Town Car air suspension problems? Read this thread!

[oktowncar]

Hello, I got a 2006 town car signature limited. The rear left side is higher then the rear right side. I'm thinking a silinoid. Should I replace both of them? I'm going to turn off the air suspension tonight to see if it dose anything. The compressor dose not run continuously. If it was blown wouldn't it go all the way to thr ground?

Spray down your bags with soapy water and inspect for soap bubbles. If you find any actively moving bubbles you have leaks and you need to replace both bags.

If you replace one solenoid you should also replace the other as well

 

[DadOf6]

I gotta vent.
I am replacing the driver’s side air spring on my ‘03. It had gone from pumping the springs every couple days, to every day, to every time I started the car so I knew I needed a new one. I watched a few videos and it looked like a relatively easy job, an hour or so max. The last couple days it was completely flat by morning, so this being my day off I figured I would knock it out in the morning before tackling other projects.

I am over 3 hours into it and it is fighting me at virtually every step. It looked easy to reach around to pull the solenoid. Nope. A small hole I can only barely reach through with my shoulder crammed against the exhaust and axel. I have strained my arm and wrenched my shoulder getting in there. The quick release for the hose to the solenoid decided to fall apart rather than let go of the hose. In years of working with pneumatic connectors, that is literally the first time that has happened to me. OEM solenoid so thanks Ford for the POS part.

Even with the new seals lubed in silicone I had to use a clamp to get the solenoid to seat in the new Arnott spring. It was not humanly possible to simply slide one into the other. I dread ever pulling them back apart.

The spring is also fighting me seating in the bottom clip.
The air line to the solenoid that pulled apart the quick release now refuses to seat back into the solenoid, nor will it come back out without excessive force.

So I am sitting here with a sore arm and shoulder, taking a breather to calm down and eat some lunch before I go back to a one hour job that is taking me all freaking day.

Any advice on what I am doing wrong?

 

[oktowncar]

I gotta vent.
I am replacing the driver’s side air spring on my ‘03. It had gone from pumping the springs every couple days, to every day, to every time I started the car so I knew I needed a new one. I watched a few videos and it looked like a relatively easy job, an hour or so max. The last couple days it was completely flat by morning, so this being my day off I figured I would knock it out in the morning before tackling other projects.

I am over 3 hours into it and it is fighting me at virtually every step. It looked easy to reach around to pull the solenoid. Nope. A small hole I can only barely reach through with my shoulder crammed against the exhaust and axel. I have strained my arm and wrenched my shoulder getting in there. The quick release for the hose to the solenoid decided to fall apart rather than let go of the hose. In years of working with pneumatic connectors, that is literally the first time that has happened to me. OEM solenoid so thanks Ford for the POS part.

Even with the new seals lubed in silicone I had to use a clamp to get the solenoid to seat in the new Arnott spring. It was not humanly possible to simply slide one into the other. I dread ever pulling them back apart.

The spring is also fighting me seating in the bottom clip.
The air line to the solenoid that pulled apart the quick release now refuses to seat back into the solenoid, nor will it come back out without excessive force.

So I am sitting here with a sore arm and shoulder, taking a breather to calm down and eat some lunch before I go back to a one hour job that is taking me all freaking day.

Any advice on what I am doing wrong?

Solenoids should release when you push down on the quick release and pull the airline at the same time.
I had to use a rubber mallet with some light tapping to get the solenoid to seat into the bag.
Make sure the bottom clip is not damaged. If it is not seated properly the bag will not lock into place.
Try a little lubricant on the line to help it slip on and seat

 

[Norms1stTC]

Solenoids should release when you push down on the quick release and pull the airline at the same time.
I had to use a rubber mallet with some light tapping to get the solenoid to seat into the bag.
Make sure the bottom clip is not damaged. If it is not seated properly the bag will not lock into place.
Try a little lubricant on the line to help it slip on and seat

This is exactly why I went with coil springs in my 02 and never looked back.

I didn't have access to a lift either , and the aggravation factor alone I knew would put me over the edge.

Anyhow, make sure you lube those o-rings too on the solenoids. Good luck man.

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[DadOf6]

Solenoids should release when you push down on the quick release and pull the airline at the same time.
I had to use a rubber mallet with some light tapping to get the solenoid to seat into the bag.
Make sure the bottom clip is not damaged. If it is not seated properly the bag will not lock into place.
Try a little lubricant on the line to help it slip on and seat

Well they didn’t release like any well made pneumatic line should release. I got it in well enough to inflate the bag but I don’t really trust it.

I finally got the base of the airspring seated by raising the suspension with a jack followed by the gentle application of a rubber mallet.

Unfortunately I have watched it slowly sink again throughout the evening. I expect it will be fully deflated again by morning. The bag I removed was clearly cracked and rotted from age (it was an OEM Ford stamped Firestone Airide), but something didn’t seal right with the new one. Putting a new solenoid on order and will have to figure out the correct air line dimensions to make a replacement.

 

[oktowncar]

Well they didn’t release like any well made pneumatic line should release. I got it in well enough to inflate the bag but I don’t really trust it.

I finally got the base of the airspring seated by raising the suspension with a jack followed by the gentle application of a rubber mallet.

Unfortunately I have watched it slowly sink again throughout the evening. I expect it will be fully deflated again by morning. The bag I removed was clearly cracked and rotted from age (it was an OEM Ford stamped Firestone Airide), but something didn’t seal right with the new one. Putting a new solenoid on order and will have to figure out the correct air line dimensions to make a replacement.

