Air suspension problems - Cold Weather Failure/Solutions

[jkapsner]

Has anyone had a 5th gen air suspension issue yet?

Yes, I have a 2020 2500 with air suspension and just took it Idaho for a ski trip. 2nd day here I get teh "service air suspension immediately" message. The closest dealer said to put it in a warm garage overnight and it will probably fix it. Awesome solution. I can't believe a truck that costs over $70k has this basic an issue that is still unresolved many years later.

 

[Neurobit]

Yes, I have a 2020 2500 with air suspension and just took it Idaho for a ski trip. 2nd day here I get teh "service air suspension immediately" message. The closest dealer said to put it in a warm garage overnight and it will probably fix it. Awesome solution. I can't believe a truck that costs over $70k has this basic an issue that is still unresolved many years later.

You don’t have a 5th gen... Just sayin’.

Cheers,

 

[CobraKai]

I made it to 2.5 years/48,000 miles and this morning I got the wonderful "Service Air Suspension Immediately" message. My truck also lives outside, and was on the lake at -42 this last weekend. It was fine somehow until this morning and it seems like it started leaking. I put it in my heated garage for a few hours and was then able to successfully raise and lower the truck, but once it reached each position, there was a sound similar to semi air brakes, so I'm guessing there must be a leak at the compressor. Dealer can't get it in until Tuesday to take a look at. I was so hopeful that the 5th gens were where they finally sorted out the reliability issues. Time to cash in on the Mopar plan I guess...

Let us know what they end up finding in case this happens in the future, thanks!

 

[Pissed off Ram Man]

I have a 17 Ram Limited, loved the truck, now 6 months off warranty, and 6 thousand km over warranty also,66000km. No problem till last weekend, drivers side down, and passenger side up OR2. heavy left lean. Took it into the dealership, they said it was frozen, and down to 90 psi in the system, They left it in the shop for about 3-4 hours, said they evacuated the system and refilled it to 185 psi. Tech said it would likely freeze again . It had to sit out for a few hours the next day, and twenty km later the SERVICE AIR SUSSPENSION IMMEDIATLY came up. Took it into the dealership again. They said it was frozen again, and said they could fix it, by replacing the entire system for $9225.00, or remove the air ride system, and replace it with the spring suspension, for $3200. Now I have a useless truck with 2.5 years of payments left. My family has been mostly driving Chrysler vehicles since 1951. Walter P Chrysler must be spinning in his grave. Chrysler corp was built on engineering, now to produce a defective product, and not stand behind it is totally unacceptable. I will never buy another FCA unit, and will do everything in my power to deter anyone else from buying from a company that won't stand behind its product. If anyone has a cheap remedy for the problem, |I would love to hear it. The shuttle driver said he had heard of people putting GAS LINE ANTIFREEZE, into the system, any feedback would be welcomed. Pissed off Ram Man.

 

[Neurobit]

I have a 17 Ram Limited, loved the truck, now 6 months off warranty, and 6 thousand km over warranty also,66000km. No problem till last weekend, drivers side down, and passenger side up OR2. heavy left lean. Took it into the dealership, they said it was frozen, and down to 90 psi in the system, They left it in the shop for about 3-4 hours, said they evacuated the system and refilled it to 185 psi. Tech said it would likely freeze again . It had to sit out for a few hours the next day, and twenty km later the SERVICE AIR SUSSPENSION IMMEDIATLY came up. Took it into the dealership again. They said it was frozen again, and said they could fix it, by replacing the entire system for $9225.00, or remove the air ride system, and replace it with the spring suspension, for $3200. Now I have a useless truck with 2.5 years of payments left. My family has been mostly driving Chrysler vehicles since 1951. Walter P Chrysler must be spinning in his grave. Chrysler corp was built on engineering, now to produce a defective product, and not stand behind it is totally unacceptable. I will never buy another FCA unit, and will do everything in my power to deter anyone else from buying from a company that won't stand behind its product. If anyone has a cheap remedy for the problem, |I would love to hear it. The shuttle driver said he had heard of people putting GAS LINE ANTIFREEZE, into the system, any feedback would be welcomed. Pissed off Ram Man.

Your 2017 is a 4th gen truck with a different system. You’re posting in the wrong forum.

 

[Neurobit]

Who gives a **** if he's posting in the wrong forum? This proves my point that so many of u gave me **** about last month. Stick with a Big Horn. Less **** to go wrong. Like my uncle always said, the more gizmos & gadgets u got, the more things u got to fix !! I would NEVER buy a Limited. Sunroof, powered steps , air ride, 12 inch screen, & diesel are all GARBAGE!!

Well... We don’t give a ***** what your uncle said.
If you’re happy with your truck, that’s fine. 4th gens and 5th gens are totally different trucks with different systems. Go get a tradesman if that makes you happy.

 

[revolutionz]

Let us know what they end up finding in case this happens in the future, thanks!

Here's what I found out. I had ran the truck through the carwash the day before this happened. While I was waiting for my appointment, I cleared out some space in my heated garage and parked the truck in there while I was at home (normally park outside). After a couple days of sitting in the heat for a few hours at a time, I couldn't reproduce the error. I brought it in this morning, and the tech said that everything looks good and that all the codes were stored and none were current. As a preventative measure, I'm having them purge the system, run anti-freeze through it, and refill it at the tech's recommendation.

So in the end, the system was just fine it just didn't like all the water freezing on the valves from going through the car wash when it was 0 degrees.

Here's to hoping the system stays solid!

