Hello all,

I have an 04 xj8 and ran into the classical air suspension fault a few months ago, i knew i needed to replace the strut soon or stop driving before the compressor went out.

My two fronts were already replaced with arnott before i purchased, my rear left started to slowly leak so i got my hands on an arnott rear strut.

I replaced the rear left on my own to save major labor cost, started her up and everything inflated properly to the correct height, i then parked the car and didnt drive it until today...

After about 15 mim of driving i parked the car in my driveway and sat in the car for a while looking over emails. I then realized the compressor came on and was inflating the two rears like a dragster and leaving the front at normal height!.

None of my struts have leaks now, what can be mt problem why it is inflating the rear so high, almost double what normal height is.?

Was i supposed to replace both struts at the same time? Is there a trick i dont know about? Please im open to any assistance!

 

 

Your suspension needs to be recalibrated via dealer diagnostic software.

 

If i turn car off an back on it will lower back down to normal height. Still need to be recalibrated even though it does that?

Also strut instructions say to replace in pairs. Im going to replace the right rear tomorrow.

 

Yes, absolutely on recalibration. Additionally, did you jack the car on that side only to access the strut or the entire rear?

Reason for recalibration is due to the height sensor being disturbed. There is a procedure to reset the height sensor(s) and is required when any of the height sensors are disturbed.

If the other rear strut is ok I would leave it alone. "If it's not broken don't fix it"...

 

Yes i only jacked the side up that needed to be replaced, should i have jacked it up a different way?

Only reason i ask about recalibration is because i have seen one done in a friends car and he did not need to recalibrate, his ride heigh was fine after replacement.

Also i made sure when removing the strut that on the way out no wited harnesses came in contact or got caught pn any part of the strut.

How easily is this height sensor bothered?

I will have 3 arnott replacements and one stock if i dont do the other side. No issue with that? Im getting a deal and a half on a new one so figured to replace them and have it matching to see if anything is that sensative to a different strut?

Just frustrated at this point.

 

Sometimes when the car is jacked up the ASM will revert to "jacking mode" - I think you have to reset the ASM with dealer diagnostics as well (but driving might reset it but not 100% sure)

Did you unclip the ride height sensor? If so recalibration is required.

 

No, i never unclipped anything in the wheel well, i know how sensative these cars are so never wanted to do anything of the sort.

I do have an update.

What will happen now which is 50/50 when i start the car it will either..
A. Not inflate at all (which is fine by me, because it stays at normal ride height) and the air suspension fault light will come on or..

B. Will inflate to maximum height (like my original posted picture) and zettle back down to normal ride height after just a few seconds.

I still get the air suspension fault like either way even when the strut is performing as it should with no air loss.

I dont think its the compressor because it has no problem raising the two rear steuts all the way up.

Im going to replace the rear right just for the heck of it, i will have a warranty on every corner so its a pce of mind type thing i suppose.

If all it does is inflate up now and go back down after a few seconds. I can live with that until i can get them calibrated how it is supposed to.

 

☝️️😎 When I replaced the rear air shocks in mine ( 04 Jaguar XJ8 like yours) I jacked up both rear air shocks and replaced both with Arnotts, I disconected the battery first so the ASM does not know what to tell the car suspension what to do so the last stage for the suspension storaged in the module was normal high because that was when the battery was disconnected and then I jacked up the rear and when I finished the installation I put the wheels back, lowered the rear and connected the battery back. The compressor did its job as well as the air suspension module adjusting the high to normal. I hope this help.

 

Sounds like what i should have done, well now that the suspension is noticing that its been replaced an adjusting, would it be safe to disconnect the battery once i see its dropped back down to normal height instead of in the air so it doesnt do anything crazy when im done.

Or, do you think its too late because it already recognised it and will carry this on?

Also what if i hard reset the car while at normal height, shouldnt it pick up on normal height since all values will have been deleted as far as the sensors and ecm etc.

 

Before you go to the dealer, try disconnecting the battery, touching the leads together, letting the air out of all of the shocks and see if the car will sort itself out.

Can't hurt, right?

 

I've done this probably 3 times with in the last day, including this morning, also left both wires undone for hours and touched them together, somehow it still remembers my radio presets.

UPDATE - i did replace both rears today with both arnott. It, It rides at normal height now BUT i still have a suspension fault light and now have a parking brake fault as well, even tho my parking brake works fine and doesnr get stuck what so ever.

So at the end of today i have my ride height back to normal but stuck with 2 fault lights for no damn reason lol even tho everything is working normal i still think i need to gook up the system to jaguar software and reset something...

 

Is your battery still in good shape? (the parking brake fault may come from that)
Sometimes warning lights disappear after a number of driving cycles.
Codes clearing may however be required

 

The battery is 2 months old, and my alternator is good, got that checked when replaced the battery.

The park brake fault didnt come on until i replaced the rear left, i dont know if it triggered anything when i was swapping them out, i made my best effort not to touch anything else.

Im clueless, isnt there a hand held of the sort you can buy online that will work for this, one that also works for land rover etc?

 

Your options are:

Dealer

Find an indy shop that has WDS/IDS or SDD software/scanner.

Find a local forum member that has the above.

Purchase your own scanner & software (not recommended as the cheapest options are cloned scanners) and you need a laptop, lots of variables... Best to think of one options above..

 

Def not something i want to do by myself, much rather throw conpensation toward an experienced member with this.

That being said is there a section for FLORIDA?

 

UPDATE, no more suspension fault after about 5 drives at about 5-10 miles each.

I still do have the parkbrake fault, im really scratching my head on that one because most people with that message cant get there park brake to work or release, while mine is fully functional.

 

Have the battery load tested. I know it's new but it may be discharged a bit... Glad you fixed your suspension woes...

 

I guess the sensors just needed to get used to driving again for a while, i am also super happy this worked out, those struts are not cheap! Lol

As far as the battery i will get it tested, but very doubtful that is my issue, (the park brake fault came on exactly after i replaced my first strut).

I did see something about unplugging the EPB module, starting the car, re-connect the module from the bottom harness plug and calibrate the EPB as you would normally ( hold foot on brake pedal and pull on lever).

I will see how this works out tomorrow.

I also checked.my brake pads which are only 6-7 months old habe good life in them.

 

I believe this will be the last update.

I have figured everything out. My parkbrake fault light vanished after i reset the module in the rear trunk.

Unplugged it with car un waited 1 min, plugged back in and recalibrate and there it was, no more light!

With the air suspension fault after the strut replacement, just have to drive around a few times and the light will disappear as it gets used to things again.