Air ride draining battery?

W

wizzy453

Registered
Hi folks.

I have a few questions about what's been going on with my car. I have been through a few batteries in the past couple months, all of which have been replaced for free by the shop, but the battery is definitely not the problem. If I turn off my air ride switch every time I leave my car, my battery will be fine. Something in the air ride circuit is pulling quite a bit of current, even when the compressor is not running. It's very noticeable too, as the moment I turn the switch off, the lights in my car immediately get brighter, as if a huge load was lifted off. If I leave the air ride switch on, my car is dead overnight. Anybody else every seen this problem? Also, because of the constant drain and me jumping my car all the time and continuing to allow the drain, my alternator has finally died and is being replaced as we speak....
Please help!
 
When you turn off your air ride and leave it overnight do any of the corners fall down as if there is a leaky air spring. What about leaving it off for a couple of days or a week.

You should replace your Alternator with a good quality high out put one, it will set you back about $200. This probably had more to do with your battery failures, but a leaky air bag making a shot compressor constantly run is a possible cause for what going on.

After you get your new alternator in I would turn the air ride switch off, after you fill the system up to ride height. Run around for a week or so to see if you got any leaks. I would then also get ready to see what the electrical draw is from the compressor if you have no leaks, and you still have a battery issue. Get back to us to tell us how you made outon these and we can help you more.
 
hmmm..

hmmm..

I originally thought that the air ride might be leaking a long time ago, but I could never notice the car resting low at all on any corner... when I looked into it more, I found out about the system lowering the car after 55mph, so that explains why it would kick on every time I slowed down. The air ride circuit is draining even when the compressor is NOT running, that's the problem... It's being worked on right now, so hopefully the problem can be found. It was suggested to me that maybe a gem module in the car is going bad, and that's causing a short to take place. Maybe that's it? Also, the compressor may be shot, I don't know, but it fills in a timely manner, under 25 seconds normally. The circuit won't flag an error unless it takes longer than 90 seconds, which has never happened. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for your fast reply Roadboss!
 
Wizzy- just for a little follow up on your problem I will tell you that I just changed out a battery in my black car that I had in there for a couple of years. I also was running a compressor that was marginal but still running thanks to the Spider valve I put in. Well the compressor failed last week, and I installed a new one. All was sort of OK but over the last 6 months I have, on a few occasions, had a battery issue that I passed off on leaving accessories on. I checked my alternator and it's output is fine, I believe the life of the battery was somewhat shortened by the faulty compressor. Those freaky electrical things, do mean your battery is on it's way out I got a few of them again last week and did nothing. Shame on me !!
 
There is some electrical draw on my car also. I just haven't put the time in to nail it down. It's not usually a problem because I use the car everyday. Although if I let it sit for 3 or 4 days it will be nearly dead. I have a high output PA performance alt and a new battery along with new terminals. I know there is something drawing current when the car is off I just haven't located it yet. I think I'm going to look into it this weekend, it is really annoying. Never mind it really shortens the life of batteries.
 
The best thing for something like this might me a optima yellow top, it's a deep cycle battery and is made to get drained down more than a normal battery just a thought if you've got a drain somewhere
 
Yea those are great for deep cycling. Although I want to fix the problem, not put a band-aid on it. I have a red top in my other mark and it is a great battery, starts the car very fast.
 
yeah

yeah

-95blklsc

Try turning off your air ride over the weekend sometime and see if you can tell a difference. If I leave mine off, my problem is gone. Just a thought.
 
There is a draw if you are checking off the battery with the hood up due to the security sytem and switch on the pass. side. Your elect syst is live for an hour before it is shut down.
 
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