Auto Ride Problem

[fyrffytr1]

I have a 2002 Suburban with auto-Ride. I bought this vehicle in Feb. of this year. The compressor that levelled the vehicle worked then but recently I have not heard it kick in and when I hooked to my 10' equipment trailer the rear sagged .

I took it to the local dealer because I was not sure what fuse to check. A service tech went out to my truck and looked under the hood in the fuse box. He pointed to an empty spot and said that was my problem. It was missing a 30 amp fuse. I didn't think he was right but went along with him. The empty spot was labeled A.I.R.

He gave me a fuse and said that should solve my problem. It didn't. Am I wrong or is that fuse used only in a diesel motor?

I read the owners manual and the only fuse I could find according to it was the one marked RTD(Real Time Dampening).It was good. What else do I need to check and is there a way to check the compressor?

[2500HD 8.1]

The fuse doesn't make sense if it was working and then stopped. Did someone remove the fuse. You should get a dash light saying service autoride if there is a problem. Key word is should. Hook up a scan tool or bring it to the dealer. You should hear the compressor kick open when you have a load or trailer. There probably is a fuse for the autoride. Check your manual, but it should not be missing.

[GMTRUCKTECH]

THERE IS A ISSUE WITH THE THE MODULE THAT CONTROLS AUTO AIR RIDE. THERE IS A UPDATE FOR THE MODULE SO YOU WILL HAVE TO BRING IT TO THE DEALER AND HVAE IT UPDATED. I HAVE SEEN THE UPDATE FIX THE SYSTEM AND OTHER TIMES I HAVE HAD TO REPLACE THE MODULE IT'S A 50 50 SHOT. GOOD LUCK

[fyrffytr1]

I talked with the local GM service manager about it today. If it only needs an update the $75.00 diagnostic fee will cover it. If the module has to be replaced it will cost$1,000.00!!!!!!!!!

He said the module costs $800 and labor to install and configure it will be $200.

Y'all want to bet which repair I will need?

[03fatboy]

The compressor is most likely your problem very comon . About $400.00 for part very easy to change you can do it your self . Right behind left rear wheel .

[srcpqlamz]

Hi guys,

 

I have the same problem: Compressor not kicking in anymore, even with my 4200 lbs RV hooked to my 2002 yukon. I'd like to find a shop manual that describes how to remove the compressor, where to find the module and the sensors. I bought a haynes manual at my local auto shop, but it doesn't talk about the autoride at all. Is there anty way to get some mechanical and wirring diagrams on the autoride somewhere online? For cheap? (Free would be even better! )

[no bull]

I have a 2500, 8.1L yukon xl, and was under the impression that Level Ride had a compressor and Auto ride has electronicly operated shock valving with NO compessor (Auto Ride is on my truck). Am I wrong, do I have a compressor?

[srcpqlamz]

I have a 2500, 8.1L yukon xl, and was under the impression that Level Ride had a compressor and Auto ride has electronicly operated shock valving with NO compessor (Auto Ride is on my truck). Am I wrong, do I have a compressor?

 

 

From what I can read in my user's manual, Autoride is the name given to a family of devices, all aimed at modifying the characteristics of the suspension. In my manual they talk about 3 different systems (fortunately, I only have 1 of the 3 systems; I already have enough problems with it!) These 3 systems are 1) electronically operated shock valving 2)air shock with a compressor and 3) hydraulic shock with a hydraulic pump (I just discovered this 3rd system reading my manual, in preparation to writing this message.) I am no expert. just rewriting what I saw in my manual.

 

P.S My truck is a 1500

[sagent]

From what I understand the level ride ( Z85 ? ) only levels out the rear when weight is added. Autoride does the same but also adjusts the valving of all 4 shocks dependent upon driving

conditions / weight.

 

As far as repairing this system, if it worked before an update is not going to get it back up and running. With the compressor mounted under truck in back of rear wheel I would

assume its all full of dirt / rust etc. I would disconnect the compressor blow out everything with compressed air and clean all electrical connections.

 

I did this to the level control system compressor on my 99 Bonneville SSEi when it quit and low and behold it came back to life.

 

9 times out of 10 problems like this on cars tend to be rusted / corroded connections

[V8 BUG]

I own a 2003 Yukon Denali. The autoride pump does not start when I put my race car trailer on it. The back of the truck drops about 3 inches. I have 22 inch rims and a good size tire on it and this causes the tires to rub the inner well when loaded. Please help as I cannot find any info on the system. I would like to try and fix the problem myself and save a few bucks.

 

Thanks

 

Kevin from Canada

[srcpqlamz]

I own a 2003 Yukon Denali. The autoride pump does not start when I put my race car trailer on it. The back of the truck drops about 3 inches. I have 22 inch rims and a good size tire on it and this causes the tires to rub the inner well when loaded. Please help as I cannot find any info on the system. I would like to try and fix the problem myself and save a few bucks.

