RSS Suspension

[rockfangd]

Grr today. 

I seemed to think my Air ride may not have been working on my Seville again. I am not sure when it quit working. I just noted that I have not heard the compressor kick on since taking it out of storage this year.

Couple things to note here. Compressor and shocks were replaced recently. Compressor mid 2017.

I tested it this morning and sure enough. No good. Hear click but no compressor. I went underneath and found no power coming to the compressor motor.

Then I had to completely remove the back seat to get to the relay. Found the relay input and output pins discolored. I got my hopes up as I went to pick up a new relay. Got home, installed relay, no dice.

Went back under the car and now have power to the compressor but it still does not work. Motor must be set up. I tried tapping on it, bumping the power to try to shock it back to life. Nothing. 

Thank god the compressor is still under warranty. I pulled it out and am awaiting the replacement. But there's more

So to add insult to injury I decided to replace the rear insulators while I was back there. Anyone who has ever done these knows that they are not much fun.

You have to let the rear end hang and jack up the body to get them replaced. The left is the worst as the fuel lines, filler neck, and abs harness all block the way. As beautiful as the car still is the remains of the old ones was dust and rubber. Completely rotten. I coat the entire area with grease while I am up there, and the body now sits higher by at least a half inch.

Now I remember when I had my 96 Deville that had RSS I could monitor and control the RSS through the IPC. I could read all 4 corners, test the Fill and exhaust of the compressor, pull codes, etc... I know that whenever it had a issue it would show A SERVICE RIDE CONTROL message.

Well in 97 you get nothing. You can pull codes but thats it. And considering it was clearly not working you would think there would be some kind of code.

I also wish there was a leveling light on the dash. At least if you saw it was on excessively, or never on you would know where you stand. 

I can say that when I put 150lbs in the trunk the back squatted bad. Guess I will have to wait to drive it. 

End Rant. Crappy day today

[Bruce Nunnally]

Sounds like you got the insulators replaced okay, so yay.  Good luck with the compressor.

[rockfangd]

Probably the last set of insulators I will ever find. I am wishing I had figured a way to make my own for future.

Guess I will have to worry when and if that day comes

[rockfangd]

Ok guys. Maybe my brain is working to hard.

I installed the compressor. It went ok.

It now inflates and deflates. I gradually put 150 lbs in the trunk and verified that it came up. It did.

I then removed the weight and verified it went down. Here is where it gets interesting...

The right side looks a little high, and the left side looks a little low.

I did verify both took air fine. Before both had none. I did not yet verify both exhaust but they should be

Car does look even. I am so confused. There are 4 height sensors? Cant remember if front had them.

The compressor just adds and removes air from both. There is no way to split the air. If one of the height sensors was showing low it seems it would continue to inflate.

What is confusing me is what if the left side is normal but the right is high? In theory it would try to dump.

I am thinking back to my battery drain issue. If the system was continually calling for dump it might hold the dump solenoid open all the time which would drain the battery.

I wish it was like my 96 where I could control the compressor with the IPC.

I also wonder if my driveway could be a culprit. I will try and take a few pics this evening of each side to show the difference

[Bruce Nunnally]

Good idea to try different surfaces before you decide if it is uneven.  I would also pump up and down on each side in case they are not settled. 

[BodybyFisher]

Good work @rockfangd. 

I have been looking for your thread where you reconditioned the battery tray, can you link me to it, thx, I have a few questions on the tray.  

[rockfangd]

I checked the back end this morning. Was still at same level but airbags were empty. I never started the car. So I am not sure if that is ok. I did not note any leak after aired up yesterday but it must have overnight, either exhausted or leaked.

BBF. There is a few GMs that use plastic battery trays. They fit nicely in the spot where the tray used to be. I have to look back in my pics as to what I used.

[BodybyFisher]

Thanks @rockfangd. My tray is badly rusted, I don't see any bolts underneath to remove it.  Do you remember how you removed yours?

[rockfangd]

You really don't. It is welded to the inner fenderwell. I have ground out the remains and bolted in a battery tray. I will see if I still have one of my spare GMT400 ones. They were hard plastic.  

It is too bad they did not make them replaceable. I remember when they had the bad batch of oe batteries that lasted probably 2 years where the whole terminal broke right off the battery. Who warrantied the rotted fenderwells and trays from the acid that them. I did quite a few calls with no starts because of that. The cable would be hooked up to the terminal and it would just touch the battery. Sometimes it connected, sometimes it did not. 

[BodybyFisher]

13 hours ago, rockfangd said:

You really don't. It is welded to the inner fenderwell. I have ground out the remains and bolted in a battery tray. I will see if I still have one of my spare GMT400 ones. They were hard plastic.  

It is too bad they did not make them replaceable. I remember when they had the bad batch of oe batteries that lasted probably 2 years where the whole terminal broke right off the battery. Who warrantied the rotted fenderwells and trays from the acid that them. I did quite a few calls with no starts because of that. The cable would be hooked up to the terminal and it would just touch the battery. Sometimes it connected, sometimes it did not. 

Thanks so much.

Ill post a photo.  I was thinking that it suffered acid leakage myself, it just flakes off and is fragile.  

It seems fruitless to consider wire brushing it and spraying it with self etching rust proofing primer and painting it.   

[rockfangd]

So I am scratching my head here. This morning I manually manipulated the compressor to inflate the suspension. It did. It came up. 

I then heard the exhaust valve release the pressure. Within a minute there was no air left in the shocks. This is where I get confused.

I have read the FSM and it is a bit vague on system function.

I am trying to determine if there is a problem and that is exhausting when it is not supposed to, or if it is normal for all of the air to exhaust when the key is off.

I have a very keen ear for leaks and I hear none, but I will try to do the soap test. 

If in theory the exhaust valve is staying energized that could possibly explain my occasional battery drain. 

My Deville has ELC, so the system works a little differently. This also has me thinking about my rear springs. They are original.  I have not touched them. Thinking about the uneven trim height...

[rockfangd]

Well car seems to be level. Drove it all day today. Rides smoother. seemed to work properly. I am still going to have to see if the airbags are empty after sitting again.

Battery was almost dead. Had to charge it before I took it. If I drive it daily it may not do that again.