Hi everyone.
A quick and urgent cry for help from fellow Jag owner.

I am currently living in Mozambique's capital, Maputo. About 5 year ago, I was crazy enough to buy Jaguar XJ8 X350 (2005) with only 43k km. Still Love the car!!!
i have recently ordered and replaced one front leaking air strut. job done at my friend's workshop last Sunday. All seemed fine, until the car dropped, displaying "Car Too Low" and NOT RISING.

Allow me list the events and ask for your help and ideas:

1. Right front strut replaced last Sunday. Used rebuilt struts shipped from overseas.
2. Car rose immediately. Right side Hight (front ground to wheel arch) was 72cm on the right and 70-71cm on left.
3. Overnight it dropped. So we we started to look for air leak.
4. Found a leack on new strut. Changed small o-ring on the connecting pipe and all seemed OK . overnight drop was only about 2cm.
5. The car was not driven during this week.
6. Collected the car on Friday, drove about 5km, and "Air Suspension Fault" came one.
7. Parked the car and 3 hours latter it had dropped. - "Car too low" message on display.
8. REAR Drop is bigger than front. (pictures below). *never had any rear shock problems.
9. Now Car is NOT rising. So I drove it back to workshop.
10. No airleaks are detected on the shocks, or valve body or reservoir.
11. After starting the engine, compressor works only for 53-55seconds. (less than 1 minute).
12. Computer scan revealed C2302 - Leveling Plausibility Error. Cleared error but it comes up again.
13. Compressor had never had any work done, no piston ring or anything was yet done
14. Current millage is about 95k km.

Any ideas on what should be done tested now ?
Any quick tests jobs?
Is there any way to manually pump it up as to drive out? (car is blocking the drive way in the workshop)

Many thanks beforehand.
Cheers

 

I had similar problems some years ago.
I ended up to open the pressure sensor on the valve block in the trunk.
Some water came out, so I dried everything. After this, the car worked again.

 

thanks for answering. Two questions - 1) do I unscrew the "pressure sensor" from valve body? 2) how did you dry the water? (blow with outside compressor or anything else?!)

Asking this, because i have just taken down the car's compressor. Disconnected the air pipe and see that it is blowing the very humid air out. .. almost spitting water.

Thanks

 

I would focus on the error code. You wrote that there was a code C2303 Leveling plausibility error, this is incorrect. C2303 means Reservoir plausibility error.

If you actually got the code C2302 Leveling plausibility error, I would first check if all 3 or 4 height sensors are correct installed and undamaged.

Fritz

 

The most common cause for C2303 is the air compressor is knackered, and unable to recharge the reservoir in the alloted time OR there is a leak somewhere that the cpmpressor cannot overcome in the time allowed. On my 2003 XJ6, I got an air suspension fault and a new compressor was installed, and the car was OK after that. My mileage was only 35k miles. Later compressors were much improved, so the second one lasted from 2010 until I part-exed the car in 2016 when it was on 116k miles.

 

Close to the reservoir, there is the valve block. I'm not sure if I remember correctly, but the sensor was on the side of it.
I dried with compressed air.
The compressor is supposed to catch humidity on its input. It should get rid of it by reversing airflow at the end of work.
In my case I drove 7 hours in very heavy rain, which seemed to be too much for the system.

If you own a SDD, you can watch the leveling sensors, pressure values and valves.

 

removed due to inaccurate post

 

Hi flatsix.
My apologies, it was 2302. (i had mistyped 2303).
How do i check if the hight sensor is working correctly ? (got 3 hight sensors)
(relay error msg poped up as we had swapped relays to make sure they were working. and relays are fine)

 

quick UPDATE:

• After about 4 hours of work... still no luck.
• we used Bosch computer (seemed almost useless) and some other Android based one. (didnt get the name). Later one went quite deep in and picked the errors.
• right now downloading sotfware for SDD

• we have taken down the compressor. Popped the head open. Condition of the piston ring seemed to be OK, (photos below)
• but ring seemed to be a bit "too loose" when sliding inside cylinder.
• Since right now we dont have a repair kit - decided to apply two coats of Teflon tape and put ring back. Assembled all back.
• Put compressor back on Jag.
• 3 rounds of 2 minute pumping and still nothing. car is not rising.
• (those 2minute pumping interval were achieved by manually shortening the relay. If we leaving it on "automatic" ..pump still stops after 53-55seconds). So no changes there either.
• we have not yet checked the hight sensors. How do we check it ?
• we have not yet checked the valve body for "inside water" . Not sure how to open it. Just unscrew the pressure sensor ? (curiously when reassembled and tested with 12v, the compressor was giving a much better pressure BUT it was releasing out very humid air. ex. when closed with a figure, it would get really moist)

• will order repair kit or new compressor anyway. (or both.... as In Mozambique you can't get Jag spares and need to import them)
• will try to carefully drive out the car tomorrow. and park it. as need to free the drive way in the workshop

All help and ideas are much appreciated !
thanks

 

some photos







tomorrow will try to check the hight sensors.
Any and all other ideas are welcome.

