So heaven, you have a code reader that reads C Codes? Then you have enough money to fix your car.

 

Yes of course, but I can still be miffed about the compressor not lasting very long, if it's that, will put a relay in first, once I have found which one it is. have brought a recon compressor, just waiting for it to get here. The code reader, dunno, not used it yet. It is supposed to read all Jaguar codes.
Money what's that, never heard about that commodity.

 

I wanted to start a new thread, but since some pretty knowlageble folks are on this one id like to add my symptoms and see if you can help me determine if I need the dreaded compressor.

I have recently repaired my trunk fuse box after water ingress. And I also changed the right front wheel and tire after hitting pot hole and gauging up the tire.

Well after the repair above I now have a car that seems to sit low, although it looks cool I think there is something wrong, I get no fault codes, I dont hear the compressor running but I dont know whats its supposed to sound like. Ive tried cyling the key several times, bouncing the car with it running although too stiff to bounce, and checked the number 4 relay and number 6 fuse. I hear rapid clicking from that area that last about a few seconds.
/ Car feels like it riding stiff and bouncy.
Is the compressor bad and its only a matter of time till a get a vehicle too low warning?

I have about 45k on the car and bought it about 1k ago. I dont know if the compressor has been replaced.

This car is not being good to me.

 

How do we check for pressures? Is there a diagnostics mode that one can use.

The car is def squating, and its been like that for several days. What contols it some kind of module? I am not sure if there is a problem with just the compressor as the car is not throwing any warnings and I fear that what controls it is broken and not activating it or getting feedback from the sensors almost as if it was disconnected . How does the system work? And where is the control module for the CATS system.

 

what can be the issue with the below case?

XJ8 suspension sinking overnight
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=28652

"air suspension fault" was showing, so i got the dealer to change out the air compressor. fault code no longer shows, but i get the sinking issue instead.

dealer claim that all 4 shocks are busted/leaking. that's why it sinks all the way down.
but issue is that, before i the air compressor was changed, it took 2-3 days before it gets down. now it's about 12 hours.

 

Read in the "Sticky" notes that resetting the front height was possible with the right tools, however, what 'right' tools?
My problem is the right side of my 05 XJ8-L is about an inch higher then the left side, which I guess causes the left rear to also be lower then the right.
How are these adjustments made?
Chuck
05/XJ8L & XK8

 

Thanks to JagTechOhio for asking the first question and to all other contributors to the thread. Going through suspension problems currently on my car, I now know there is desiccant in the comressor (see Don B's link: Welcome to Jag-lovers - The Members' Photo Album ). Did Jaguar ever get back and provide a feedback to the question asked..?

Do they even have access or participate in the forum? I hope they do: what better way to realize possible problems and fixes. Perhaps even ideas to be added in to new models?

 

Don B's link should be: Welcome to Jag-lovers - The Members' Photo Album

 

I live in Ohio, and I cant drive my 04 XJR in the winter, the front is too low, even after its warmed up and driven for a mile, it still somewhat low, Air Suspension Fault message on the screen and the ride is rough.
Is it possible to get a feed back step by step where I should start. I would be very thankfull.

 

Hi tanios,

We still don't have sufficient empirical data to give you a step-by-step tutorial, but I think the current collective wisdom is that these cold-weather problems like yours are due to temperature-dependent leaks, perhaps coupled with a worn piston ring in the air compressor that prevents the compressor from pressurizing the system within the time alloted by the Air Suspension Control Module (ASM).

Two things almost any DIY owner can do are to search for air leaks and replace the piston ring in the compressor.

To check for air leaks, mix some liquid dish soap / washing-up liquid in water, and use a spray bottle to apply the solution to individual air hose fittings and CATS valve fittings (disconnect the electrical connector and apply tape over the valve connector to keep water out). Watch for bubbles that would indicate a leak. Check all the connectors on the tops of all four shocks, the connector at the compressor, and all the fittings at the reservoir and valve block in the trunk/boot. Dry everything after each test to prevent water from entering the air suspension or electrical connectors. Some owners have found leaks by this method. If you find a leak, the solution may be as simple as replacing the O-ring, or possibly the air hose compression fiting or "olive" as well. I believe the Workshop Manual gives instructions for trimming the ends of air hoses and installing a new olive. The manual is available for download in six parts from the "X350 'HOW TO' quick links" at the top of the home page of the X350 forum.

