Well strictly speaking, perhaps they don't over extend when inflated without load but the instructions from both Arnott and JTIS caution against the practice. I guess I just assumed ......... Oh God! I'm so ashamed.

 

Was this ever determined that it would work?

 

Brutal, your income would be secure with me, I would never drive the car on a suspension sealed by slime, too likely to give up on a dark night far from home or in a hard corner in the mountains. I'd replace the thing every time.

 

Well we are exactly 2 years on.

So Brutal, what was the outcome?

Time for an update me thinks.

 

At best it is a band aid fix. IMHO!

 

Sometimes a band-aid is just the ticket to get you home.

 

okay Ill spend alittle time answering some of the statements. First on 2 cars I have constant access to. 1 is still going strong and one blew a yr later. the one that blew the rubber bag wasnt due to the slime as many blow all the time as the rubber gets old and weak with nothing in them at all. Both of the ones I have regular access to on cars were slow leakers that dropped in a day or 2 and were not leaking from the top where the shock stem comes through. Bandaid, yes, so is a tire plug, Im assuming everyone buys a new tire when the get a nail rather than patching or plugging it right? I meen tires at $300-500 each is much cheaper than a $1200 air spring right?
Oldmots, youre right, a slimed air spring could fail on a dark and isolated road couldnt it, and so could a stock one with nothing in it. We have shocks come in all the time blown out where customers tell us the heard what sounded like a shot while driving then the car dropped down on 1 corner. By all meens everyone should do what you yourself are comfortable with, its your money and your car....just remember to buy a new tire when you get a nail in it, no plugs or patches, or tire slime either

 

I am going to try the slime or Napa equivalent.
Not even taking the shock out. just undoing the fitting and applying some within.
Drivers side front slow leaker. Only below 20 degrees F.
See what happens and report back...
Cold and snowy here in Evergreen, Co!

 

I have a friend in Evergreen that I believe manages the napa in town still. John Loughrey. We go out to Utah offroading

 

Hi Brutal, thanks for the update. Here in the UK we don't seem to suffer springblow-outs like you do in the US. SO what is the difference ? We don't get such low temperatures in winter, for one, or very high heat in summer for two. Is this sufficient or is there something else ? Are your roads a lot rougher for instance ? Ours are now pretty bad with potholes everywhere but not much high speed stuff over them as the traffic is so bad.

These springs work out at about £750 each here in the UK, but that's with our 20% tax added on. Its a lot, isn't it ?

 

Back when I had my 05 XJR with an air leak problem I tried this "slime" trick. I don't believe I posted on it because I didn't want to deal with the blow back from certain of my more orthodox friends. At any rate it did not work and I had to replace the offending air shock anyway.

I put 1 oz down through the top of the shock while it was on the car. I suspect that if it was to work that the "slime" had to get to the point of the leak and that is not assured with the shock installed on the car and in the upright position.

Maybe with the shock off and on the bench it would have worked but given what a PITA it was for me to do the work in my garage on a trick that only "might " work - I elected to go for the quick fix. Now if money for a new shock was not available and I was 10 years younger perhaps I would have gone for a full test of the "slime" fix.

 

Apropos my last post above, I think it could be the damp we get here in England almost all the time. The Romans complained about it 2000 years ago !

 

The problem of failed air springs in the US is very marked and we have seen a picture of a failure on this forum.

My theory for this is that at low temps the rubber bellows becomes less flexible and the material harder.

If you look at a drawing of the spring the material is folded right back on itself and it may be possible for the two areas to rub and cause a leak.

The other problem is people often have an air suspension warning in cold weather.In this situation the air will be denser and the compressor will actually pump very slightly more air per stroke but I believe that with a worn compressor seal the contraction of the materials will cause more blow buy past the seal hence it cannot pressurise the system in the time allowed by the electronics.

 

I know him!

Shop there, nice new place.

Too much snow to experiment with air springs right now. I want to exercise them on washboard road after slime insertion. Will have to wait.

Stay dry!

 

Small world huh! He's on my facebook daily

 

Why don't you post a step by step pictorial guide of this repair advice for some of us hard at translating text into mental pictures?

I would like to know and see how it is done.

 

why not paypal me some money and Ill be happy to stop all the other things Ive got going on to do just that. Afterall the last person that begged for my help and promised to paypal me money, I finally looked everything up, emailed all the info and wiring diag and what did I get$0.00. money talks, I ve given up on relying on people to do what they say

 

I've used fix a flat as a last ditch resort effort to squeeze the last bit of life out of my air struts when I drove Cadillacs. It did work for a few weeks. I think I got almost 2 months out of this temp fix.