Spray things down with some soapy water to trace any leaks. Rockauto has solenoids and air line repair unions

 

[DadOf6]

Spray things down with some soapy water to trace any leaks. Rockauto has solenoids and air line repair unions

This morning both sides were flat (before only the driver’s side). I am assuming that the connection between the air line and solenoid is compromised now.

Unfortunately the connectors available at Rockauto won’t help with the end connector damage and the stupid way the line is designed I have to replace the whole hose to get the end connector dimension.

 

[Action]

If the end of the plastic line is damaged, typically there is enough slack in the line to cut the end off with a razor blade to get an undamaged section of the plastic line.

Action

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[DadOf6]

If the end of the plastic line is damaged, typically there is enough slack in the line to cut the end off with a razor blade to get an undamaged section of the plastic line.

Action

Nope. The stupid hose is 3 pieces: plastic end-rubber hose-plastic end. You can feel the plastic ends only go about 1” into the rubber hose with only enough end protruding to insert into the fittings. I didn’t get my calipers out to measure the tip diameter so I am waiting for the new solenoid to get dimensions before I get a hose.

It is the same on both sides with all Ford logoed OEM parts everywhere I have looked so far so I figure that stupid design came from the factory. My car seems to be a fairly early 2003 and when I took out my interior it shows. Ford wanna like you but sometimes your engineers…

 

[Action]

Interesting. The air line on my Navigator is built the same way. However there is about 2" of plastic sticking out of the rubber. The insertion part is only a 1/2 to a 1/4 inch. Enough to cut the end at least once.

Action

 

[Norms1stTC]

The Town car inner line is 5/16s I believe.

 

[DadOf6]

The Town car inner line is 5/16s I believe.

5/32s would be more like it but I still want to measure and confirm.

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[wolf_walker]

If the solenoid would not go into the bag with reasonable monkeying around, and there is a little bit of a trick to them, something is wrong and I'd bet a few bucks your leak is there, the O-rings aren't overly tolerant of install issues. The first set of bags I bought, cheap ones on amazon, were that way. The Arnott ones fit just like factory. All that junk is plastic, maybe something is monkeyed up. I've had the hose stick too in the solenoid but some lube and fiddling around with it and they came out. I'd order new solenoids and test fit them off the car, and test fit the hoses to them too. They ain't particular easy to get to while in the car. While it requires some smarts and care I've also used the weight of the car on an inflated bag to seat the lower bag seat. They can be a jerk if they are crusty at all, good place for some lube.

 

[DadOf6]

This weekend I finally got around to replacing the driver's side solenoid and the passenger side air spring.
The driver's side was still a pain to work on with the old solenoid super tight to take out.
However the passenger side was as simple as originally expected; only about 45 minutes in and out on the passenger side. It isn't a hard job if the parts don't fight you and it also helped that a I lifted the car higher and got a better angle to access it.
BTW the hose is a 3/16 OD. I ended up just trimming the end off when replacing the solenoid because the other end didn't want to move and I didn't want to fight with it. The suspension has staying up for a couple days so I am happy with it.

 

[radco123]

I bought another 06 Town Car recently. This one has a coil spring conversion. Pretty low mileage on the car (57k), so the bags may have dry rotted.

My first thought was that's it' not too hard to convert back to the air suspension if I wanted, but do I really want it? One of the reasons I love the TCs is because the air suspension sets it apart. I just can't tell if it's worth my time and money to make myself feel better. No one else will know the difference.

 

[V35A]

If you’re older and retired like me and enjoy working on cars, give it a shot. I’d first check which air ride components are still installed and operable.

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[wolf_walker]

I bought another 06 Town Car recently. This one has a coil spring conversion. Pretty low mileage on the car (57k), so the bags may have dry rotted.

My first thought was that's it' not too hard to convert back to the air suspension if I wanted, but do I really want it? One of the reasons I love the TCs is because the air suspension sets it apart. I just can't tell if it's worth my time and money to make myself feel better. No one else will know the difference.

Even if the pump is still there, you'll want to replace the drier on it. If it was me I'd replace all the major parts, pump bags and solenoids and see what it does.

 

[ToodyTah]

Welp, like an idiot, I know I installed the o-rings on the solenoid stacked together, above the plastic spacer ring. Rather than having o-ring/spacer/o-ring. I did it spacer/o-ring/o-ring. It seems OK/not leaking. Should I pull 'em out again and make it right or NBD?

 

[DadOf6]

Welp, like an idiot, I know I installed the o-rings on the solenoid stacked together, above the plastic spacer ring. Rather than having o-ring/spacer/o-ring. I did it spacer/o-ring/o-ring. It seems OK/not leaking. Should I pull 'em out again and make it right or NBD?
View attachment 15137

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If it isn’t leaking, leave it alone.

 

[Alfonso]

I bought another 06 Town Car recently. This one has a coil spring conversion. Pretty low mileage on the car (57k), so the bags may have dry rotted.

My first thought was that's it' not too hard to convert back to the air suspension if I wanted, but do I really want it? One of the reasons I love the TCs is because the air suspension sets it apart. I just can't tell if it's worth my time and money to make myself feel better. No one else will know the difference.

I have done three Towncar airbag-to-springs conversions. 1997, 2003, and 2004. All have gone well. I now have a 1998, and reading all the potential problems with replacing with airbags, I am leaning to spring conversion again for my 1998.