See the thread below for information about the O-rings on the air hose fittings:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...km-fpm-115111/


What is not currently known among the owner-mechanic community, is whether there are any user-replaceable components inside the air shocks themselves, where leaks may occur. Arnott Industries rebuilds Jaguar air shocks and also manufactures their own "upgraded" versions. An Arnott representative told one of our forum members that they shipped a batch of air shocks with bad O-rings that leaked after installation. This would seem to indicate that there may be one or more O-rings inside the shock that DIY owners might be able to replace themselves, but to my knowledge no member of this forum or Jag-Lovers has yet done so. The other known failure mode of the air shocks is a ruptured air bladder, for which there is also no currently-known owner solution other than to replace the entire air shock. Arnott Industries claims to use Goodyear replacement air bladders, so perhaps one day these will be available to the DIY community.

Loss of compressor efficiency due to a worn piston ring seems to afflict every X350 (and all the other models of automobile in which the same Wabco compressor is used). Replacing the piston ring is easy and affordable, using a new ring manufactured by forum member bagpipingandy.

The photos below show the process of replacing the piston ring:

Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page
Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page


There is also a video showing the process at the Arnott Industries website.


I'm sure I'm forgetting some things - hopefully other members will offer additional information.


Cheers,


Don

 

I can't remember the exact numbers, but when going over the information received with my ARNOTT rear air shock, I believe it said: "Do not store below 2* or maybe it was -2* or above 125*"
This would indicate to me that there could be problems with the shocks for guys living in the Northern States, where the temp gets that cold on a normal basis.
I was wondering if that holds true with the OEM shocks that come on the car. I know that in England, temps that cold are rather normal during the winter. If there is a problem in temps that cold, Jaguar should say something.

Chuck
05/XJ8L & XK8

 

Two months ago I had the front air shocks replaced. For six weeks after, I drove it occasionally, on dry days only. Everything worked normally. I have driven it more frequently in the past two weeks, (nicer weather). I have noted that after it is parked for more than two hours the front end will drop down. Then when I open either door the compressor will turn on and pump it back up to normal and it then drives / operates normally. I have listened for leaks but detect none. Is this a sign of something significantly that I should have addressed? Thank you.

 

As a relative new owner of a x350 v8 here in the UK, the issues that forum members have had with the air suspension was one of the things that worried me. Fortunately I have not had any issues so far except for the front ride height dropping overnight occasionally. I intend to refurbished the air compressor with bagpipingandy kit in due course. In the meantime I got hold of a secondhand unit from a breaker to see what's involved & how it works. Unfortunately I don't know how many miles the unit has done or its history. This is what I've learned, I hope it's helpful. Don B jag lovers pics & info & Andys website are both a must read.
The unit draws air from the bumper area & through a simple paper filter (as others have said) into the compressor head. This must be the worst place to locate this unit, the air could potentially have water droplets in it! Presumably this is why jag have chosen to blow back dried air through the filter & inlet in an attempt to blow out any excess moisture. When I fit the compressor I'll be looking to draw the air from the engine compartment.
Compressed air is passed through a simple rubber non-return valve in pump head into the drier assembly. This valve was heavily contaminated with aluminium corrosion.
The drier, a plastic container, contains approx 90g of A4 molecular drier beads, 1.6mm to 2.4mm diam, retained by fibre filters & steel flow plates. The beads were saturated with water, total weight was 120g, new beads can hold arounds 20% by weight of moisture. They were discoloured by rust that presumably came from the large spring in the front of the canister. It had heavy surface corrosion. New beads are a slight off white colour. If yours are brownish then they are likely to be exhausted, if they weigh over 110g then they need changing. I've obtained new beads from a diving company on eBay.co.uk, these were far cheaper then those from sigma Aldrich etc at only £22/670g. I'll post the listing number.
The dry air passes out of the filter assembly through a built in non return valve. This is a spring loaded plastic valve & o ring. The o ring was squashed & may have passed air. Needless to say this must not pass back; I'm searching for a better inline push fit non-return to add into the out line. The spring had some corrosion. I've replaced the o ring.
The air passes out of the drier past the pressure relief/blow back passage. Both these looked ok.
In the outlet fitting I've used a 80 bar ss M8 push fit fitting as suggested by Andy to do away with the nasty o ring, ferrule & nut jaguar fitting. By all accounts these are prone to over tightening & leaking.
With regard to the molecular sieves lifetime this will be a function of run time. If the system doesn't leak the unit won't run that often so maybe jag expects upto a 100000 mile replacement interval. This appears to be optimistic, my theory is that the sieve gets saturated, freezes in sub zero temps resulting in no/low flow. Once saturated moist air passes to the other components & this leads to their failure.
Finally my thanks again to Don B for his pics etc & to Andy (bagpipeandy) for his advice & a top quality ring kit. The ring appears to be a far superior material than the original wabco ring. I'll post pics etc in due course & hope the above helps. Please comment freely!
Dave

