Looking for Opinions on Air Suspension Potential Issue

[Dxlatos]

Hello All,

I've seen numerous threads on this forum about the failures of the air ride in cold climates, but I am not sure what is expected in cold weather versus what is actually an issue.

I have a 21 Ram 1500 Limited and I've had it about 2 years. In that time I haven't had any issues with the air ride, or any sag/frequent run of the compressor.

In the last week it has been very cold here, (-30F was the lowest) and the truck has been outside a bit more than usual. When it sits outside in the cold, I find that in the morning one, or both rear corners will be sagged. However after a warmup it will air up and drive without issue, that was, until this weekend when after sitting out in said -30F overnight, the next day I got two warning messages on the dash. One about the air system cooling down and one about "immediate service required" for the air system. At this point the truck said that it was in normal ride height but would not allow for changes of height.

After an hour or so warm up and being driven around the errors went away and the truck again moves up and down. It seems to hold air, the compressor isn't running frequently or anything. Parking in the garage overnight and there's no issue the next day, but it had to be outdoors again overnight last night and this morning it gave the "Payload exceeded" error, again until the truck was warmed up.

Is this just usual behavior of the system being really really cold? When its parked indoors (not a heated garage, but certainly warmer than outside) it seems to hold pressure in the bags just fine, it seems to only be when exposed to the really cold weather directly overnight that its having issues, and even then only until it warms up. I guess what I am asking of the community, does this sound like an issue or something I need to spend time+money investigating or is this just simply a geographical issue and I need to let it warm up?

Thanks in advance!

 

[boogielander]

yes, cold temp mess with air bags. nothing to worry about.

you will only need to worry about it when nothing changes after warmed up.

 

[Dxlatos]

yes, cold temp mess with air bags. nothing to worry about.

you will only need to worry about it when nothing changes after warmed up.

Awesome thank you for confirming. When I was reading up on that it should be a sealed system I was worried that was a sign I had a leak or something.

 

[boogielander]

Awesome thank you for confirming. When I was reading up on that it should be a sealed system I was worried that was a sign I had a leak or something.

no just dense air and coldness doing their things lol
unless you somehow replace the oxygen with nitrogen or something that has greater tolerance to temperature

 

[kapinallinen2]

no just dense air and coldness doing their things lol
unless you somehow replace the oxygen with nitrogen or something that has greater tolerance to temperature

The system is charged with purity class 5 nitrogen from the factory...

 

[boogielander]

The system is charged with purity class 5 nitrogen from the factory...

if that's the case... then where the air for the air compressor come from...
dunno much about those lol the only time i look at them is to yank them out from customers' truck and put real suspension in lol

 

[Cbty2050]

if that's the case... then where the air for the air compressor come from...
dunno much about those lol the only time i look at them is to yank them out from customers' truck and put real suspension in lol

The nitrogen is in a tank. Now you know.

 

[kapinallinen2]

if that's the case... then where the air for the air compressor come from...
dunno much about those lol the only time i look at them is to yank them out from customers' truck and put real suspension in lol

Storage tanks under the bed. Photo credit to whoever took it.

 

[Dxlatos]

The system is charged with purity class 5 nitrogen from the factory...

So would the expectation still be that the truck would drop down in severe cold until the compressor can run or is this sign of an issue?

 

[boogielander]

Storage tanks under the bed. Photo credit to whoever took it.
View attachment 196674

thaank you sir

 

[Cbty2050]

So would the expectation still be that the truck would drop down in severe cold until the compressor can run or is this sign of an issue?

I would think so, the cold shouldn't make one end of the vehicle lower.

 

[kapinallinen2]

So would the expectation still be that the truck would drop down in severe cold until the compressor can run or is this sign of an issue?

I would have to lean toward it having something going on, perhaps with the seals? 30 below is pretty nippy but I would think that they should be able to handle that.
Don`t remember reading about anyone else up in the great white north or northern US. having issues with the 5th gen suspension.

edit: after re-reading your post, it sounds like there could a problem with electronics, like the ASCM glitching, instead of an actual leak in the system.