 

Thanks

 

Kevin from Canada

 

Hi Kevin,

 

I (finally) repaired my 2002 Yukon. I magine that your autoride system is identical to mine. Repair was quite simple, but costly!!! I had to change the whole Autoride unit and it costs 765$ Canadian (I live in Quebec) My dealer made me a deal, but still, I had to pay around 750$ Taxes included. The procedure for debugging and replacement is quite simple:

 

I located the level sensors. They are located near the rear wheels, under the little plastic fender lining toward the front part of the inside of the fender. It is just a little rod that is attached to the suspension on one end and to a rotary device on the other end. as the suspension moves up and down, the rod pushes on the rotary device. The rotation of the device will determine how loaded your vehicle is. This sensor will give the on / off command to the pump in the autoride unit. The upper part of the level sensor rod is tied to the suspension through a small ball joint. When you pull that ball joint firmly, the rod will come out, freeing the sensor. You can then manually rotate the sensor and make your autoride act like if the truck is under heavy load. When I did that, I could hear a very light noise coming from the autoride unit. When I was putting the sensor in normal position, this little noise was stopping. I did the same procedure on the passenger and driver's side and I could hear the same noise. This confirmed that my sensors were working fine and they were sending the "ON/OFF" commands to the Air ride unit. The whole air ride system is made of 3 different groups of devices: The sensors, the wiring harness and the autoride unit itself. I was quite sure that the sensors and wiring were OK. The only remaining item was the autoride unit itself. It sells as one assembly. it comprises a compressor, a pressure/dryer device and what I think is a solenoid. Only the pressure / dryer device can be purchased separately. The dryer sells for approx 350$ while the whole assembly (including the dryer) sells for aprx 765$. Since after 5 years, all the parts in the whole unit are about to die anyway, you might as well change the whole thing and avoid other problems. I'm a do-it-yourselfer, not a masochist, so I decided to change the whole unit. Changing it is easy. It is located behind the rear of the driver's side rear wheel. It is attached to the frame of the truck by 3 studs and nuts. These studs are inserted in the frame beam through 3 keyholes. All you have to do is to loosen the 3 nuts and slide the with the studs, out of the keyholes. You may need a little bit of hammering. Two of the nuts (the ones to the rear of the unit) are outside the frame beam, but the one that is toward the front, is located inside the frame beam. The genius who thought of doing that must have been smokin' good stuff! In any case, there is a hole on the other side of the frame beam that allows you to reach the nut with the ratchet (The spare tire is a bit in the way, but you can do the removal of the unit without having to lower the spare. Once this is done, all you have to do is remove the round 7 pin connector that connects the unit to the cable harness, unplug the high pressure tubing that goes to the shocks, and the intake tubing that comes from a small plastic box located inside the fender, near the refuelling hose. As they say in the haynes manuals: "installation is reverse of removal" :-) . The new unit comes with everything, including the little plastic box (probably an air filter) that is installed near the refuelling hose. This plastic box is tied to the vehicle through a special push pin. The pin also acts as a tube holding clamp. You know how hard these are to remove without breaking them. It may be a good idea to ask for an extra pin at your dealer. (Note to GM: at 765 bucks, you should include this push pin in the kit!) I did not ask for an extra pin... so I had to be very careful when removing the old one. I had to remove the whole fuel cap assembly to reach it. If I had had an extra pin, I would have just cut the old one and it would have saved me 30 minutes of my time.

 

Some other useful info: On the 7 pin round connector, the color code is:

Red and Black: Compressor + and -. My dealer confirmed that applying power to these wires will make the compressor run (if not broken of course)

Grey and blue: Going to what I think is the solenoid. The dealer told me not to apply any voltage to these wires, as it could damage the unit. I think the guy didn't know what he was talking about, but I did not take any chance anyway.

The other 3 wires (i don't remember the color) are going to the Dryer. I dont know how you can test this unit.

Part number for the whole Air Ride assembly: Delphi 15070878

 

P.S. My appologies if some of the instructions are not perfect. English is not my first language. Should you need more info, please do not hesitate to ask on this thread. I'll try to read it from time to time.

 

Stéphane

[bull516]

Did you have to remove the wheels when you did this? I have a feeling that one of the sensors is stuck. One side of my truck is higher than the other. The compressor kicks on every time I start my truck and the drivers side rear raises up. I think the other side is stuck too high which triggers the drivers side to try to reach the height of the passengers side. Furthermore, the passengers rear always looks higher than normal when the truck is parked, so I know there is an issue there. Does anyone have any suggestions???

