My air suspension on my 2000 Crown Victoria (200,000 miles) has had a slow leak for at least a year. (it would sink lower in the back then it should after being turned off for a few hours.) Additionally, when I would go on trips longer than an hour, the air shock light would come on and the ride would be noticeably bumpier, so I would pull over, turn off the car, and then turn it on again and it would usually 'reset' itself for another hour or so. I mentioned this to my mechanic guy (backyard garage) and he said air shocks were expensive to fix and it was fine as long as it was resetting itself. During one low time, I twisted the muffler, and it scraped the ground alot, but that is now fixed. Last week the air susp light came on and will not go off, I am riding dangerously low to the ground in the rear (maybe 8 inches off ground) on both sides (left perhaps slightly lower). My mechanic guy has determined that the air compressor is not dead, but he can't figure out what is wrong because Ford has an air suspension system disable feature, so the valves are shut on both sides and he can't find where the leaks are. He said odds are the cylanoid (solonoid?) tripped? but codes need to be scanned in the trunk- the code scanner he has won't work for the air susp system in the trunk. He doubts that ADvanced Auto or the like will be able to run a code search off the trunk, and I hate to pay someone else what I can only imagine will be near $100 to read the trunk scanner connector codes for the air susp system.
I have done a little looking aroun, and some people say they just replaced the whole shock system with springs instead of dealing with the air suspension system. I do like the smooth ride, but my other vehicle is a Ranger, so I am used to having a bumpier ride- plus the air susp hasn't been right on this CV since I got it, so maybe the ride won't be any noticeably different. My plan is to drive the CV for another year or two and then give it to my daughter for college. As of right now, I am usually the only passenger.
How easy/accessible/costly will it be to get the air susp codes? Do you think it will be worth the cost to fix or should I just get him/someone else to change it over to srping shocks, and what kind? How expensive will that be? Thanks!