Faulty air suspension

[Chuck Norris]

Okay, it hasn't actually happened yet. But I drive a '93 with 165,000 miles on the clock. It has the air-bag suspension instead of springs. Sometimes my compressor kicks on in the middle of the night, and I am afraid it is because I have a leak. If not, please let me know.
However, I know from a previous TC owner that there are aftermarket springs available to "replace" the air susp. with. Is that difficult? Would it require welding or do they just stick in there? What would I have to do to make the computer think the air susp. is still working so I don't get the "Check Air Susp." warning every time I start up? I am afraid I will loose the air parts at a very inopprotune time so I would like to be armed with knowledge before hand. Thank you much!

[gadget73]

Essentially you just replace the air springs with standard coil springs from a Crown Vic. Its pretty easy to do. I think all you have to do for the air suspension is just flip the switch off and forget it exists. Probably if you leave the purge valves plugged in and zip tied off somewhere it will fool the computer into thinking its all cool. Air suspension isn't scary really, and its not that expensive to fix. For all you really wanted to know on diagnosis and repair of air suspension on a Townie, see here:

http://www.lincolnsonline.com/tech/00061.html

http://www.lincolnsonline.com/tech/00003.html

[p71towny]

My car does that as well. I plan on changing my whole suspension with new parts. I don't want to give up my air ride, as that is a nice lincoln feature. Give these guys a tryhttp://www.arnottindustries.com/part...Car_yid14.html

[Chuck Norris]

Towny, thanks for that post! I've heard it is extremely expensive to replace the air susp. parts on these cars, and I would never have known where to look. You should make that site a sticky not for the suspension page! I'd rather keep thei air ride as it's part of what makes my 165,000 mile car ride better than most new cars on the market.

[gadget73]

Yes, keep the air ride. Its not as scary as people seem to make it out to be. I would actually like to retrofit 90s TC air suspension onto my car in place of the coil springs and automatic air shocks but thats a future project.