chilton's manuals but they do not seem to be of much help. I cannot seem to locate the harness which I am supposed to ground to retrieve the code/codes.

I would really appreciate your help as I just bought the car registered it.

Best regards

Dusan

P.S. Can I unplus a fuse somewhere not to burn the compressor and drive the car untill I sort this out?

[entirelyturbo]

Does it keep doing this over and over again?

I had a similar thing happen on my air-ride XT when I had a friend help with bleeding the brakes. I had all 4 wheels off the ground, and after a while, the Air Suspension light started flashing, obviously coz it noticed there was no weight on the struts. But I never had a problem with a continuously running compressor or anything like that.

I don't think you can check codes in the air suspension computer, I just think it's trying to tell you that something is wrong.

You can pull the height control fuse in your fusebox, but make sure the struts are inflated when you do this, and if they lose air, run the compressor again until they reinflate. You'll do a lot more damage to the struts running them with no air.

Good luck!

[1993 Legacy]

Hello to all,

I just wanted to report that I managed to get the As system up and running. The problem was the ball bearing in the compressor. Actually on the crank of the compressor which has completely disintegrated. At the same time I changed all the bearing on the compressor electric motor as well and the whole system works like a dream. Apparently it is actually pretty simple. No fancy stuff.

And I do enjoy being able to change the height of the vehicle depending on the terrain I tred.

Best regards

Dusan

[entirelyturbo]

Glad you figured it out.

Yeah, the whole thing isn't really that complicated, except for the actual guts of the struts themselves.

Always keep in mind though, if you ever want to throw your hands up and say "I give up!", then you can always convert the whole thing over to a conventional suspension and rid yourself of the hassle altogether. But as long as it's working, I'd leave it.