Hmm,Imagine that. A 20 year old Lincoln with an air suspension problem.
I just picked up this car knowing it had a concern with the right front dropping at times. It is an 84K well maintained "Grandpas" car.
Here's the story. When I picked up the vehicle, it had been sitting for a week and was at trim height. After about 2 miles the right front corner exhausted completely, no "Check Air Suspension" light.The compressor was not running. I stopped, power cycled the switch in the trunk and the compressor brought the vehicle back to trim and turned off. No problem the rest of the way home. When I got home, the first thing I did was turn off the system and put the car on 4 jackstands to inspect the air springs.The rears are fairly new, verifying what I was told by the previous owner. The front have been replaced sometime in the past. All 4 look good, no cracks or rust in the folds or leaks. I checked them with a soap solution, along with the seals around the air solenoids. I put it back on the ground and ran the self test, no faults were indicated. All 4 corners inflated and exhausted normally, etc.
Did a "Down and dirty system test".I had 2 180lb friends sit on the front of the car, the system brought itself back to trim. When they got off, it exhausted back to trim. I let it sit for 2 hours with no chenge in height. When I drove it around a 3 mile block the right front dropped again. I got home, scratched my head for a few minutes picking my brain and consulting an electrical schematic, which I also found online. When I turned the ignition on, the compressor engaged and brought the vehicle to trim height and turned off. That was 2 hours ago and she's sitting pretty as you please right now. I guess the cure is to just not drive it. Kinda big for a coffee table and too sloped for a work bench though.:)
I know that if there is a leak the compressor will run to compensate until it times out, then cycling the switch in the trunk will initialize the compressor again. This is not what is happening with this one. The previous owner said that when it happened to him, he would cycle the ignition switch to RUN and back, then after a while it would be "OK" usually for the rest of the day.
Personally I suspect a flaky height sensor but I have no way to be certain.
Can anyone offer any suggestions? Am I missing something?
Thanks, Tom