simpreza2 Posted May 24, 2004 Share Posted May 24, 2004 I bought an xt with air suspension but it doesnt work. The sturts dont have air. I dont know if they leak the lines leak or if the compressor doesnt work. But I need to drive it home. I was thinking of inflating the struts with my small air compressor and driving it home. How would I go about doing this? I dont know much abour the air suspenson so any help would be awesome. Thanks Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subdudext6 Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 I have an xt6 with air suspension, maybe i can give you a few pointers. When you turn the car on, the air compressor, which is located on in the drivers side fender, should turn on. You should hear a compressor like sound coming from that area. If it doesnt turn on, you more than likely have a bad compressor. Just to be safe, you may want to check the fuse box also. Also make sure the battery terminals are clean. The compressor tends to draw a lot of amperage. The compressor will try to pump up for 10 minutes, at which point it will cut off. You can check the air struts by jacking the car up and looking at the rubber "air bag" at the top of the wheel well. If there are cracks in the rubber, then the strut is not necessarily bad, its just old, and probably leaks. Air struts last 5-7 years, in my experience. That's how long the rubber lasts. After that, you just gotta replace them. I get mine from Subaruparts.com, they are a bit cheaper there, even with the shipping. Anyway, the compressor WILL burn out if it has been run too long and the air struts are bad. So changing the compressor isnt going to help, you'll burn it out again if the struts are bad. Changing the compressor isn't hard. Gotta take the driver's side inner wheel well liner off, and also popo out the battery, so that you can loosen the nuts that hold the assembly that holds the compressor in place (at least on my XT6 it's that way). Compressor is kind of expensive, but you might be able to find a used one. Just be careful with the little plastic tabs that hold the air lines in place, NEVER force anything that has to do with the air lines. Anyway, lots of people have converted their air suspension, so I won't go into the pro's and con's here. Once you fix the air suspension system however, it's very reliable (at least in my experience). Compressor lasts about 8 years, shocks last about 5-7 years. Ride is excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YAH93S Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 At last! Someone who loves their air suspension! I don't want to get rid of mine, but i do want to find the leak that is letting the front end down... The car is 11 years old now, though only done 140000km. I'm guessing the bag in one of the struts has a little hole that isn't always a hole, because it doesn't always let itself down - most nights it stays up, and the compressor seems to be able to jack it back up again okay. Intermittent faults - gotta love 'em! Any tips gratefully accepted :-) Don't suppose you've improved your air suspension in any way compared to the original factory units? I'd be curious if there are better options now than there were in '93 (when mine was built), or '88 (or whenever they were first built). Cheers, Leon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerFahrer Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 Don't forget to check the little O-rings on the air hoses that go into the top of the strut. Many times, what people think is a shot strut is just some leaky O-rings or hoses... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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