Lincoln Suspension Progressively worse this summer, now won't work.?

Question

It got worse because i had to use smaller tires, out of necessity. So there was a lot of pumping up and a lot of air release at the end of the day. Everything worked ok till this morning (3months from the tires being put on) and now nothing is pumping up. I did not run over anything or scrape anything that i can recall....although someone says there is a switch under the car related to the air compression? The lincon dealership scared the crap out of me and said diagnostic was $185, but that compressors are $400 and they easily do work on lots of peoples lincolns that run into the thousands on suspension systems...and i went outside and cried on the hood of my car afterwards....
Even before i spend money; isnt there something i can do? If a compressor valve is stuck, for example - is there a way to unstick it? Maybe myself???? I can't get to work...been fired twice this month by picky temp agencies......not a lot of money left!!! HELLLPPP!

Answer 1

Sounds like the compressor is bad or blown fuse but it could also be some other cheaper problems such as the ride height adjusting switch for the rear axle is bad or the little attaching arm from it to the axle popped off or the smaller tire size is making it think it needs to keep adding air to get the ride height proper---easy fix if that's the problem.
If you're willing to do it yourself or have a mechanically inclined friend, you'll need to block up the body so it doesn't sag down on you and crawl under the car or jack it up--- look at the rear axle area for a switch mounted to the body with a rod or lever going from it to the axle itself--right hand side if I remember. This switch detects the level of the body in relation to the axle height and turns the compressor on or off to adjust the height....if you disconnect it from the axle and manually move it up, with ignition on, the compressor should kick on to lift the height---I believe the attaching rod is adjustable so you could try adjusting it to compensate for the smaller/shorter tires and reattach it. Running with smaller/shorter height tires will throw off the factory setting for the ride height and may have overworked the compressor to the point where it failed...could be a blown fuse as well. Constant sagging overnight may also indicate a hose leak from the compressor to the various air-ride shocks or a leak in the fittings at the compressor or shocks....you'd have to get the system running and spray the lines and fittings down with a soapy water solution to look for bubbles and leaks unless you can go along the lines and hear it.
Lots of people don't want to deal with expensive repairs to the system and just replace the air-ride system with standard shocks---call some local parts stores for prices and call some local repair shops for price to install them.
Shop manual would be a good thing to have to diagnose it and understand how the system works---parts stores carry Chilton or Haynes for around 25.00 but not sure how detailed they are on this....Eautorepair.net has factory shop manuals online for about the same price. Nice system when it works but a lot of expensive parts to replace when it goes bad as with any fancy gizmo.

Answer 2

in the Lincoln town cars with the airbag suspension system eventually the airbag system goes bad and you have to replace them. they make a kit to replace the air suspension with with regular shocks and springs. it is something you may want to consider as it may be cheaper in the end. and try going to a independent garage rather than a dealer they are cheaper most of the time



in the Lincoln town cars with the airbag suspension system eventually the airbag system goes bad and you have to replace them.

Answer 3

I am afraid that is about right what they said. You could look around junk yards but do not expect much from there.