Air Ride Suspension

[dmacpmac]

My air ride suspension compressor runs intermittently for a few minutes intermittently when engine is off and vehicle is stationary. Is this normal? If so how frequent would be reasonable and will this drain my battery?

[GMFL]

Sounds like an air leak.

[chiefair]

You have both an air leak and improper wiring. The compressor should only run when the ignition is on. It will drain your battery if you leave it like it is. Mine was fed by a 12 gauge yellow wire running from the GM fuse block under the dash. The wire was way too small for the amperage draw and had melted the insulation and heated up the fuse block enough to damage it at the connection there.

I ran a heavy wire from the battery box to a solenoid and used the original wire to switch the solenoid. Now my compressor is powered by a wire of appropriate size for the amperage and it is properly switched by the ignition.

[chiefair]

Sorry, I didn't look at your info and assumed you had a classic. Disregard my bad information!

[cru-in]

On our RAM 1500, the air suspension does run (albeit very intermittently) when the key is off. Like when I throw a bunch of stuff in the bed, it will run for a moment.

[tbrowne]

How often is intermittently? Most air suspension units will leak off over time but it will normally take a few days or more before the compressor needs to run.

[cru-in]

Originally Posted by tbrowne

How often is intermittently? Most air suspension units will leak off over time but it will normally take a few days or more before the compressor needs to run.

Poor wording on my part. Maybe a better way to word it is "it stays active while the vehicle is off". If I throw something heavy in the back, the air suspension will activate and levels the vehicle. With the vehicle off, I can also use the keyfob to lower the vehicle for entering.

Must say we love the air suspension. Car and Driver reviewed it and said a RAM 1500 with air suspension rides better than many luxury sedans it has tested.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by dmacpmac

My air ride suspension compressor runs intermittently for a few minutes intermittently when engine is off and vehicle is stationary. Is this normal? If so how frequent would be reasonable and will this drain my battery?

Hi

You will flatten the battery doing that. I agree that in this case it sounds like you have a leak.

Bob

[92landyacht]

Originally Posted by chiefair

You have both an air leak and improper wiring. The compressor should only run when the ignition is on. It will drain your battery if you leave it like it is. Mine was fed by a 12 gauge yellow wire running from the GM fuse block under the dash. The wire was way too small for the amperage draw and had melted the insulation and heated up the fuse block enough to damage it at the connection there.

I ran a heavy wire from the battery box to a solenoid and used the original wire to switch the solenoid. Now my compressor is powered by a wire of appropriate size for the amperage and it is properly switched by the ignition.

I did the same on my 1992 P30 based 36 LY. Fuse box was damaged to the point that the compressor would not come on which left me with the suspension down and my bumper in the dirt until I could power up the compressor. Adding the relay and proper wire size from the battery to the compressor did the trick. Just needed to find a better switched DC since the original connection was no longer usable. Everything works perfect now.

Not really related to this OP's situation but still a common problem that others may want to know about.

[LilPeanut]

That happens to us on the Atlas as well. We stop most of it by deploying the stabilizers when we park in the driveway. The solar should keep the battery charged.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by LilPeanut

That happens to us on the Atlas as well. We stop most of it by deploying the stabilizers when we park in the driveway. The solar should keep the battery charged.

Hi

Which battery does the air ride come off of in which model and year? ( It's AS so one would suspect variations .....). If it comes off the chassis battery, there's not a lot of amp hours or a lot of solar to "keep up".

Bob

[JCS]

Hi, we have a 2019 Airstream Interstate Grand Tour and our air suspension did the exact same thing, monitoring 24x7 and intermittently adjusting. It does kill your chassis battery over a few days. We worked with VB air suspension technical support and our local Airstream dealer and found that our rear monitor was wired to the same power supply as the VB air system and the dead side of the VB pump wiring. The fix was to move the rear monitor to a different power poll which fixed it. Now our system goes to sleep about 10 min after we turn off the van. We have had it back a couple of weeks now, no more drained batteries and no more air suspension pumps running through the night. Finally we were told also that we probably had a leak, but after doing the test we didn’t, it was the wiring that caused the issue. Send me a private message if you would like more detail on this.

[kjstark]

Our 2018 Interstate GT also has a problem with the air suspension in that it runs intermittently consequently running the chassis battery down. We bought the sprinter in Feb 2022 from a private seller and he made us aware that Camping World told him there were no leaks. We live close to a Mercedes dealer, but they do not work on Sprinters. The closest Airstream / Mercedes dealers who work on Sprinters are in Wentzville,MO, Nashville, TN and Indianapolis, all 3 hours from our home. We now have our Sprinter at BT A’stream dealer in Wentzville, but found out they do not work on Air suspension or our Onan generator, which is has another problem. Any suggestions would be appreciated.