TurboAir

Alright guys, I have officially decided that I'm going to convert my car from pneumatic to coil over suspension. Last night I unhooked the power from all four solenoids, aired up all the bags, drove it to the car wash to clean the engine and the front left bag went flat and as soon as I plugged power to all the bags again and turned on the car, all the air released from the system and I had to drive the car home with no shocks again. I, like many others i'm sure, simply have too much other spoob to get done both on the car and other things in my life to keep messing with this. I gave it a good shot so I have no regrets lol Also, we have a parts car that has everything except an engine. Which means that it everything is compatible, I'll get carpet, interior plastic, rear seats, and coil suspension for free. The parts car is a Loyale, should everything match up? And, are there any sensors or computers that I have to disable/remove in order for the car to behave properly without an air suspension system present? Oh, and one last question.....does anyone who has experience with the air suspension equipped Subarus know whether or not the car disables the ability to enter 4WD if the car is not jacked up to the proper heighth? The 4WD would not engage when I first drove the car(haven't tried again since then) and I thought that there might be a chance that's there's nothing wrong with it, it's just the computer disabling it because the car is so low to the ground. Anyone know?

- Yes - yes the compressor turns on as soon as I turn the key on(not when I just put the key in). What do you mean this happens on a " dead system"? -The first time (and everytime after that) the compressor ran(runs) for 10 minutes and then shuts off, followed by the blinking error light on the digital dash. - I'm sure I put the compressor in that you sent me. After all this i may just convert to coils :/ .... I just thought it would be nice if I got it going. In the event that I do go the coil route, does anybody have a link to a step by step guide to converting a pnuematic suspension to coil over??

Alright, this is what I got guys. Hooked up 12 volts to all four solenoids and, as far as I can tell, they all work. I also hooked up a test light and identified that there seems to be power going to both rear and front solenoids even when the key is off. When i turn the key on, the light on the test stayed on. I've also seemed to identify( or more confirm) that the front struts are closed when i turn the key on. I say confirm because the book says that the computer will always try and raise the rear of the car first. I had the key on and applied 12 volts to one of the front solenoids and air started going into the front strut. What I'm trying to figure out is that....if the solenoids work, the compressor works(i'm assuming it was good as I bought it from a USMB member and it turns on and runs), the o-rings are greased, and the bags hold air.....why the hell isn't the car going up????? I did find some water when I unhooked the front airlines where they hook into the solenoids......which could be from running the air system with the dehydration unit being fucked (as it was). But i haven't found anything that seems to be messed up. I've never had exposure to a working pneumatic system before...if I unhook an airline while the compressor is going should it be blowing out with tons of pressure??? or is mine normal (being that I can easily hold a thumb over an airline even though air is passing through it). Any last ideas guys?

Hello fellow USMBites. So bit of an update on the car. I bought a new compressor from Gary, got it in the mail, jerry-rigged some dehydration pellets in a stocking within the dehydrator/air-distributor, and started up the car. No candy :/ The car still isn't lifting. I'm almost at the point of selling it to be honest. Winter is officially here where I live, the nights are below zero and the snow is going to be here any day now. Anyone got any last suggestions?

Nevermind, point is that I need a new compressor. Possibly checking one out tomorrow in the next town over. If they don't have it I'll probably send you some money Gary.

Hey guys, I decided to put the compressor back together without the the dehydrator beads and without all the stuff that was plugging all the airways to see if the car will jack up. Any idea where this larger spring goes? I have two springs that were part of the compressor unit and I don't remember how or where the bigger of the two fits into it. picture of what I'm talking about in link. https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=DFD1989804E0C97C!982&authkey=!ABtYTvG9Qo96yf4&ithint=folder%2c.jpg

Hey guys, well I'd like to think i finally diagnosed the problem with the Air Suspension and it's as one of you suspected. The compressor would seem to be shot. https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=DFD1989804E0C97C!963&authkey=!APlFqHEdTBB50q4 The above link is to some pictures I took with my phone of the compressor and dehydrator. The picture of the inside of the compressor is AFTER I blew out a ton of packed dust and rust out of it. Soooo I'm thinking maybe I can get away with a rebuild kit. Or I'm going to need a replacement. So if anyone knows where I can get a rebuild kit for this and posts a link, much thanks to you. Also, if anyone here has a good condition/working compressor assembly that they can sell me, let me know

K so i got up this morning and both rear struts were pumped all the way up and held all night. I also stood on the back bumber and pumped them down a couple times and they seem to hold. What's weird is that when I push the height button, they seem to almost completely depressurize. I'm stripping the rest of the interior tomorrow(mouse spoob and piss), so I'll check the rest of the lines, oil the seals and run some more tests.

