cougarmandan
Registered
I have a 95 Mark 8 that is just giving me fits in the air suspension. I replaced the front airbags and compressor about 2 years ago. Here a few months ago I kept burning up the compressor relay module. After replacing the compressor/dryer again (which had a leak), I still am burning up relays. I just can't figuar it out. So Maybe its time to join the dark side and buy the coil spring conversion. I just can't seam to figuar out the air ride. The only code I get is 75 when the relay goes. Check air ride after it smokes the relay seams to be the only symptom.
Let's start at the begining. I got a check air ride one day driving down the highway. I got home turned off the air ride and flipped it back on. The car seamed to be fine message went away. It would do it intermitently for a few months and finally, it went. Check Air Suspension, on when I start the car. I got out my 95 Mark VIII Factory shop manual and did all the diagnosis and came to the conclustion the relay bit the dust. I bought a new one at the dealership, installed it and presto. EVerything seams ok. About 5 weeks go by and I get a check air ride again. Comes on as soon as I start the car. I found a star tester on ebay and snaged it. I get it in and pull the code. 99-compressor run time. So I do all the tests and dianostic charts and find it has to be the relay again. I take the relay back to the dealership and they give me no hassles on warrentieeing it. THe car set out for 3 weeks while I am doing all this and the rear didn't lose any air and the front maybe settled an inch lower. After the second relay, I found the dryer had the oring pop out on the air line end. At the time I was thinking something had to have gone wrong for it to have popped out. I can only imagine some extremely high pressure situation. Also, after fixing the big oring, I noticed it was leaking where the dryer screws into the compressor. I put the big oring back in the dryer with some silicon incase it is contributin. I replace the oring on the compressor dryer union and it seams tight and leak free. It was ok for about 2 months. Then and big ice storm came and it took me a little over an hour to get home. In the last 20 minutes, the check air ride came one. So after everything thawed, I checked it and the relay was shot and it was leaking again where the dryer screws into the compressor. So I thought, "oh, simple, air leak, comprssor running too long burns up relay. SO I ordered a compressor from Bagmasters. I got a used relay-module off ebay. I put them both in today. I am getting good at putting compressors in, took all of 30 minutes to do. Anyways, I drove it about 30 minutes, everything seamed ok, parked it. All seamed well. I could hear the compressor (much quieter than the old one) kicking on and off as I exited the highway and I heard it let some air out after I got out of the car. So I assumed it was ok. I hop in it 3 hours later and with in a few seconds of starting it, the check air ride came on. I pulled the code and its 75-air compressor-relay circuit. I cleared it and restarted it and same thing. SO I already know another relay had met its demise. Any ideas if this enigma can be solve, or is it time to do what my brother keeps saying, buy a Lightning. He keeps saying, thats what you get when you buy a car with air ride. I am very frustrated with it right now. Anybody have any ideas. Since I haven't replaced the rear air bags, I thought it might be a reason, but the car sat over 3 weeks and the rear didn't budge a bit. I looked at the bags and the look smooth. When I did the fronts, they were cracked and it was easy to see. Its not jumping out like the fronts if its the problem. Another thought I had way back, early in the troubleshooting, was maybe a solinoid isn't opening up and letting the air in and the pressure get too high, compressor pulls a lot of amps and bye buy relay, maybe pops an oring her or there. I did run the star tests and they all click and let air out fine. So I am stuck. I could get some rear air bags, but if they arn't leaking, then that wouldn't solve anything, plus if I convert to springs, it would be money waisted. I was wanting a cheap and easy fix. Any ideas? Please!
Let's start at the begining. I got a check air ride one day driving down the highway. I got home turned off the air ride and flipped it back on. The car seamed to be fine message went away. It would do it intermitently for a few months and finally, it went. Check Air Suspension, on when I start the car. I got out my 95 Mark VIII Factory shop manual and did all the diagnosis and came to the conclustion the relay bit the dust. I bought a new one at the dealership, installed it and presto. EVerything seams ok. About 5 weeks go by and I get a check air ride again. Comes on as soon as I start the car. I found a star tester on ebay and snaged it. I get it in and pull the code. 99-compressor run time. So I do all the tests and dianostic charts and find it has to be the relay again. I take the relay back to the dealership and they give me no hassles on warrentieeing it. THe car set out for 3 weeks while I am doing all this and the rear didn't lose any air and the front maybe settled an inch lower. After the second relay, I found the dryer had the oring pop out on the air line end. At the time I was thinking something had to have gone wrong for it to have popped out. I can only imagine some extremely high pressure situation. Also, after fixing the big oring, I noticed it was leaking where the dryer screws into the compressor. I put the big oring back in the dryer with some silicon incase it is contributin. I replace the oring on the compressor dryer union and it seams tight and leak free. It was ok for about 2 months. Then and big ice storm came and it took me a little over an hour to get home. In the last 20 minutes, the check air ride came one. So after everything thawed, I checked it and the relay was shot and it was leaking again where the dryer screws into the compressor. So I thought, "oh, simple, air leak, comprssor running too long burns up relay. SO I ordered a compressor from Bagmasters. I got a used relay-module off ebay. I put them both in today. I am getting good at putting compressors in, took all of 30 minutes to do. Anyways, I drove it about 30 minutes, everything seamed ok, parked it. All seamed well. I could hear the compressor (much quieter than the old one) kicking on and off as I exited the highway and I heard it let some air out after I got out of the car. So I assumed it was ok. I hop in it 3 hours later and with in a few seconds of starting it, the check air ride came on. I pulled the code and its 75-air compressor-relay circuit. I cleared it and restarted it and same thing. SO I already know another relay had met its demise. Any ideas if this enigma can be solve, or is it time to do what my brother keeps saying, buy a Lightning. He keeps saying, thats what you get when you buy a car with air ride. I am very frustrated with it right now. Anybody have any ideas. Since I haven't replaced the rear air bags, I thought it might be a reason, but the car sat over 3 weeks and the rear didn't budge a bit. I looked at the bags and the look smooth. When I did the fronts, they were cracked and it was easy to see. Its not jumping out like the fronts if its the problem. Another thought I had way back, early in the troubleshooting, was maybe a solinoid isn't opening up and letting the air in and the pressure get too high, compressor pulls a lot of amps and bye buy relay, maybe pops an oring her or there. I did run the star tests and they all click and let air out fine. So I am stuck. I could get some rear air bags, but if they arn't leaking, then that wouldn't solve anything, plus if I convert to springs, it would be money waisted. I was wanting a cheap and easy fix. Any ideas? Please!
