Air suspension broken?

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tobyd

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Hi,

(2015 1500 Limited diesel.)

We had a bit of an ice storm here a few days ago, although it wasn't super cold (mid 20s). That day and each day since I've started the truck I get a very brief warning message, "Immediate Air Suspension Service / Repair Required". The warning is only there for a couple of seconds and there's no other indication on the dash that something is wrong.

It's been warm since, yesterday was in the 50s so I figured anything that was frozen woulda thawed out by now.

I gotta confess it seemed fine to drive so I've taken it out a couple of times and today I notice it's down in the front. So, is this thing OK to drive before I can get it into the dealer?

2022-01-24 09.35.33.jpg
2022-01-24 09.35.50.jpg

Thanks,
Toby.
 

BWL

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Probably needs a nitrogen purge and recharge. Have a leak somewhere. That was the early sign of trouble for me.
 
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tobyd

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The previous owner (a friend) says it has an extended warranty, but he's about the least organized person I know so we'll see if the warranty is real... It's going to the dealer Wednesday morning. Hilariously, the dealer nearest to me said they can't see me until the 25th. Of next month. Exactly one month from today! Next town over dealer could see me in 2 days.
 
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tobyd

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So is this thing safe to drive? Even in a limited way?
 

17sport

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I've had my truck drop like that a couple of times and drove around for a few days before taking it to the dealer. In 2019 I had the compressor and and valve block replaced and everything was fine until November of last year. When my truck dropped in November I had a compressor overheat code stored and when I cleared the code everything worked normal again. If you have a code reader or access to one you can try clearing the codes and it might work fine again. Ever since it dropped in November I disabled aero mode and haven't had any issues since but some members have tried this already and it didn't work for them.
 
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tobyd

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I just ran a code reader over it and the only code I was back was a faulty rain sensor module (?) -- code B221D. Seems unrelated, but I didn't clear it in case the dealer does something with it.

2022-01-25 13.09.04.png
 

BWL

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Your reader might only read recent active codes. Probably a bunch of stored codes buried in there.
 

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Had my 2017 Rebel bottom out on all corners. Drove it for a week until the dealership could take it. Beat the hell out of me. They did keep it for a week but dealership fixed it. It was some module (I think) they changed.
 

Bandit517

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There's hundreds of posts about various air suspension problems. 90% of which are severe cold weather related. Some people have had luck with small fixes like putting air brake deicer in the compressor inlet behind the passenger tail light. Or wrapping the compressor with a 12v battery blanket. I've found whenever mine freezes up I leave it in my garage overnight with the heat on and it'll be fine for a while. so far (knock on wood) I haven't had any issues, we're reaching our coldest temps right now (-4°F for over night lows the last couple days)

Also, it's "safe" to drive that way, just remember when suspension components aren't working correctly that could cause various traction issues, braking, body roll etc. Also with front low (some experience rear low) your headlights will not shine out as far during any night driving.
 
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tobyd

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There's hundreds of posts about various air suspension problems. 90% of which are severe cold weather related. Some people have had luck with small fixes like putting air brake deicer in the compressor inlet behind the passenger tail light. Or wrapping the compressor with a 12v battery blanket. I've found whenever mine freezes up I leave it in my garage overnight with the heat on and it'll be fine for a while. so far (knock on wood) I haven't had any issues, we're reaching our coldest temps right now (-4°F for over night lows the last couple days)

Also, it's "safe" to drive that way, just remember when suspension components aren't working correctly that could cause various traction issues, braking, body roll etc. Also with front low (some experience rear low) your headlights will not shine out as far during any night driving.

Yup, spent the last couple of days trying to read through all of them. One of the most helpful so far has been this one, which talks about air line dryer fluid. He refills the system with ambient air and gets it going.

Since I began this thread the truck is now at the dealer, waiting on them to get to it. In part I'm trying to figure out is this is something I can fix in the driveway (eg: just a compressor and/or distribution manifold replacement), or they need to do. I've had a couple of independent shops not want to work on it, saying it requires too much specialist equipment.

The truck honestly didn't feel too bad to drive, perhaps because it was just the fronts, but certainly I would not want to leave it like this.

We've had several 50+ degree days here since this thing failed, and it's still failed, even though the issue appeared the day of an ice storm. I didn't check the fuse (dammit; shame on me, I know) and can't garage it to warm it up. Will have to now rely on the stealership to come up with something. Here's hoping they actually try to look for faults instead of just wanting to swap stuff out.
 
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BWL

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Air brake de-icer is just a temporary stop gap because once it dries out the moisture it's floating around saturated with no way to drain it. You can replace every part in the system, but if the system isn't vacuumed and purged with nitrogen then the moisture remains and so do the issues. The leaks need to be found and fixed and then the moisture has to be removed for it to be reliable. Although it's more work I wish it was just an air system with drain valves and a way to add airbrake antifreeze like the big rigs. They do put millions of miles on those suspensions without going back to back breaking leaf springs so pretty reliable.
 

Glen OS

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Mine sends the same signal occasionally when below 20*f. Then all good. I tend not to lower or raise the truck during extreme cold.
 
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tobyd

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Air brake de-icer is just a temporary stop gap because once it dries out the moisture it's floating around saturated with no way to drain it. You can replace every part in the system, but if the system isn't vacuumed and purged with nitrogen then the moisture remains and so do the issues. The leaks need to be found and fixed and then the moisture has to be removed for it to be reliable. Although it's more work I wish it was just an air system with drain valves and a way to add airbrake antifreeze like the big rigs. They do put millions of miles on those suspensions without going back to back breaking leaf springs so pretty reliable.
Gotcha. As I understand it so far, there has to be some kind of leak for the system to want to bring in outside air (and moisture with it). I'm hoping the dealer will try vacuuming and recharging the nitrogen just to see if that helps, even if that's only going to be a temporary measure.
 
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tobyd

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I just had mine fixed today, but I fear it's going to be temporary. The dealer said the fuse was blown because the compressor was running too long. So why was it running too long? No answer. They checked the N2 pressure in both tanks and it was fine, they reflashed the suspension computer, and called it good.

I suspect the compressor was running too long because there was air, and thus moisture, in the system. It happened on a weird misty ice-storm day, and there was an 1/8" of ice on everything. I guess something was frozen (the manifold maybe?) and the system wasn't able to come up to level so the compressor was commanded to just keep going. Unfortunately after having a few 50+ degree days in a row it didn't come back -- shame on me for not checking the fuse.

Moisture in the system means a leak, which is bad / expensive.

Having read a bunch here, including this excellent post (see the attachment in the first post), I'll try a few things on my own first if it ever happens again.
 
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