BigBerthaGator
New Member
Gen 3 2008 Lincoln Navigator:
While driving on the highway my ride went from normal to the dreaded reverbial bounce. Pulled over checked the suspension and the rear was sitting low-low. I only had and inch or 2 clearance from the wheel well.
Prior symptoms:
AIR SUSPENSION ON:
- Would awake sometimes to the the rear being abnormally lower on 1 side than the other (I believe it was the driver-side rear). Low side would be normal after only a few minutes of normal vehicle operation. Start vehicle and compressor would kick and i would hear it run from time to time....nothing super abnormal I thought.
When i would hit a bump/pot hole while driving the check air suspension light would come on. I would clear it and check things out....levels were okay, compressor didnt run more or less. But anytime I hit a jarring pothole you could bet that light/msg was coming on. (Seemed like driver side potholes for certain and passenger side not so mich).
AIR SUSPENSION OFF:
Because of the frequency of the warning message coming on (lots of potholes in PA) I started shutting off my air suspension.
I noticed that rear levels never changed with the system off (this is very odd to me?) When I awoke levels never needed asjusted so I got in the habit of just leaving the air suspension off. So from time to time on a longer road trip i would toggle the AS to on just to give the system a work. Well for the last 2 weeks I have been meaning to turn it on because it has been about 2 months since I last ran it (no issues just wanted to exercise it).
So with the AS off I have zero problems. My ride height will stay the same for months. And this was the condition when my rear bags failed completely while driving.
Safe to assume my compressor was and still is fine. I have checked the position sensors and they are still connected and in place. I am goin to check fuse #s
47 30A**Air suspension - solenoids
65 10 A*Air suspension logic
53—Air suspension relay
39 60A**Air suspension pump
Questions:
1) Help. Do you recognize the problem and solution, ha.
2) why do my bags stay inflated when the system is off but when its on, the ride height (for certain on 1 side) does not always maintain its level.
3) If I had 1 bladder fail, would the system recognize this and deflate the other air bladder? I dont know if it would let you drive around high on one side and low on the other?
4) I'm kind of hoping its going to be fuse 47 but is it common for any of these Fuses and relays to blow and what would be the symptoms. I would think those solenoids would be normally closed?
5) What would cause both bags to fail While driving When the air suspension was off in the first place. Could a bad solenoid do this?
6) Driving with no air makes for a crap ride but it is possible. I was 3/4 into my trip when the failure occured so I decided to push onward. Then I had a 66 mile trip back home. Are there any other ill effects besides poor handling and a slightly lower fuel economy? If my tire was hitting the wheel well on a major bump I think the reaction would be much more violent and I would experience significant surging. Therefore, I could drive it, right?
You would think that I would get code/warming but driving with this failure I only get the Check AS Warning sparingly. Even when I run System Check with its ass down (and warnings cleared) it reports that the Air Suspension System is "OK"....Ummm, no.
** Vehichle is Gen 3 2008 Lincoln Navigator.
I purchased it in 2010 with 55-59k miles and currently have 132k on it. Its a Northeast vehicle and no I will not replace the air system with coils.
I consider myself pretty handy and will not just drop it off at a shop. And I cant find my Haynes Repair Manual. I am posting this then going to check the fuses and relay (UPDATE, I CHECKED THEM (4 listed) AND THEY ALL WORKED. Thanks in advance folks. I read 10 pages on air suspension in the Lincoln forumn and I have no answers and it appeared the Navigator guys didnt get any loving. I read the 3 pages here on air suspension failure didnt come across any answers.
I am not sure what to do next. I can unplug the battery and see if that fixes anything but you read my symptoms, That really doesn't sound like a fix. Thanks again.
-Jason
While driving on the highway my ride went from normal to the dreaded reverbial bounce. Pulled over checked the suspension and the rear was sitting low-low. I only had and inch or 2 clearance from the wheel well.
Prior symptoms:
AIR SUSPENSION ON:
- Would awake sometimes to the the rear being abnormally lower on 1 side than the other (I believe it was the driver-side rear). Low side would be normal after only a few minutes of normal vehicle operation. Start vehicle and compressor would kick and i would hear it run from time to time....nothing super abnormal I thought.
When i would hit a bump/pot hole while driving the check air suspension light would come on. I would clear it and check things out....levels were okay, compressor didnt run more or less. But anytime I hit a jarring pothole you could bet that light/msg was coming on. (Seemed like driver side potholes for certain and passenger side not so mich).
AIR SUSPENSION OFF:
Because of the frequency of the warning message coming on (lots of potholes in PA) I started shutting off my air suspension.
I noticed that rear levels never changed with the system off (this is very odd to me?) When I awoke levels never needed asjusted so I got in the habit of just leaving the air suspension off. So from time to time on a longer road trip i would toggle the AS to on just to give the system a work. Well for the last 2 weeks I have been meaning to turn it on because it has been about 2 months since I last ran it (no issues just wanted to exercise it).
So with the AS off I have zero problems. My ride height will stay the same for months. And this was the condition when my rear bags failed completely while driving.
Safe to assume my compressor was and still is fine. I have checked the position sensors and they are still connected and in place. I am goin to check fuse #s
47 30A**Air suspension - solenoids
65 10 A*Air suspension logic
53—Air suspension relay
39 60A**Air suspension pump
Questions:
1) Help. Do you recognize the problem and solution, ha.
2) why do my bags stay inflated when the system is off but when its on, the ride height (for certain on 1 side) does not always maintain its level.
3) If I had 1 bladder fail, would the system recognize this and deflate the other air bladder? I dont know if it would let you drive around high on one side and low on the other?
4) I'm kind of hoping its going to be fuse 47 but is it common for any of these Fuses and relays to blow and what would be the symptoms. I would think those solenoids would be normally closed?
5) What would cause both bags to fail While driving When the air suspension was off in the first place. Could a bad solenoid do this?
6) Driving with no air makes for a crap ride but it is possible. I was 3/4 into my trip when the failure occured so I decided to push onward. Then I had a 66 mile trip back home. Are there any other ill effects besides poor handling and a slightly lower fuel economy? If my tire was hitting the wheel well on a major bump I think the reaction would be much more violent and I would experience significant surging. Therefore, I could drive it, right?
You would think that I would get code/warming but driving with this failure I only get the Check AS Warning sparingly. Even when I run System Check with its ass down (and warnings cleared) it reports that the Air Suspension System is "OK"....Ummm, no.
** Vehichle is Gen 3 2008 Lincoln Navigator.
I purchased it in 2010 with 55-59k miles and currently have 132k on it. Its a Northeast vehicle and no I will not replace the air system with coils.
I consider myself pretty handy and will not just drop it off at a shop. And I cant find my Haynes Repair Manual. I am posting this then going to check the fuses and relay (UPDATE, I CHECKED THEM (4 listed) AND THEY ALL WORKED. Thanks in advance folks. I read 10 pages on air suspension in the Lincoln forumn and I have no answers and it appeared the Navigator guys didnt get any loving. I read the 3 pages here on air suspension failure didnt come across any answers.
I am not sure what to do next. I can unplug the battery and see if that fixes anything but you read my symptoms, That really doesn't sound like a fix. Thanks again.
-Jason
