Can "Air Suspension" dash light be disabled?

[z man]

QUESTION: Can the “Air Suspension” dash light be disabled? I’m considering rear coil springs…

BACKGROUND: My car only has 27,xxx miles. After buying it last year and daily driving for about six months, I decided to go with an Eaton swap. Now it’s a garage queen that maybe sees 100 to 200 miles per month. About two months back, the “Air Suspension” light came on during a weekend drive, but didn’t return on next startup. Then, a month later, the speedo stopped working and the steering got really tight. The 114 fuse was blown (thanks MM.net), which I replaced, then it blew again. I turned off the RAS and the fuse stayed intact. So I’m assuming the compressor assembly needs to be replaced, and since the bags look to be original, I would probably go ahead and replace those as well. The Suncore kit costs ~$300. The rear coil spring kits are <$100 and you don’t have to worry about future RAS issues. Also, I don’t drive the car much and rarely have passengers or anything in the trunk. My biggest concern with the coil spring setup is the dash light.

I’ve scoured the site, but haven’t found anyone that has swapped to coil springs and addressed the dash light issue. There was a post on CVN that mentioned cutting a wire to the control module in the dash, but that’s obviously less than desirable.

Any thoughts?

[MyBlackBeasts]

Remove the bulb.

Personally, I'd just fix the RAS. It's one of the best features of the car.

[offroadkarter]

you have a 27,000 mile marauder, don't hack it up like its a 150k mile ghetto cruiser. The air ride in this car is not complicated, its not a Mercedes airmatic suspension.

I'd also say you don't need to replace the original air bags unless they are cracking and dry rotted. Realistically these bags can last the life of the car unless they have a failure, they won't wear out like a shock.

[RubberCtyRauder]

My car has original bags, only just replaced compressor last year. 48k mile car, garaged it's whole life. Compressor is cheap and easy fix.

[Granddaddy Marq]

Is there water in the tray where the air compressor sits?

[z man]

Thanks for your thoughts/guidance... I went ahead and ordered a compressor, which should be here this week.

Granddaddy Marq, no water in the tray, but looks like there may have been some at one point.

[Turbov6Bryan]

High condensation can cause corrosion, that electric motor has a aluminum case. My daily just locked up the air ride compressor a few weeks back. All that was needed to do was unplug the compressor 4 pin connector and put 12 volts positive to the red wire, and 12 volt ground to the black wire ( these lead to the compressor)... i put the wires on the compressor and it was locked up and would not turn on. While the 12 gauge wire i was using (non fused) instantly started getting a bit warm (normal) so i removed the wire.
I smacked the compressor with a 12 inch long 1/2 inch extension a few times. Then added the 12 volts again, started working. It was jumping around a bit until it pooped out the water.
Ive put over 600 miles on it in the last few weeks, air ride kicks on every morning since the bags leak a bit.
The compressor was locked up, while the 4 pin connector was plugged in it showed zero volts. I assumed the ras/vaps module may have been bad. Unplugged it, and noticed it was only 10.0 volts... Sounds like there is some VD from the module to the quick connect, motor was drawing so many amps the voltage disappeared... Never popped a fuse, and is working normal.
Maybe you just need to bench test / add power and ground to your compressor to see if it is worth saving.

[z man]

This is a pic of the old compressor. The new one I ordered does not have a port for the rubber hose that connects to the white plastic container with “Marauder” inscription (air compressor muffler?). The new one has the correct pigtail and dryer hose connection. Has anyone else experienced this? I’m guessing the muffler isn’t required? Pump will just be a little noisier?
50886

[Mr. Man]

Drill some larger holes in the compressor pan before you re-install the compressor.

[offroadkarter]

This is a pic of the old compressor. The new one I ordered does not have a port for the rubber hose that connects to the white plastic container with “Marauder” inscription (air compressor muffler?). The new one has the correct pigtail and dryer hose connection. Has anyone else experienced this? I’m guessing the muffler isn’t required? Pump will just be a little noisier?
50886

Yep, totally normal. Honestly my replacement pump was even quieter than factory, that muffler is nothing more than a hollow empty box. Throw it in the parts pile and sell it in 5 years as a Marauder specific factory air pump muffler

[JVD]

I just changed out my old air springs for coil springs and dealt with the dash light issue. Yet, like many of the members posting above, I would not recommend you do it if you want to preserve the ultra comfy ride that the air springs provide or want to avoid going through a lot of hassle to find the right coil springs.
When doing the conversion, you will want to keep in mind that many aftermarket coil springs out there for the panther platform will actually raise the rear of the Marauder too much (like Westar springs I got). In fact, the rear of my car rose 1-1.5 inches and the ride feels very weird, like a fighter plane coming in for a hard landing. Other springs are too harsh and ride quality will suffer. The springs I used were also very difficult to get into place according to my mechanic (the bushings didn't even sit right). If you still want to go down the route of coil springs then you can try to get rid of the light by adjusting the ride height sensor left or right (can't remember which way is what adjustment but there is a diagram out there) to trick the sensor into thinking the car is high enough off the ground to not warrant the compressor to turn on. You will only need to do that if the coil springs don't raise the rear (I think). This was what I told my mechanic to do and it seems to have worked. However, the ride height sensor bracket seems to be welded or riveted into place on the original watts linkage. In my case, the mounting hardware's screws/rivets had to be hammered/ground off when I had my mechanic install Metco watts links.
Overall, I recommend you stay with air springs since that is what the car was designed to have and you will save yourself the hassle of trying to find good springs/getting rid of the dash light. I am in the process of installing Arnott A-2220 air springs onto the Marauder and removing the coil springs I had installed.

[z man]

I installed a new compressor ($144), which fixed everything. Glad I went that route. Thanks everyone.

[fastblackmerc]

Drill some larger holes in the compressor pan before you re-install the compressor.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^