 

[CobraKai]

Okay good to hear nothing crazy going on. If anything changes let us know, so far I have not had that issue. I run my truck through a touchless wash once a week and we have been well below freezing last month or two. So far so good... I have the protection package on mine that has I think 3 skid plates underneath, I wonder if that is helping to keep water away from the components at all?

 

[Finn5033]

My first Ram was a 2010 sport, my second one was a 2014 Outdoorsman that I ordered. I so badly wanted to get the Ecodiesel and the air suspension but luckily for me at the time I couldn’t afford them. That was the first year for both options and if I recall correctly the diesel was a 4K dollar option and the suspension was 1.5k dollar option. I’ve kept an eye on the ecodiesel and the air suspension ever since and thanks to the forums I got to read up on all the issues with them both. I decided to take the chance on the new generation ecodiesel but still decided to shy away from the air suspension because of where I live. I really hope some day they get it figured out cause I’d love to have it.

 

[revolutionz]

My first Ram was a 2010 sport, my second one was a 2014 Outdoorsman that I ordered. I so badly wanted to get the Ecodiesel and the air suspension but luckily for me at the time I couldn’t afford them. That was the first year for both options and if I recall correctly the diesel was a 4K dollar option and the suspension was 1.5k dollar option. I’ve kept an eye on the ecodiesel and the air suspension ever since and thanks to the forums I got to read up on all the issues with them both. I decided to take the chance on the new generation ecodiesel but still decided to shy away from the air suspension because of where I live. I really hope some day they get it figured out cause I’d love to have it.

With this being the first issue I've had at 48,000mi, which really ended up being a non-issue, at this point I wouldn't hesitate to get another truck with air suspension. I tow often and really like the auto-level.

 

[JJRamTX]

I made it to 2.5 years/48,000 miles and this morning I got the wonderful "Service Air Suspension Immediately" message. My truck also lives outside, and was on the lake at -42 this last weekend. It was fine somehow until this morning and it seems like it started leaking. I put it in my heated garage for a few hours and was then able to successfully raise and lower the truck, but once it reached each position, there was a sound similar to semi air brakes, so I'm guessing there must be a leak at the compressor. Dealer can't get it in until Tuesday to take a look at. I was so hopeful that the 5th gens were where they finally sorted out the reliability issues. Time to cash in on the Mopar plan I guess...

Mine does the air brakes relief valve sound which to my knowledge was how it removes condensation from the system which is a fix from the old 4th Gen from what I remember reading.
Haven't had any issues with it not raising or lowering so far in this cold environment. Every night it is down to the single digits or low teens for weeks/months and the coldest has been down to -22 F so far, 2+ years ownership, and 46,700+ Miles. Wish my Garage Fridge's did as well as my truck.... had multiple can explosions and even ice filled beer. (No beer exploded though, thank goodness!)

 

[Hrspwr88]

Mine does the air brakes relief valve sound which to my knowledge was how it removes condensation from the system which is a fix from the old 4th Gen from what I remember reading.
Haven't had any issues with it not raising or lowering so far in this cold environment. Every night it is down to the single digits or low teens for weeks/months and the coldest has been down to -22 F so far, 2+ years ownership, and 46,700+ Miles. Wish my Garage Fridge's did as well as my truck.... had multiple can explosions and even ice filled beer. (No beer exploded though, thank goodness!)

Is that what the air brake sound is? Lol scared the crap out of me the first time I heard it and then never heard it again.

 

[millerbjm]

I haven't heard of any consistent issue with the 5th gen trucks - always seems to be the 4th gens so it does seem like they have fixed the cold problems. I just had a guy parked outside my house this week and he showed me the air suspension on his truck - a 2019 Laramie and said it has been flawless including this past week when we didn't get above 0F for almost a week. I am thinking more about it after seeing it in action and hearing he had no issues.

 

[ChadT]

With this being the first issue I've had at 48,000mi, which really ended up being a non-issue, at this point I wouldn't hesitate to get another truck with air suspension. I tow often and really like the auto-level.

The air suspension on my Gen1 Rebel (Gen4 Ram1500) would level 1,200lbs no problem at all!
Truck drove like it pretty much wasn't there.
You had a suspicion you were hauling something, but you couldn't be sure what or how much.

 

[Yotaman]

Made it through the northern MN winter with no problems at all. I have the mopar lifetime warranty so no worries here.

Until they cancel that on you for not having some inspection they never tell you about... after all they did that to a lot of people...

 

[CobraKai]

My wife always comments on how "nice this rides" compared to my 4th gen ram without the air ride. that alone is worth the risk. Happy wife, happy life.

 

[Neurobit]

My wife always comments on how "nice this rides" compared to my 4th gen ram without the air ride. that alone is worth the risk. Happy wife, happy life.

Wise, wise man...

 

[BigD]

Until they cancel that on you for not having some inspection they never tell you about... after all they did that to a lot of people...

Please expand on this more. I'm constantly hearing people on this forum say how great these Mopar extended warranties are. Seems like you've had a different experience. I would appreciate hearing more about it.

 

[Yotaman]

I was getting my info from this video

 

[saylor]

when you buy a intendo from the best buy store, they offer a warranty - and you dont get it.

when you buy a dell from mike dell - they offer the warranty and you dont get it.

when you got your cell phone - they offered a warranty - and you didnt get it.


what has happened to us to where we not only can justify the expense of an extended warranty on a NEW ram, but we then even actually purchase it?

and we just accept crap quality? thats just how it is?


WHY IS THIS ACCEPTABLE

DO NOT LET THIS BE THE NORM

how the mighty have fallen