Air Suspension

[Ramit392]

Not to be smart or obstinate but the 1% or less who have the AS issue and the max care plans still are riding on the bump stops or stuck in one mode effecting the ride and waiting for resolve sucks! I was one of the 1% too and it sucks! But being a positive person it was resolved very well by FCA and still driving a new Ram and happy,but the days are still fresh in my head and the feel for others who have to deal with it.

 

[Phiefer]

3 days ago.... Dash displays 'Service Air Suspension Immediately' for about 10 seconds and go out. Comes back approximately every 15 minutes of driving, then goes out again. After second day (Fri 3/15) I take to the dealer and asked them to check into it. Ride was getting very bouncy. Already waiting for the recall fixes for the Power Steering and Power Pedals, but parts are on backorder, so I asked my dealer to check out the air suspension as soon as I could get an appointment. Had to settle for Mon 3/25 as soonest. I took that date.
A few hours later, I got to thinking how unsafe the truck might be to drive. Back-end seemed to be up almost to the max, and front end down to almost the max. I doubt the headlights are even correct for night driving..... So I took truck back to dealer. Luckily I work across the street from the dealer, so I took it over there on my morning break (3/15) and asked if a tech could at least take a quick look and see if parts needed to be ordered or if it was a simple fix.
First service writer would not get me in, but 2nd service writer heard the conversation as well as the sales person who sold me the truck. They agreed to take the truck in and look at it that same day (3/15). Salesman said if I needed to leave the truck, they would get me another vehicle at no charge. Dealer gave me a ride back to work and said they would call after checking it out.
Dealership called back that same after noon and said they were getting FCA involved and they would be sending someone down but no date or time was determined. I asked if it was safe to drive, and was not told I should not drive it, so I took the truck home. (3 miles in town drive) Both to work and dealership. Attached is a photo of the truck as it sits now with the air suspension problem. When I try to adjust the AS, display says 'Air Suspension Disabled'. The pump motor seems to run and then timeout, with a different sound (as if the motor is under more load).
I plan to check with dealer on Monday (3/18) and if no known FCA appointment, I will request another vehicle to drive and either keep the truck at my house or at the dealership.
Prior to this AS failure, we had some very cold Minnesota temps (below -25F) and lots of snow and now water from rain & melt. No problem on the cold temp days, but now that temps are warming up and only 4338 miles so far, seems odd to see this fail.

I have not search the forums to see if others have had this symptom and what solution was found, but I will post my outcome once known.
The full profile of my truck is found under my signature.

 

[VaderRebel]

That's a shame @Phiefer, hopefully FCA does right by you and finds a solution that works for you. I don't think they will be able to permanently fix your air ride, unless they plan on completely re-engineering it on the fly with aftermarket parts and relocating the compressor and distribution block in the cabin somewhere... all while riding Unicorns on your driveway. Sorry for the sarcasm, but after reading hundreds of these stories about failed air ride and having lived the nightmare myself, I've become extremely perplexed by FCA's refusal to truly fix the issue.

Who knows, maybe they'll start with you.

 

[JoeRam]

After two weeks of missing my ride, yesterday it was returned with hopefully a repaired AS. Credit to my dealership/service dept for diggin in way beyond what Chrysler was offering as help and didn't give up. As some have read, I had an issue where the truck would not come out of E/E mode and ride down the road on the bump stops unless it was manually selected to raise. I was able to show the service dept how to create the scenario over and over, which they credited as help in fixing it. Now to take this ride on a nice journey from PA to Mich and see how it travels.

 

[duke2001]

After two weeks of missing my ride, yesterday it was returned with hopefully a repaired AS. Credit to my dealership/service dept for diggin in way beyond what Chrysler was offering as help and didn't give up. As some have read, I had an issue where the truck would not come out of E/E mode and ride down the road on the bump stops unless it was manually selected to raise. I was able to show the service dept how to create the scenario over and over, which they credited as help in fixing it. Now to take this ride on a nice journey from PA to Mich and see how it travels.

