where are you from? Mine was fine for 50,000kms and made it through 1 winter with no issues in Edmonton, Alberta. Second winter it **** the bed and even once it warmed up, rode like ****, ride quality went to hell and was never the same.
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Air Suspension Madness
- Thread starter nukeman
- Start date
where are you from? Mine was fine for 50,000kms and made it through 1 winter with no issues in Edmonton, Alberta. Second winter it **** the bed and even once it warmed up, rode like ****, ride quality went to hell and was never the same.
Trooper4
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Just a little warmer here in central Washington state. Usually stays above single digit.
Are you speaking of your current truck or a previous model year?
My 2016
That is useful information. So you really don’t know how good or bad the 2019 air system is?
its the same system, check out the part numbers.
It’s not the same system...per FCA literature, it’s been revised to use a single, higher-capacity compressor (i.e. simpler, faster, and supposedly more reliable). Time will tell.
I will pass on the offer to check out the numbers. Thanks, though.
Arctic Flyers Fan
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My co-worker up here in Yellowknife has a 2013 with air suspension. It's been in the shop a 1000 times with issues. There was always something going on with it in the winter. One thing we noticed though was, in winter if it was put in a warm shop for a few hours the next day there would be an issue so he started timing his oil changes to be in fall or spring rather than winter. Last winter they replaced the compressor and it's been fine since even in the -40 we had over the last 2 weeks.
Greg Coleman
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my truck is a 2014 longhorn. It takes a while for the system to build up moisture. The dryers they put in these trucks are crap so when it builds up moisture especially in the winter it accumulates and runs through the valve block and forms ice on the little plunger valves and doesn't seat properly and destroys them. It can also ruin the pump valves so that's why they work fine for a while when replaced till they ruin the valving system again. So we need to be able to drain our tanks on occasion and put a better dryer on the output side of the air from the pump. If done right there should be no problem. Its a bit of work but I like my air ride so much that im going to do this in the spring time. Live in Toronto Ontario.
Greg Coleman
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you know if crysler had any brains they would look at how trucks like 18 wheelers do their system. That's how I figured out our air ride system. they use dryers and drains in their tank to prevent this problem. They should do this to all air ride systems in the south and the north. All systems need to be drained sooner or later. Yes the trucks in the south will not freeze but they will build up water in the tanks at a much slower rate. There should be an electric drain that comes on each time the truck is started just to drain the tanks. and a much better dryer shoud be installed on the output side of the pump. Make sense??
I don't have air ride, if I did, I would consider setting up an Arduino to handle the drain issue.
when truck is on - accessory rail is on, have servo close drain valve.
when truck is off - accessory rail voltage goes low, open the drain valve.
manual pushbutton in cab for drain valve open/close.
power the arduino off an accessory rail charged battery so it cannot drain the main battery if something goes awry. NIMH or another deep discharge tolerant chemistry.
This way the tanks never get the opportunity to build up. Plus it would have a gnarly vent cycle sound when the truck shut down.
I am not one to be messing with fitting a drain valve to a pressure vessel. but I have done plenty of arduino fiddling.
when truck is on - accessory rail is on, have servo close drain valve.
when truck is off - accessory rail voltage goes low, open the drain valve.
manual pushbutton in cab for drain valve open/close.
power the arduino off an accessory rail charged battery so it cannot drain the main battery if something goes awry. NIMH or another deep discharge tolerant chemistry.
This way the tanks never get the opportunity to build up. Plus it would have a gnarly vent cycle sound when the truck shut down.
I am not one to be messing with fitting a drain valve to a pressure vessel. but I have done plenty of arduino fiddling.
Trooper4
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I thought that the air ride system used an inert gas, which shouldn't have any moisture if done right.
CaptainCJ35
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My understanding is, the 4th Gen trucks had seals and valves were prone to leaking after being subjected to severe cold. Those small leaks would introduce air and moisture into the system over time. The moisture would then condense, freeze, and cause big problems. Lots of people in Canada were affected.
I haven't heard of a problem yet on the 5th Gens... but it could be to early to be sure. That said, some of the stories I read said that trucks on dealer lots in Canada were affected too... which means it happened pretty quick. So IDK.
My truck has 10K on it, and the Air Suspension has been great... knocking loudly on wood. The piece of mind lowering the truck to E/E mode for low parking garages in Boston has been worth the price alone. That said, if it does fail, particularly after the warranty expires, I'd explore options for replacing it with a steel spring set up. I bought the truck knowing it could happen.
Having said all that... air suspension is much more of a "thing" now. Many more manufactures are using it, including the new Tahoe and Yukon, so the whole issue with 4 Gen's and Jeeps could be what early adopters of any new "tech" experience and newer designs will be much more reliable. Lets hope.
MF2020
Active Member
Please let us know how this eventually works out for you. So far I have no problems with the air suspension but only a few thousand miles on this vehicle to date. These kinds of problems are absolutely frustrating so I hope this gets resolved to your satisfaction very soon.
