Airmatic damping randomly turning off
01-26-2014, 04:04 AM
#1
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Airmatic damping randomly turning off
I first noticed this problem a few times over the summer, then it went away for months and only in the last few weeks did it start again....
As soon as I start the car, good ol' "Malfunction" comes on, but the car raises and lowers as normal. Height seems even. The problem is that the variable damping will default to a setting where the car bounces on bumps, and feels rough as if there was no shock absorption. Sometimes I've parked the car, came back 5 minutes later, and the light mysteriously no longer comes on and the car rides smooth as normal. Then it might not happen again for weeks, only to happen again every time I use the car over a period of days, then go back to normal.
I replaced one of the air shocks with an Arnott in a lengthy diatribe I posted earlier, but this didn't happen until at least a month and a half after I did that, and it went away for months before starting again a few weeks ago.
I find it odd that it comes and goes, so whatever the issue is doesn't seem like a permanent mechanical failure like a stuck valve (or when one corner of the car was barely off the ground when the shock first broke!)...There must be something sending a signal to do this, and for whatever reason doesn't always detect a condition to do so....The big question is, what is that something?
As soon as I start the car, good ol' "Malfunction" comes on, but the car raises and lowers as normal. Height seems even. The problem is that the variable damping will default to a setting where the car bounces on bumps, and feels rough as if there was no shock absorption. Sometimes I've parked the car, came back 5 minutes later, and the light mysteriously no longer comes on and the car rides smooth as normal. Then it might not happen again for weeks, only to happen again every time I use the car over a period of days, then go back to normal.
I replaced one of the air shocks with an Arnott in a lengthy diatribe I posted earlier, but this didn't happen until at least a month and a half after I did that, and it went away for months before starting again a few weeks ago.
I find it odd that it comes and goes, so whatever the issue is doesn't seem like a permanent mechanical failure like a stuck valve (or when one corner of the car was barely off the ground when the shock first broke!)...There must be something sending a signal to do this, and for whatever reason doesn't always detect a condition to do so....The big question is, what is that something?
01-26-2014, 08:12 AM
#2
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Not sure how similar the systems are but when that same issue arose in the 220 it was a front strut top that leaked very slowly and intermittently. The Airmatic warning would come on but the system still would raise and lower, then the warning would clear later for no reason.
The leak was so slight that when the tech tried to demonstrate it for the warranty company he couldn't and they declined the repair. A few weeks later the leak burned the pump out, the system collapsed and then they fixed it.
The leak was so slight that when the tech tried to demonstrate it for the warranty company he couldn't and they declined the repair. A few weeks later the leak burned the pump out, the system collapsed and then they fixed it.
01-28-2014, 11:11 AM
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Would a leak cause an issue with the dampers though? I just thought they functioned separately, and when the old shock first broke and the message came on, the right side of the car rode real low but the shock absorption felt the same. Also, I can press the button to raise the suspension to max, leave, come back later while the car is still higher than normal, and the problem remains. I would think it wouldn't trigger leak alarms as long as it was maintaining height without the compressor.
The ride height stays the same but the damping feels like it gets turned off on all 4 shocks when this fault occurs.
The ride height stays the same but the damping feels like it gets turned off on all 4 shocks when this fault occurs.