What was defective? How was it repaired?

 

[Ramit392]

After two weeks of missing my ride, yesterday it was returned with hopefully a repaired AS. Credit to my dealership/service dept for diggin in way beyond what Chrysler was offering as help and didn't give up. As some have read, I had an issue where the truck would not come out of E/E mode and ride down the road on the bump stops unless it was manually selected to raise. I was able to show the service dept how to create the scenario over and over, which they credited as help in fixing it. Now to take this ride on a nice journey from PA to Mich and see how it travels.

Joe...Great news!! Glad they solved the issue but you got to tell us what they did your holding us in suspense! LOL

 

[JoeRam]

Well @Ramit392, They replaced the Compressor and module and had it for several days with no faults.. But sadly I spoke to soon. He says with a sad face!!!

 

[Ramit392]

Well @Ramit392, They replaced the Compressor and module and had it for several days with no faults.. But sadly I spoke to soon. He says with a sad face!!!

Ahhh crap!! Seems I can relate to you Sir!

 

[Jayman]

My issue I kept having with my 2013 longhorn with the air suspension was the valves were freezing and not the pump going out. Over time the “closed” nitrogen filled system will leak and when it does it will then pull in ambient air to refill and repressurize the system. That external air now brings in moisture that freezes in the lines and causes all the problems. All that said I still went with the air suspension on my current truck because I love it so much. But it is a problem that I was hoping they had fixed for the new trucks.

 

[Ramit392]

My issue I kept having with my 2013 longhorn with the air suspension was the valves were freezing and not the pump going out. Over time the “closed” nitrogen filled system will leak and when it does it will then pull in ambient air to refill and repressurize the system. That external air now brings in moisture that freezes in the lines and causes all the problems. All that said I still went with the air suspension on my current truck because I love it so much. But it is a problem that I was hoping they had fixed for the new trucks.

The pump was replaced just grabbing straws imo....pump was not leaking in my particular case when it occurred not sure about Joe's,but I don't his was either.

 

[Phiefer]

3 days ago.... Dash displays 'Service Air Suspension Immediately' for about 10 seconds and go out. Comes back approximately every 15 minutes of driving, then goes out again. After second day (Fri 3/15) I take to the dealer and asked them to check into it. Ride was getting very bouncy. Already waiting for the recall fixes for the Power Steering and Power Pedals, but parts are on backorder, so I asked my dealer to check out the air suspension as soon as I could get an appointment. Had to settle for Mon 3/25 as soonest. I took that date.
A few hours later, I got to thinking how unsafe the truck might be to drive. Back-end seemed to be up almost to the max, and front end down to almost the max. I doubt the headlights are even correct for night driving..... So I took truck back to dealer. Luckily I work across the street from the dealer, so I took it over there on my morning break (3/15) and asked if a tech could at least take a quick look and see if parts needed to be ordered or if it was a simple fix.
First service writer would not get me in, but 2nd service writer heard the conversation as well as the sales person who sold me the truck. They agreed to take the truck in and look at it that same day (3/15). Salesman said if I needed to leave the truck, they would get me another vehicle at no charge. Dealer gave me a ride back to work and said they would call after checking it out.
Dealership called back that same after noon and said they were getting FCA involved and they would be sending someone down but no date or time was determined. I asked if it was safe to drive, and was not told I should not drive it, so I took the truck home. (3 miles in town drive) Both to work and dealership. Attached is a photo of the truck as it sits now with the air suspension problem. When I try to adjust the AS, display says 'Air Suspension Disabled'. The pump motor seems to run and then timeout, with a different sound (as if the motor is under more load).
I plan to check with dealer on Monday (3/18) and if no known FCA appointment, I will request another vehicle to drive and either keep the truck at my house or at the dealership.
Prior to this AS failure, we had some very cold Minnesota temps (below -25F) and lots of snow and now water from rain & melt. No problem on the cold temp days, but now that temps are warming up and only 4338 miles so far, seems odd to see this fail.

