intermittent brake noise

Tonight turn off the air ride in the trunk.....(After you've pumped it up) It may NOT be the air struts....See if it bottoms out tomorrow AM.
 
I turned off the air ride, went to go get gas, and let the car sit for like 20 minutes and the front end is on the ground again. When I turn the air ride back on, it takes the compressor a lot longer to pump the front end up back to stock height... any ideas? The air struts are stock with 11+ years on them, only 88k miles though. BTW, Max, I called the place you recommended asking for prices on front air struts, they quoted me 550 bucks each side!! I will never do business with them
 
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46callaway said:
I turned off the air ride, went to go get gas, and let the car sit for like 20 minutes and the front end is on the ground again. When I turn the air ride back on, it takes the compressor a lot longer to pump the front end up back to stock height... any ideas? The air struts are stock with 11+ years on them, only 88k miles though. BTW, Max, I called the place you recommended asking for prices on front air struts, they quoted me 550 bucks each side!! I will never do business with them
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Did you ask them for Struts for a 1998 Mark VIII or a 1996 Mark VIII. The 96 have the "most expensive struts" don't ask me why, that is just what the dealer lists them at. Any dealer you ask. You have to ask for the 98 struts either way since they are an improved design that is cheaper. They should be at around $320 a side now.

The front bags are shot... I am surprised they lasted as long as they did, the longer that car is driven with leaking struts the more likely the compressor will fail.


I would contact Eddie at american air suspension, he has alternatives for less than $200 a pop, if you don't want to spend the money on OEM replacements.
 
And the place I told you about had better prices than Torrie (fordpartsnetwork) or whatever alias he is using now...

They also had the best prices on 98 bags for some time at $275 a pop when everyone was charging $300+
 
That may be a smart move on an older car... You just need to evaluate if you need the load leveling feature and if you want to deal with future problems.
 
That trademotion site is Torrie's "parts" site.

Too bad I'm heading out....I'd be happy to do the swap for you!
 
It's not Torrie's site... Most of the ford parts sellers online use the trademation software for their online business. BTW, the front end of the 96 is not going down anymore for some reason...
 
9/10 times it is leaking struts. 1/10 times it is a faulty sensor. I actually had a broken sensor on my 96 back in the day. The car completely bottomed out and would no longer pump up because it was stuck in "vent" mode due to a wrong sensor reading
 
I had just the opposite yesterday. After bending the k-member by hitting and expansion joint in the highway at 8-MPH I guess something gave and the sensor, my wits and rear view mirror came off. At first I did not notice, but after a while the right side of the car went WAY high and my steering wheel was tilted far right - like bad alignment. Put the sensor back on its stud and all was well!
 
Well it's been a few weeks and the the front end has yet to drop again... so hopefully all is well and the struts aren't leaking. However the brakes are still squeaking.
 
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