Alright guys, again I want to thank you for the growing amount of information. All of it is helping. I have an update: I unhooked the air line that connects the compressor/manifold to the air tank from the air tank and put pressurized air through the entire system. When I did this I heard a loud hissing from within the car. Ended up finding another place where mice had completely severed an air line. I didn't find it before because it was located in a place between metal and plastic that I thought was to tight for a mouse to get to. Won't make that mistake again lol. Anyway, I bridged it and then tried turning on the compressor again. What happened was I was sitting for probably 5 minutes next to the car and didn't think I saw any difference. Discouraged a bit, I pushed the height button to see if anything would happen and when I did...I heard a bunch of air go..somewhere.. and then saw the rear end lower. At this point I got all excited because the car had indeed lifted. Anyway, fast-forward to now and the situation is like this. Last night I drove it to the store and when I got there and turned off the engine the car was tilted. The passenger side of car seems to lift, albeit slowly, and actually hold some amount of height. While the drivers side does not. Also, although I have not thoroughly tested this, pushing the height button while the car is trying to lift seems to quickly bleed air out of the system. I have no idea why seeing as pushing the button is supposed to raise the car. I also sprayed some soap water on the compressor where the 5 air lines come out and 1 maybe 2 of them slowly bubbled. Any theories?

Thank you much for the information. I'm planning on doing the test you suggested today to see if there are leaks. Couple more questions if you have a moment to answer. The solenoid that I hook up power to, it's on the strut correct? Meaning that the test is checking to see if there are leaks in the air bags themselves. Could I possibly, if I wanted to check the integrity of the entire system, unhook the middle hose from the compressor and blow air to all four struts? Or possibly do each one at a time so i can have 12 volts hooked up to the strut but apply the air to the hose right where it comes out of the compressor. The goal is to test the air lines as well. I don’t know if that would work or not, let me know. Also, if after checking the integrity of the airbags and air lines, I find that there are no identifiable leaks...I would then conclude that it’s the compressor? And if it’s the compressor...is there a part for the compressor that I can just replace? Or did you have to buy a whole replacement compressor? Thanks again for all the info guys.

Hey guys, new member here. I recently aquired a silver 87 GL-10 turbo wagon with air suspension and the 3 speed automatic. I essentially got the car for free so I figured if it ran, I'd spend some time and a little money trying to get it running good so I'll have a winter car. It sat for probably 2 years, at least, up in the woods of the northwest. Encouragingly the car started right up with a jump, and it actually drove over 180 miles down to where I live without any needed repairs. So far, the problems I’ve found with the car are limited to the push-button 4WD not engaging( which may be a bad button is all) and more importantly...the air suspension will not lift the car. When I turn the key to ON, the compressor starts running and continues to do so for about 8-10 minutes then shuts off. After it shuts off, the light begins to blink on the dash indicating that there is an error. I’ve found very little technical information on this system that I can effectively use to properly troubleshoot the problem. The little that I have found has informed me that the behavior I just described usually occurs when a leak is present in the system. Because the ride height does not change after 8-10 minutes of the compressor running, the computer assumes there is a leak so it shuts off and projects an error code to the driver. I also read somewhere( and I could have this wrong, please let me know) that the computer will always try to raise the rear of the car BEFORE the front. So, with this in mind I removed the plastic and carpet from the back of the car and checked the air lines for holes. I found out that mice had literally severed the air line going to the passenger-side rear wheel. I bought a couple air-line bridges(blanking out on what they’re actually called) and patched the line. As of right now that’s the only defect I can find in the air system. After fixing that though, the system still does the same thing. It runs for 10 minutes without any change in elevation, and then shuts off leaving me with nothing but a blinking dash again. What I’m hoping for is for someone who has had experience with these air systems to suggest some things to try. Or that possibly someone who has a technical shop manual for the 80’s GL’s could take a gander at the pages detailing air suspension troubleshooting and post some suggestions...maybe even some scans One observation that I’m not sure is important, is that my dad unhooked the middle hose from the compressor that goes to the tank. We noted that he was able to blow air INTO the compressor...which seems like something irregular. But I’m not sure. Maybe it needs a new diaphram? Help me out. Oh and before everyone starts chiming in saying that I should just tear out the air suspension.. I’m not going to put that much work into this car lol Plus, everything seems to be in good condition, the car has 150,000 miles. Thanks in advance guys.