Manual Air ride bags deflation?

[ctrlraven]

Is their anyway to manually deflate the rear air bags for a small period of time then inflate them back up to normal? Of course without destroying them or ruining them cause I know someone will say something lol. The reason why I ask is because I am having a friend do a photoshoot of my car for a magazine and I want to get one of the car's rear end dropped, per the request of one of the magazine editors.

[Marauderjack]

Jack it up in the rear.....both side and let the ride level control try to let it down.....you will hear it deflating!!

Turn the trunk switch off after it deflates a bit and let it down....you may have to do it a couple of times to get what you desire but DON'T GO TOO FAR AT FIRST or you may not get the jacks out as it will squat completely!!:argue:

If that happens just turn the trunk switch back on to the desired height and shut it off again......Good Luck!!:beer:

Don't ask me how I know all of this!!!:mad2:

Marauderjack:burnout:

[ctrlraven]

Jack it up at the jack points on the body/frame or by the axle?

[Marauderjack]

Rear body points.....so the air system will think the body is too high relative to the axle!! If you jack it by the axle nothing much will happen since the axle and body relationship will remain relatively unchanged!!:cool:

Let us know how it works??:cool4:

Marauderjack:burnout:

[ctrlraven]

Thanks Jack, I'll post up a few test pictures after I figure out how to do it before the photoshoot.

[JohnE]

I've done the jacked up rear, RAS SW cycle too. That works, but takes a few times.

After you remove the metal clip on the solenoids plugged into the top of the air bags, you can manually deflate them. They rotate counter-clockwise and come partially out. This will let all of the pressure out. Then you can rotate more and remove if needed.

[Drock96Marquis]

I wouldn't even bother removing the solenoids, they are prone to leak from the o-rings once you start messing with them, anyway (replace o-ring whenever you remove)
If you were going under the car I'd just slide the height sensor all the way over temporarily.

An even easier way I've found is (with the car off) you can just unplug the RAS/EVO module connector and using two probes hooked up to B+ apply power to the vent solenoid and the LH/RH airspring solenoid feed (shared)
This will vent the system, keep the wires pwoered utnil you no longer hear air escaping and it will be as far down as it will go (bumpstops)

I've done this before in our Navigator and my Mark VIII and it works fine
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/557354/fullsize/sta70777.jpg

The panther system is much less complicated, as it only uses a single height sensor, just 2 airsprings and the spring solenoids turn on is shared for both sides. The RAS module is also much easier to get to on our cars!

Plug the connector back in, then start the car and it will go right back to ride height.



keep in mind, only the rear will drop. So it's going to look like you have a bunch of weight in the car or your airpsrings are blown out ala beat up old town cars :P