Malfunctioning Air Ride

[loudcivicboy]

Hey all, I've recently became the owner of a relatively clean 2002 Lesabre with some fairly low mileage (38k) and its been great apart from the lower intake manifold gasket (which I've replaced) and the passenger and rear doors not having any power (which I confirmed is due to water leaking under the driver seat).

I have the air ride in the rear and it has been working fine up until yesterday after I did a tire rotation at home. I already saw that my tpms had an error and reset it per some posts on forums but I cant seem to find anything about the self level system constantly trying to inflate whenever I am at a stop. I didn't do anything special during the rotation, just jacked up two sides at a time switching the tires. Any help?

 

[BuickGirlFromMars]

Hey all, I've recently became the owner of a relatively clean 2002 Lesabre with some fairly low mileage (38k) and its been great apart from the lower intake manifold gasket (which I've replaced) and the passenger and rear doors not having any power (which I confirmed is due to water leaking under the driver seat).

I have the air ride in the rear and it has been working fine up until yesterday after I did a tire rotation at home. I already saw that my tpms had an error and reset it per some posts on forums but I cant seem to find anything about the self level system constantly trying to inflate whenever I am at a stop. I didn't do anything special during the rotation, just jacked up two sides at a time switching the tires. Any help?

how did you jack it up? you likely broke or damaged an air line, or if your shocks "extended while jacking it up, they possibly started to leak(especially if OEM)
I put money on air line or the connection to the shocks.
The tpms error means your tires are not inflated the same or the tread difference is enough to significantly alter the wheel speeds relative to the pre-rotation positions. You inflate to your proper PSI all around, then hold reset while on the TPMS screen

 

[loudcivicboy]

I jacked up the car in the front on the subframe and in the rear I jaxked up a point on the frame farther behind the pinch weld along the bottom. I was unaware that extending the shock could cause it to leak but from the frequency of the air compressor turning on and off it does seem more towards the struts being the issue than a connection but I will check them both. Can I just spray connections with water and look for bubbles or is there a deeper process I should go through? Also how should I go about jacking it up also?

 

[imidazol97]

If putting all tires to the same pressure and pushing the reset button for 5 seconds or longer as BGFM
suggested doesn't do the trick...., take a good look at all 4 tires. ARe they all the same size?
Since you just got the car, someone might have put on a tire different in size from the others.

Friends had a new leSabre back in the new days in 1996 or so. Dealer put on a replacement tire
that was one size narrower than the others. They eventually had someone who found the problme
that would keep setting off the tpms.

As to the air lines, I would suggest taking a good look at the link from the chassis to the A-arm
that tells the unit how high up the body is from the suspension part. Make sure it's in good connection
on both ends.

You should be able to turn the key to ON with the car sitting. After 30-45 seconds, the air pump should
run briefly for a few seconds to bring everything up to pressure. Then it should turn off. If it doesn't turn off right away
you likely have a leak somewhere. Then just let the car sit with the key ON, and see if the pump restarts after
a few minutes as part of diagnosing.

If you put a few hundred pounds on the trunk after it has been sitting with key ON and pump off, after waiting 30 or so
seconds the pump should come on and pump the air pressure higher to raise the car back to the height range
where it should be.

 

[loudcivicboy]

Sorry for the wait, I've done the TPMS reset after inflating all tires to 30psi and haven't had any errors come up since so no worries on that issue anymore.

Yesterday I went ahead and I put the key in run position to let the compressor run to pressurize the system and it ran for maybe 10 seconds and it shut off as normal. I waited 20 minutes to see if maybe if it needed to pressurize again but nothing.

I then went and loaded it up to see if it makes a difference.

Once I added my little brother and sister to the trunk lid and put the key into on position the compressor ran for at least 30 seconds and shut off. 3 minutes passed until the compressor turned on again and stayed on for another 30-45 seconds it seemed and kept this pattern of turning on for long periods of time and turning off just to turn right back on.

I'm all for replacing the air struts but I really don't want to break them by putting the car in the air again, is that just a by-product of old air struts and not to be expected if I get replacements?

 

[BuickGirlFromMars]

Sorry for the wait, I've done the TPMS reset after inflating all tires to 30psi and haven't had any errors come up since so no worries on that issue anymore.

Yesterday I went ahead and I put the key in run position to let the compressor run to pressurize the system and it ran for maybe 10 seconds and it shut off as normal. I waited 20 minutes to see if maybe if it needed to pressurize again but nothing.

I then went and loaded it up to see if it makes a difference.

Once I added my little brother and sister to the trunk lid and put the key into on position the compressor ran for at least 30 seconds and shut off. 3 minutes passed until the compressor turned on again and stayed on for another 30-45 seconds it seemed and kept this pattern of turning on for long periods of time and turning off just to turn right back on.

I'm all for replacing the air struts but I really don't want to break them by putting the car in the air again, is that just a by-product of old air struts and not to be expected if I get replacements?

It sounds like the compressor may have an issue since the shocks appear to be sealing. can you see any damage to the rubber bladder or hear air leak from them when the car is between compressing? If you are handy, you can service the pump with a new dryer and inspect for damage New pump assemblies are available, upgrading to a 2006+ lucerne air compressor assembly is easy (plug and play and minor modification to mount on the same spot)

Are the shocks OEM?

I jacked up the car in the front on the subframe and in the rear I jaxked up a point on the frame farther behind the pinch weld along the bottom. I was unaware that extending the shock could cause it to leak but from the frequency of the air compressor turning on and off it does seem more towards the struts being the issue than a connection but I will check them both. Can I just spray connections with water and look for bubbles or is there a deeper process I should go through? Also how should I go about jacking it up also?

the reason I said compressor is my thought above was that the increased residual pressure needed seams to overcome but this could be something related to the exhaust solenoid or something. If you have access to a high end scan tool or a shop, they can look up C for Chassis codes and see if there is an electrical issue or code set.

 

[loudcivicboy]

Soooooo as much as I had hoped I was right, I wasn't. I went ahead and pinpointed it down to the compressor being the culprit, relatively confident because I do hear an air leak coming from the compressor when not doing its job.

I went ahead and removed the ELC relay to keep the compressor from burning itself out. Everything on the car is OEM since I'm the first mechanically inclined person to have my hand at it so I just want to make sure everything stays as it should.

I understand the removal of the relay is a temporary solution until the leak is dealt with but is air struts v normal struts any question? Like, would it just be better to convert to normal struts or is the general consensus that the air struts are better than conventional?

 

[BuickGirlFromMars]

Soooooo as much as I had hoped I was right, I wasn't. I went ahead and pinpointed it down to the compressor being the culprit, relatively confident because I do hear an air leak coming from the compressor when not doing its job.

I went ahead and removed the ELC relay to keep the compressor from burning itself out. Everything on the car is OEM since I'm the first mechanically inclined person to have my hand at it so I just want to make sure everything stays as it should.

I understand the removal of the relay is a temporary solution until the leak is dealt with but is air struts v normal struts any question? Like, would it just be better to convert to normal struts or is the general consensus that the air struts are better than conventional?

If you want to convert to passive it’s perfectly valid. I would get a new compressor if you can afford it but if you want to just fix it for now you can.

If your shocks are still good, then an air line kit is the best option. They sell a kit with a tire shredder valve on it and you can install it somewhere and use the air compressor at the gas station or home to keep the height.

If you go passive, an alignment would be wise too