My 2006 base front suspension seems to be leaking pretty badly. When I first drive the car, for about 10 miles, I get a slight vibration, but then, I guess, the air suspension fills and the vibration stops. When I stop the car, after a count of three, there's a loud "whoosh" like air being let out of a bag. The odd thing is that the front doesn't drop. A couple years ago, I had a similar problem with the back, but after the air was let out, the poor girl's back end would sag. There's few things worse than seeing an elegant old girl with a sagging behind. I'm curious about why the front isn't sagging at all (maybe because I have a new pump?).

At any rate, when shopping for the rear suspension, it was difficult to find anything that was less than $600 each. Today I looked and there's a wide selection of "compatible" ones for $210-250. I've read that some aren't compatible with the CATS systems and don't react. I'd prefer to get one that's fully compatible and fits with the ECATS. I saw a couple that were remanufactured ($229) and some new ones that looked compatible from ECCPP for $210, there's another, no name, that's for sale for $201. Are they all fully compatible? Anyone have any thoughts?

 

Hi FRGIII2014,

I have moved your post to start your own thread on your specific topics. I confess I am confused by your post. You state that the front suspension seems to be leaking pretty badly, but that it isn't sagging at all. If the suspension is not lowering, is it just the whoosh of air that is prompting you to suspect a leak?

The whoosh you are hearing is the exhaust vent solenoid valve opening to backflow dried air through the air dryer to partially reactivate the desiccant beads. This is part of the system design and simply means the exhaust valve is working properly.

Can you give us some more information on how the suspension is behaving?

Cheers,

Don

 

Sent a set to R M T, requesting the same set rebuilt, not traded in, for another set of rebuilt shocks.
This way you get to keep the cats part of the suspension, total cost was $505, including all shipping charges
So far things are well, the price was right when compared to the other options.

 

Thanks. The thing that makes me suspect that it's a air suspension leak is that when I drive, I get a slight grinding sound. 3 months ago, the grinding sound stopped after a driving a few hundred feet. Now, it last for 4 or 5 miles and will start again when there's a forward lean, for example, after "more than gentle" braking. It's feels like, once the air is fully in the suspension, no more grinding. When it first started happening, I took it to a Land Rover independent garage. He held it for a couple days, tried it a few times and couldn't figure out what it was. It's not sagging way down like my rear suspension did a couple years ago, but it might be deflating a little.

 

It's easy enough to measure the ride height. This is measured from the center of the wheel center caps to the underside of the highest point of the wheel arch in the fender/wing. You could measure the ride height at each corner about 2 minutes after starting the engine (to allow the air compressor to run), then again after driving 5 miles or when the grinding stops. You can find the factory specifications for ride height in this post:

Air Suspension & ECATS System Summary: Components & Operation

You might also try this routine before you put the car in gear: start the engine and allow it to run for 2 minutes and listen for the air compressor to run and shut off. Turn the engine off and wait 45 seconds to allow the compressor to cool. Repeat this cycle, then drive the car and see if there is no grinding (which I am assuming is a tire rubbing on a wheel arch liner or such due to the suspension sitting too low).

If running the compressor twice (or three times) before driving eliminates the grinding, you may be able to resolve the issue by rebuilding your air compressor with our member bagpipingandy's replacement piston ring/seal kit.

Cheers,

Don

 

Thank you Sir, I'll give it a try!