sregor13 Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 The air suspension on this Legacy I just bought is not working. The compressor wont come on and I am not going to be able to fix it myself. I had the car towed from Long Island to a shop in Denver called Strictly Automotive. For the record- The guys at Strictly know Subaru's very well and they are quite simply the best Subaru shop I have ever seen or heard of. I highly recommend them to anyone in the Colorado area. Anyway, back to my question. I want to have the Air Suspension fixed. I think it might be a sensor or something keeping the compressor from coming on but it might be the case that the compressor is shot. It will be expensive to fix the Air Suspension and I have seen many people on this board recommend replacing it with conventional struts. I want to fix it despite the costs. Is it possible for these guys at strictly to replace the malfuntioning components of the Air Suspension be it ie. Airbags, O-rings , Compressors, Solenoids, sensors etc. I mean I think it would rule to have control over the hieght of my enviroment. So, am I crazy? For example, I got into a 2001 Legacy a while back and was very dissapointed by how low it was to the ground. I had no clearance and AWD. It is like a contradiction of terms. So I would like the opinion of any USMB user who cares to share there opinion on my Air Suspension dilemna and/or my mental health. Thanks, Gabriel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy777 Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 I'd highly recommend just replacing the suspension. You're not going to get a huge jump in height or anything....it's far from being an "off-road" type air suspension that you can get more height. If you really want more height, get a set of outback struts and springs, and install them. If you want to spend any money on trying to fix the system. Have the shop run the diag. procedure for the air suspension. Here's what they need to do, and the codes. http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru_manual_scans/FSM_Scans/AirSuspension_diag1.jpg http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru_manual_scans/FSM_Scans/AirSuspension_diag2.jpg If they find something simple, fix it......if it's going to be several thousand dollars to fix....just swap to a conventional suspension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rweddy Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 I'd highly recommend just replacing the suspension. You're not going to get a huge jump in height or anything....it's far from being an "off-road" type air suspension that you can get more height. If you really want more height, get a set of outback struts and springs, and install them. If you want to spend any money on trying to fix the system. Have the shop run the diag. procedure for the air suspension. Here's what they need to do, and the codes. http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru_manual_scans/FSM_Scans/AirSuspension_diag1.jpg http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru_manual_scans/FSM_Scans/AirSuspension_diag2.jpg If they find something simple, fix it......if it's going to be several thousand dollars to fix....just swap to a conventional suspension. I agree with Josh on this one, more of a pain than you will want to deal with. I went down this road with one of my GL-10s a few years back, ended up just putting in standard struts and srpings. I agree about Strictly Automotive, they are a great shop, so is S-wings and Roo's only. It is nice that we have a lot of great independent shops in CO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sregor13 Posted March 25, 2005 Author Share Posted March 25, 2005 Thanks guys for your input. Josh was the one to originally recomend the conventional struts. I think the added info is great as well. The air suspension was working when the Crank Sensor went out and the was just sitting for about a year. So, once the car gets to Strictly hopefully they eill be able to get it converted over to regular suspension. The guy I sent ot get this car said the Air Ride Light was blinking. So hopefully this problem is not the compressor and the airbags etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstwagon Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 The air suspension on this Legacy I just bought is not working. The compressor wont come on and I am not going to be able to fix it myself. I had the car towed from Long Island to a shop in Denver called Strictly Automotive. For the record- The guys at Strictly know Subaru's very well and they are quite simply the best Subaru shop I have ever seen or heard of. I highly recommend them to anyone in the Colorado area. Anyway, back to my question. I want to have the Air Suspension fixed. I think it might be a sensor or something keeping the compressor from coming on but it might be the case that the compressor is shot. It will be expensive to fix the Air Suspension and I have seen many people on this board recommend replacing it with conventional struts. I want to fix it despite the costs. Is it possible for these guys at strictly to replace the malfuntioning components of the Air Suspension be it ie. Airbags, O-rings , Compressors, Solenoids, sensors etc. I mean I think it would rule to have control over the hieght of my enviroment. So, am I crazy? For example, I got into a 2001 Legacy a while back and was very dissapointed by how low it was to the ground. I had no clearance and AWD. It is like a contradiction of terms. So I would like the opinion of any USMB user who cares to share there opinion on my Air Suspension dilemna and/or my mental health. Thanks, Gabriel I just went through a lot of the same problem and I ended up fixing my air suspension. Whether it's worth it really depends on what's wrong with it and how much it will cost to fix. It's unlikely all the parts are gone. A bit of clever troubleshooting could save you a lot of time and money. A lot of people on the board were saying you could pick up a used suspension cheap but I couldn't find anything even approching cheap. Local junkyards wanted close to $1000 Cdn for used parts and new ran around $2000 from the dealer or local parts store. I tried adding everything with parts ordered of the internet (Tirerack) but by the time I added in 4 struts, 4 springs, 4 boots, 4 strut mounts and assorted nuts and bolts, I was over $1200 and that didn't include shipping, duty, brokerage fees and GST and PST. After about 3 weeks of weighing options and having the leak get worse and worse I went down to the local junkyard, picked up a used strut for $150 and spent 1 hour putting it in. Problem solved. I'll likely eventually put in a coil suspension but only when I have the money to do it right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sregor13 Posted March 26, 2005 Author Share Posted March 26, 2005 Yes I was told by Strictly that I could put a conventional one in there for a 800. But that Air suspension would cost about 1400 just for the parts. Hopefully it ends up being something simple like a sensor or something. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstwagon Posted March 26, 2005 Share Posted March 26, 2005 Yes I was told by Strictly that I could put a conventional one in there for a 800. But that Air suspension would cost about 1400 just for the parts. Hopefully it ends up being something simple like a sensor or something. Thanks $1400 sounds like a lot just for the compressor but I haven't priced them. Is that including 4 new air struts too? What brand parts are you getting for the $800? If your air strut are toast then that might be the best deal. In my case the rear struts are fine and the compressor seems fine. One of my fronts had a rip in it and the other has lots of little cracks in the rubber bag (but is not leaking yet). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sregor13 Posted March 26, 2005 Author Share Posted March 26, 2005 1400 I think covers the Air bags and all aceesories for all four, I'm not sure if that would include the compressor. The 800 I am sure was for some used struts including labor. They think its possible that none of the above will be needed- it may be a computer issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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