I have not search the forums to see if others have had this symptom and what solution was found, but I will post my outcome once known.
The full profile of my truck is found under my signature.

View attachment 19327

My dealer gave me free use of a 2015 Grande Cherokee for the 9 days i was without my truck. They replaced the pump and all seems to work now. They said fca wanted the pump back to see what failed. So far, 200 miles later and all is working.

 

[Daniel]

If you had it before, will you get it again? I love mine, when it works (all the time except the cold half of the year). It helped my hemi/3.92 get 24mpg on highway but I suspect the improvements to the 2019 will achieve that without aero-mode.

It's a no for me.

I had it before on my 2013 Ram and i got it again on my 2019

 

[Phiefer]

I had it before on my 2013 Ram and i got it again on my 2019

So far, with only one AS failure (pump); I would get it again. If the failure reoccurs, I would reconsider and may not go FCA when I trade. Seems like this is not a new issue to the 2019 models and I would consider this bad engineering if it happens again.

 

[alangsam]

My dealer gave me free use of a 2015 Grande Cherokee for the 9 days i was without my truck. They replaced the pump and all seems to work now. They said fca wanted the pump back to see what failed. So far, 200 miles later and all is working.

Why does it take 9 days to replace a pump?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Phiefer]

Why does it take 9 days to replace a pump?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Phiefer]

They diagnosed problem on a friday as an issue they could not immediately fix, so i left it with them and took loner jeep. They had to order pump and parts for the 2 recalls. When i picked up the truck, all 3 repairs were done.
Not the best scenario, but since they provided a loner vehicle and i only commute 3 miles to work and drive by the dealership on my drive, i knew when truck was in garage and when it was setting out and I was ok with it.

Main delay was parts for the 3 fixes.

 

[DraKhen99]

I noticed on my drive home last night that my truck was doing the same thing - staying in EE mode. I posted this on another thread, then found this one - so sorry for cross-posting.

I used the fob to lower the truck, and it stayed in EE mode even after I got on the highway. I manually raised it, and then it stayed in Aero mode.

Sounds like I have a faulty air suspension at just over 100 miles? Dangit!

-John

 

[NDanecker]

I noticed on my drive home last night that my truck was doing the same thing - staying in EE mode. I posted this on another thread, then found this one - so sorry for cross-posting.

I used the fob to lower the truck, and it stayed in EE mode even after I got on the highway. I manually raised it, and then it stayed in Aero mode.

Sounds like I have a faulty air suspension at just over 100 miles? Dangit!

-John

Mine does the same thing at times. Wonder if its more a programming issue then a hardware (compressor, etc.) issue since it is random. I simply raise it manually and all good. Hoping a future software patch fixes it.

 

[DraKhen99]

Mine does the same thing at times. Wonder if its more a programming issue then a hardware (compressor, etc.) issue since it is random. I simply raise it manually and all good. Hoping a future software patch fixes it.

That's good to know - that it may be intermittent! There's a scratch on the passenger a-pillar grab handle that was there when I bought the truck, so I have an IOU from the dealer to get it fixed. I'll bring it up with the service writer when I take the truck in for that.

In the mean time, I'll keep track of this. I feel embarrassed given how much I've been gushing about this truck this week (I've only had it since last Saturday) and now I'm facing my first potential issue with it. Dangit, I traded a vibration-prone F-150 in on it :\

I was thinking about it, and I wonder if it has anything to do with the Automatic Parking Brake, since the truck automatically raised and lowered itself during my test drive, but I have since enabled the APB and now this issue pops up.

Thanks,

-John

 

[SpeedyV]

Mine does the same thing at times. Wonder if its more a programming issue then a hardware (compressor, etc.) issue since it is random. I simply raise it manually and all good. Hoping a future software patch fixes it.

I agree...I've only seen this behavior once (that I can recall), and I'm certain it's a sensor or software issue. A similar glitch would be the occasional "side step doesn't retract until moving" issue; it happens only once in a while, and it would either be a sensor or software issue. Mechanically, everything is fine on both systems.