Factory air ride on 02 yukon being BAD!!

[Marv D]

Will try to NOT make this long. Wifes 02 Yukon has every piece of gingerbread they offered in 02 I think, including the air leveling / electronic shocks.
The pump works great. In fact so great that it blew the bags out of the shocks. I replaced the shocks (a nice $740 expense for the two rear shocks) and now I have to take the relay out of the system or it jacks the rear up like a stink bug. Not all at once,,, just a little 4-5 second run of the pump after you start the motor. Thing is it never RELEASES air. After a week or so it's a stink bug and the only way to get it down is to take the lines off the shocks. A week or so later it has slowly pumped it back to a stinkbug.

I've had it into the shop to the tune of about $600 in diagnosis and trouble shooting (after I installed the new $740 shocks and found 'why' it bley them up) and the 'experts' can't seem to find 'why' it won't open the 'dump' solenoid. If you activate the relay manually by grounding it, it will dump, so the solenoid works as does the valve. And it does sense a sagging suspension when a trailer is on the hitch. It pumps to level and stops. But take the trailer off and it never dumps air to let it back down.

Suposedily they have checked the sensor that reads the suspension. I can beleive it is ~OK or it wouldn't stop pumping after just a few seconds when unloaded,,, and it wouldnt pump only until level when it IS loaded, right?

The pump obviously works to make enough PSI to explode the bags in the shocks.

The tech said he checked all the connections in the chassis control module (inside the rear AC housing area) and has decided it has to be a computer fault. He wants $690 for the chassis control module, PLUS I will have to take it to a Dealer to get it flash programed for the 02???

This is getting STUPID!!!!

I have the relay out to keep it from destroying the new shocks, and / or burning up the pump.

Anyone have any experience with these things that can tell me what voltages i should be seeing at the ride height from the sensor to see if 'one side' is dead or something,, or ANY ideas where to start looking??

In a blink of an eye and throwing parts at it I could have a $2000 repair here!

Thanks for any thoughts or help

[kylep]

im talking out my ass here, but what happens if you just put the stock shocks in it? And forget that air ride nonsense. Could you do a conversion cheaper and save some money?

[bwood]

I have seen the Lincolns do this. When I worked at the Wal-Mart tire shop, we had to make sure we hit the air system disable switch before we jacked up a Lincoln, Grand Marquis, Crown Vic or they would be in stink bug mode when we were done (if it didn't blow out the shocks). A friend of mine had his Navigator worked on at a local garage and they used a floor jack to lift one side. When they were done that side stayed up in the air. I think they ended up disabling the air ride (like they should have done) and pulling the air line from each shock and setting it on the ground. Hooked the shocks back up the plugged the air ride back in. I'm going from memory, but I believe that fixed his problem. The point of this rant was to say that that air ride system wouldn't dump either.

[Marv D]

Kyle we do use it now and again to tow a trailer and a couple of Polaris RZRs. The stock suspension is so soft that it really saggs even with 500 pound tounge weight,, and the full load of grandkids inside.

b I've not found a manual over-ride / disable other than removing the main relay underhood next to the big fuse center. The only selectable thing in this animal is the traction control and the trans tow/haul. That would solve my problem if I could just shut it off when not needed. But every time the relay is in, the only way I've been able to dump is by pulling the lines off each shock.

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by Marv D

Will try to NOT make this long. Wifes 02 Yukon has every piece of gingerbread they offered in 02 I think, including the air leveling / electronic shocks.
The pump works great. In fact so great that it blew the bags out of the shocks. I replaced the shocks (a nice $740 expense for the two rear shocks) and now I have to take the relay out of the system or it jacks the rear up like a stink bug. Not all at once,,, just a little 4-5 second run of the pump after you start the motor. Thing is it never RELEASES air. After a week or so it's a stink bug and the only way to get it down is to take the lines off the shocks. A week or so later it has slowly pumped it back to a stinkbug.

I've had it into the shop to the tune of about $600 in diagnosis and trouble shooting (after I installed the new $740 shocks and found 'why' it bley them up) and the 'experts' can't seem to find 'why' it won't open the 'dump' solenoid. If you activate the relay manually by grounding it, it will dump, so the solenoid works as does the valve. And it does sense a sagging suspension when a trailer is on the hitch. It pumps to level and stops. But take the trailer off and it never dumps air to let it back down.

Suposedily they have checked the sensor that reads the suspension. I can beleive it is ~OK or it wouldn't stop pumping after just a few seconds when unloaded,,, and it wouldnt pump only until level when it IS loaded, right?

The pump obviously works to make enough PSI to explode the bags in the shocks.

The tech said he checked all the connections in the chassis control module (inside the rear AC housing area) and has decided it has to be a computer fault. He wants $690 for the chassis control module, PLUS I will have to take it to a Dealer to get it flash programed for the 02???

This is getting STUPID!!!!

I have the relay out to keep it from destroying the new shocks, and / or burning up the pump.

Anyone have any experience with these things that can tell me what voltages i should be seeing at the ride height from the sensor to see if 'one side' is dead or something,, or ANY ideas where to start looking??

In a blink of an eye and throwing parts at it I could have a $2000 repair here!

Thanks for any thoughts or help

The Vent Solenoid is most likely bad. The vent solenoid is part of the compressor.

The pressure sensor could be faulty also...

SCM= Electronic Suspension Control Module, It is located next to the rear evaporator case..Pic..

Remove the negitive battery cable, Unplug all the SCM connectors, Install negitive battery cable, With the key on, Ground pin B5, Dark Blue wire of the SCM to activate the vent solenoid....The vent solenoid should Dump/Exhaust the air pressure....

Do this test & get back to me.

[Marv D]

Man, Mr Clinebarger you are always a lifesaver. Will get on it tomorrow and post results