Auto-leveling issues

[sandness]

This post is just an FYI for anyone interested.

My 04 SE has been riding a bit low in the back for some time now. As a result, my rear tires have been wearing out on the inner edge. My first attempt to repair the issue was to replace the original air assist struts with some Monroe replacements. This did not change anything. After a while, the air compressor ran more and more, and got terribly noisy. I tore it apart to find the piston was half as big as it should be, with metal filings in the cylinder. Since I'm poor, I couldn't afford a new replacement. So I got one from the junkyard from a LeSabre. It ran nice and quiet. But, again it didn't raise the back end any. I checked for line leaks with soapy water, but it resulted in nothing found. I drove it for a few months because I have to, and the pump is getting noisier. So, at this point, it could be a bad RIM (rear integration module=$$) or the pump may still be faulty- it may be stuck purging air and never filling.

My solution was simple. Remove the pump, pull its fuse, and tear apart the old pump. From the old pump I remove the air dryer. This is the round black canister that the air lines connect to. On the other end, I did some cobbling to fit a schrader valve- your standard air valve used on tires. Now, I just hook up my rear air suspension to an air compressor through this valve and fill the shocks manually. It no longer auto-levels, but it was a cheap fix that works. Now, the rubber bags at the end of my air shocks are blown up- and I honestly cannot remember ever seeing them like that before. That tells you how long it has been acting up and I've ignored it.

Now, Monroe also offers model 90007 conversion shock that replaces the air assist with a coil over shock. I would have went that direction if it was available back when my problems began. Oh well.