 

Great information. Do you have the pictures available and can you advise the supplier of the dryer beads

 

Hafren, sorry forgot to post the pics etc, so better late then never!
The pic of the beads with the ruler doesn't really show the colour of the old beads. They are much browner, presumably rust contaminated.
The new beads were from the submerge ebay seller.
The outlet non-return valve o ring was deformer & probably leaking, I hope this can be seen. I can post/email high res pics if needed

 

does the beads go in the white look alike gas filter, its plastic, I already puled the air compressor and a new piston ring and an o ring, and I didn't pay attention to the look alike gas filter wether it could come apart, all I remember is a hose connected to one end of, anyway after I rebuilt the compressor and the front end still low, it'll go up an inch or two in the initial compressor run" 2 minutes" then it'll go back down, so I decided to unscrew one air hose at a time to see if there is air pressure, well it was plenty of air pressure, but mixed in with the air was a lot of water, and every time I shut the car off and restarted after few minutes to get the intials compressor run" 2 minutes" water still came out mixed with air, I tried it 3 times for each strut, finally I gave up, I was hoping to get all the water out, then I realized the beads could be saturated or the solonoids is stuck and that's based on other threads I've rad. I would like to change the beads and add water separator as one meneber had mentioned but don't know how to start, I'm seeking help, like a step by step.!!!!!!!

 

Yes tangos, beads go in the white plastic item, there is a glass fibre filter at the bottom that stops any dust going through the outlet line. There's another filter pad that sits on top of the beads that held in place by a holed metal plate an plastic retainer ring. I only posted a pic of the top. When the whole lot goes together there is a large spring that presses on the holed metal plate that keeps the bead bed compressed.
The beads must be carefully packed so the beads are in contact with each other (so called close packing). You'll see from the side view of the plastic canister that I didn't do a particularly good job but I couldn't be bothered to re do it.
By what you describe your whole system appears to be water contaminated thus as you say the beads in your air supply unit must be totally saturated.
Sounds like the new ring is working well & the unit is supplying enough air but it does sound like you have a significant air leak somewhere.
As you disconnected the unit air out line and given that people have noted problems with this voss fitting I'd have a good look at this line when its under pressure to see if its leaking air. I wouldn't use soapy water as some guys do, get hold of some proper leak detection spray of ebay (I got a can for £8) and spray the outlet fitting.
If the units internal valves are passing air will leak back out of the air inlet pipe, spray this & see if it foams. I'd also leak detect the strut top connectors too make sure they are sealing.
Others have noted how these leak, probably due to over tightening that crushes the o rings. The tightening spec is only 5Nm which is just about finger tight!
How to get water out of the system, now thats a good question! Blowing the lines with dry air will do them, removing the air tank, draining & blowing may work. But the strut bellows, they are effectively sealed so I'd think will only dry out when the supply air is dry & over time as the CATs valve bleeds air out. Probably its water in the bellows that cause struts to go hard & fail.
Maybe some members have managed to dry their systems & will post.
Hope this helps.

 

Hi Darr221
thank you for your reply, I went back and rad how the system works according to jaguar 300 and some I pages , and it says that the fresh air is drawn from an inlet in the front bumper, throw the air dryer , then some dry air is exhausted throw the air dryer and it'll pick up the moisture from the dessicants on its way out, and youre right about it, it sounds that I have a leak somewhere , because the more I thought about it and according to another menember that he was gonna add an air dryer that will discharge moisture and its activated by air, not electrical or manual, and his reason was the aftermarket air suspendsions out there do recommend it in their kit, or do include it in their kit, and I was leaning towards that route, till I rad that the jaguar system is venting moisture the same channel its drawing air, and I'm assuming its designed that way providing there is no leaks, or a very minor leak, and the re4ason I say that is going back to the 300 and some I pages of jaguar, it says that the initial 2 minute run of the air compressor, is sufficient to fill the system, so if there is no leaks, no more air is drawn from the outside accompanied with moisture.
Can you please correct me if I'm wrong somewhere, much appreciated.