Air ride losing air

SEESLE

MEMBER
1990 LINCOLN CONTINENTAL
3.8L
V6
2WD
AUTOMATIC
90,000 MILES

Had the car for years and have been manually filling the original air ride. Sat for a while now and the airbag will not take any air. Compressor runs, I can unhook the line at the solenoidvalve in the wheel well and hear as well as feel a lot of air pressure. But as soon as it’s hooked into the plastic valve piece in the side of the bag it will not inflate that bag at all. No leaks anywhere. Is a solenoid or valve something electrical somehow keeping this thing from inflating? Any info seriously any would be helpful. I do not care for doing the spring strut conversion.

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Sounds like the spring is the issue. I know you said there are no leaks but if the bag will not fill with air applied directly to it than it has to be escaping somewhere.

There is a solenoid at the inlet that could be stuck shut but it is a one-way solenoid so you should be able to put air in, but it doesn't let it out.

At this point, I would remove the solenoid as shown below on a new air bag and then apply air to it and see if it will inflate. Clearly it will not lift the vehicle but at least at that point you know the solenoid is most likely blocking the air from entering the bag.

Take a look at the inf attached and we can go from there.

Thanks

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