 

i see that photos are not reflecting. (i must be doing something wrong)

 

I have been down this rabbit hole. Some lessons learned the hard way.

1. Pull the air compressor and disassemble completely. Capture the desiccant beads and bake in oven at 150 C for 3 hours. Let them cool to room temperature and reassemble air compressor. Order Bag Pipping Andy Kit.

2. Visually inspect all three height sensors. I had a rear come apart while swapping the strut. Luckily I saw it and just plugged rod back into the boot. Worked fine. Double check the sensor on wheel where strut was changed.

3. Mechanically check the adjusters, this requires working suspension. Jack up lower control arm on each wheel and see if system relevels the car. I jack tire off the ground with a low profile racing game jack.

4. If still slammed, order a new compressor. My original Wabco was killed by leaking struts and Houston humidity. Rusted the spring inside completely. Was full of water. And rust.

The air dryer in the compressor is easily overwhelmed if running a lot in high humidity. Needs a water trap and not beads for drying.
It got so weak you could shut off the air by blocking outlet with your thumb. It think I am four years now on a Wabco, Arnott. Some are running the knockoff models. Hear mixed results.

 

Valmoz,

Congratulations on running your beautiful car in a part of the world where it must have extra challenges. You also seem fearless to dig into the air system but try to be methodical.

1. Confirm that your air pump is able to pressurize the tank adequately. Remove the power from the valve body and then attach a pressure gage to the tank -- or substitute any small air pressure tank with a gage. Manually connect 12 v to the pump and make sure it can get up to full operating pressure efficiently. (I don't remember the pressures but it's easy to look up) Assuming the pump is good then the most likely problem is another shock is leaking. See if you can rig up fittings (there is a thread on here about making a set of leak check fittings) that will let you pressurize each shock manually up to operating height. Then let it sit, or better yet go on a very short drive with all the shocks manually pressurized and see if any of them leak down. Only if the shocks and the compressor have been confirmed good would I then start to diagnose the valve block.

Good Luck

 

Thanks for the clear explanation.
Will definitely do as suggested.

By the way, any one can suggest a supplier who sells compressors and ships internationally ?!
(i want to buy a compressor and a rebuild kit as well).

p.s. It definitely looks like I am down at the same "rabbit whole". While running some tests, we did disconnect the compressor pipe on the valve body, (white marked pipe) held finger against the pipe.... and.... the pressure was so low, on could hold it "forever". After applying the teflon tape under the piston ring, increase in pressure could be felt with the thumb. (but probably still not enough to increase to right pressure)

 

If any single shock is leaking, the system will be impossible to diagnose. The control system will do all sorts of confusing things and you won't make progress.

 

Panelhead and JCalhoun, many thanks for your inputs.
Doing my best to be methodical. will report on any results.
Actually, I think it is key to follow logical and methodical steps here, in order to get any success at all. (as revive my "cat" :-) )

 

BTW, yesterday we have tried to pressurize the shocks manually, but no luck there. Must have been doing something wrong.
Need to find a set of procedures, which will explain how to do it.

 

It's just a rubber bag filled with pressurized air at the top of the shock. It's fed through the air fitting on the shock, through a pressure valve that retains a minimum pressure inside the air bag even if the system fails. (to prevent damage to the air bag in the event of an upstream leak) If you can rig up a good air-tight connection between (any) air compressor and the fitting at the top of the shock you will be able to inflate the air bag and see if there is a leak inside that particular shock. Unless you isolate each shock unit, If any shocks are leaking, the system will act crazy and make it very hard to determine which shock is bad.

 

guys.. I am doing my "home work" in case if i need to get new compressor.
seeing that the famous bagpipingandy repair kits are not shipped internationally and website points to an empty ebay shop. (while the US Ebay states they dont ship to Mozambique )
any ideas where i can buy one ?
also, along with a repair kit I would buy an extra compressor. (feels safer...when living in a place where Jag spares are simply inexistent)
any suggestions?

 

look up XJ8 A8 W211 compressor repair kit

all over aliexpress and ebay