02 Escalade Z55 OEM Refurb Replacements And Autoride Questions

[garrinchilders]

Hey guys, former TBSS owner, and I purchased a 2002 Escalade last week with the Z55 Autoride and Auto leveling rear shocks. I noticed the compressor was running for (what I thought to be) long periods of time and quite frequently. I hooked the Tech-II up to it and commanded the compressor on to watch the air pressure in the rear shocks. As the compressor ran the pressure would hover at about 72psi, and then immediately drop to 1psi when I commanded it off. I inspected the rear shocks, and found several holes in the air bladders. The compressor sounds healthy and I don't know how long they've been blown. I don't want to run the compressor to death, and I don't mind looking at a message for the autoride (which isn't showing now) so I would like to disable the compressor so I don't burn it up. does anyone know off the top of their head which fuse it is? Nothing in the panel jumps out at me, and the manual is long gone.

I have been researching replacements all day and found that Arnott sells OEM refurbished rear shocks as replacements, has anyone tried them? do they hold up? I want to keep the factory suspension, so conversions aren't an option (even though they are cheaper), I would like to retain the factory autoride.

Is there a way to test the front shocks? I was unable to determine if they were functioning properly with the Tech-II, because I don't know what the correct testing procedure is and what values I should be looking for.

 

[NathanJax]

It's a fuse under the hood. RDC (rear damper control) or something like that. Let me try to find it

 

[OHSIXX]

I kind of had a similar issue with mine after I purchased it-my compressor was running a lot while the vehicle was on and running places. I had a leak in the shocks as well. My compressor was very loud(almost embarrassing) as well. I picked up a set of the reman'd OEM ones from Arnott along with a new compressor for $550 shipped. I installed them myself. So far so good with the shocks-been over a year now with no issues. The compressor on the other hand crapped out just over a year but Arnott gave me a good discount on a replacement since it was out of warranty. I like the auto level feature because I tow a few different things along with people during the summer months.

Haven't touched the fronts yet so I can't help out there.

 

[garrinchilders]

I appreciate the info gentlemen. I don't feel that this truck "rides like a Cadillac" anymore. How much would the rear bladders affect the ride? The way I understand it, the rear relies primarily on springs and shocks and utilizes the air for leveling only. But the truck rides like a worn out (base model) Tahoe (no offense to any Tahoe owners) with lots (LOTS) of body roll. Like I said, I don't have any error messages currently, so does that me that the auto-dampening suspension is functioning properly? Or could I have a worn out front/rear auto-dampening shock? I have checked all the sway bar bushings and end-links, and they look good with no signs of slop.

 

[z0lt3c]

As you've found, autoride provides auto-leveling and auto-dampening. What you are describing sounds like the loss of auto-dampening. If your rear shock bladders are blown, it will degrade ride quality slightly, but the shocks should still be auto dampening, unless you have a fluid leak. In my experience it's the front shocks that usually contribute most to poor ride quality, I would suspect either blown or disabled front shocks, bad height or yaw sensor or a bad SCM. First, are you sure all 4 shocks are original and have not been replaced with much cheaper traditional dampening shocks and resistors to trick the SCM (common)?

It sounds like you have a Tech II, which is incredible, but maybe not a FSM, since you are asking for diagnostic guidance. The FSM includes very detailed procedures to test w/ the Tech II to determine suspension system fault. In involves testing each height sensor and the yaw sensor to make sure the SCM is getting proper readings. You can PM me for a copy of the FSM.

I have alot of spare autoride parts for sale from rebuilding and diagnosing my 2003 Escalade. Personally I would avoid the arnott refurb product in the rear, but I would recommend the rear arnott/bilstein replacement. Up front I would only use the Monroe speciality shocks made for autoride. Honestly the best solution is new Monroe's on all 4 corners. In my case, after weeks of troubleshooting, I found it was a bad harness connection at the SCM and after repairing the harness the whole system turned back on.