Does your Autoride truck maintain its height?

[Houstonshark]

Basically, I'm trying to figure out what's an acceptable amount of leakage for the rear air system.

Since lowering my Escalade and putting new Arnott shocks on the back, I've found that the rear was not holding air. This was especially noticeable with any sort of load in the back or even my kids in the middle seats. The truck would bounce in the back, even though the compressor was definitely kicking in and airing it up. The air was just leaking out.

This truck has never held air well in the back. After 2-3 hours with my boat connected to it (when the suspension was stock), the back would sag pretty bad. My friend's 07 doesn't do this with his boat connected.

I ordered and installed a new dryer for the compressor. It seems to have helped, though it did still leak down over night with a couple 85lb batteries in the back.

How much does yours leak down? Should I replace the air lines?

Does anyone know what the system does if you have a load in the back, it airs up to the correct height and then you remove the load (where the vehicle would be sitting higher than the links are set for). Does it leak air to the point where it is sitting at the correct height?

 

[NathanJax]

There are sensors on each of the control arm. You can see it here on my 04 Escalade. There's a bolt holding it to the arm and then a rod attching it to the sensor up above. Even on the NNBS it's absically the same. So that's how it knows it height. If the sensors see the height is different then what it is set for at normal height, it will turn on the compressor to put more air in the bags.




AS far as why it's not holding air, it's definitely going somewhere. Have you considered changing the shocks? That's the most common place for a leak to start. It should NEVER leak down since it's a sealed system.

 

[Houstonshark]

Nathan, the truck is lowered and the links have been modified to get the correct ride height in the rear. Like I said above, the shocks are new.

 

[NathanJax]

Nathan, the truck is lowered and the links have been modified to get the correct ride height in the rear. Like I said above, the shocks are new.

completely skipped the shocks part and only saw "new dryer for the compressor". Sorry.


Well then, I'm no help here. Hopefully someone will chime in...

 

[Houstonshark]

A guy I talked to at Arnott said that the dryer is where the air is regulated or released which is why I replaced it. It had a connector on it but I'm not sure what it does. I'm guessing that maybe it it's a wastegate of sorts to regulate the amount of pressure in the system based on the position of the sensors connected to the air ride links.

It has to leak down either actively or passively, especially when you go from loaded down or towing to empty.

I guess my question is how much should it leak?

The compressor turns on every time I start the truck but it usually only runs enough to lift the truck first thing in the morning or when it's been sitting for 6-8hrs.