[KB06YUKONXL]

The Autoride compressors are notorious for failing at about 4 years or 80,000 miles. If you have any issues with the system first chack the air hoses that lead from the compressor to the shocks because they are the least expensive parts. Your compressor should activate almost every day after the truck has been sitting so if you don't hear it......you may have an issue. I had mine go at 79k on my 02 Suburban due to salt corrosion so I spray undercoated the case and wiring harnesses on my 06 to attempt to prevent that. My replacement was covered by extended warranty and was $458.

[twright225]

I own a 2003 Yukon Denali. The autoride pump does not start when I put my race car trailer on it. The back of the truck drops about 3 inches. I have 22 inch rims and a good size tire on it and this causes the tires to rub the inner well when loaded. Please help as I cannot find any info on the system. I would like to try and fix the problem myself and save a few bucks.

 

Thanks

 

Kevin from Canada

 

Hi Kevin,

 

I (finally) repaired my 2002 Yukon. I magine that your autoride system is identical to mine. Repair was quite simple, but costly!!! I had to change the whole Autoride unit and it costs 765$ Canadian (I live in Quebec) My dealer made me a deal, but still, I had to pay around 750$ Taxes included. The procedure for debugging and replacement is quite simple:

 

I located the level sensors. They are located near the rear wheels, under the little plastic fender lining toward the front part of the inside of the fender. It is just a little rod that is attached to the suspension on one end and to a rotary device on the other end. as the suspension moves up and down, the rod pushes on the rotary device. The rotation of the device will determine how loaded your vehicle is. This sensor will give the on / off command to the pump in the autoride unit. The upper part of the level sensor rod is tied to the suspension through a small ball joint. When you pull that ball joint firmly, the rod will come out, freeing the sensor. You can then manually rotate the sensor and make your autoride act like if the truck is under heavy load. When I did that, I could hear a very light noise coming from the autoride unit. When I was putting the sensor in normal position, this little noise was stopping. I did the same procedure on the passenger and driver's side and I could hear the same noise. This confirmed that my sensors were working fine and they were sending the "ON/OFF" commands to the Air ride unit. The whole air ride system is made of 3 different groups of devices: The sensors, the wiring harness and the autoride unit itself. I was quite sure that the sensors and wiring were OK. The only remaining item was the autoride unit itself. It sells as one assembly. it comprises a compressor, a pressure/dryer device and what I think is a solenoid. Only the pressure / dryer device can be purchased separately. The dryer sells for approx 350$ while the whole assembly (including the dryer) sells for aprx 765$. Since after 5 years, all the parts in the whole unit are about to die anyway, you might as well change the whole thing and avoid other problems. I'm a do-it-yourselfer, not a masochist, so I decided to change the whole unit. Changing it is easy. It is located behind the rear of the driver's side rear wheel. It is attached to the frame of the truck by 3 studs and nuts. These studs are inserted in the frame beam through 3 keyholes. All you have to do is to loosen the 3 nuts and slide the with the studs, out of the keyholes. You may need a little bit of hammering. Two of the nuts (the ones to the rear of the unit) are outside the frame beam, but the one that is toward the front, is located inside the frame beam. The genius who thought of doing that must have been smokin' good stuff! In any case, there is a hole on the other side of the frame beam that allows you to reach the nut with the ratchet (The spare tire is a bit in the way, but you can do the removal of the unit without having to lower the spare. Once this is done, all you have to do is remove the round 7 pin connector that connects the unit to the cable harness, unplug the high pressure tubing that goes to the shocks, and the intake tubing that comes from a small plastic box located inside the fender, near the refuelling hose. As they say in the haynes manuals: "installation is reverse of removal" :-) . The new unit comes with everything, including the little plastic box (probably an air filter) that is installed near the refuelling hose. This plastic box is tied to the vehicle through a special push pin. The pin also acts as a tube holding clamp. You know how hard these are to remove without breaking them. It may be a good idea to ask for an extra pin at your dealer. (Note to GM: at 765 bucks, you should include this push pin in the kit!) I did not ask for an extra pin... so I had to be very careful when removing the old one. I had to remove the whole fuel cap assembly to reach it. If I had had an extra pin, I would have just cut the old one and it would have saved me 30 minutes of my time.

 

Some other useful info: On the 7 pin round connector, the color code is:

Red and Black: Compressor + and -. My dealer confirmed that applying power to these wires will make the compressor run (if not broken of course)

Grey and blue: Going to what I think is the solenoid. The dealer told me not to apply any voltage to these wires, as it could damage the unit. I think the guy didn't know what he was talking about, but I did not take any chance anyway.

The other 3 wires (i don't remember the color) are going to the Dryer. I dont know how you can test this unit.

Part number for the whole Air Ride assembly: Delphi 15070878

 

P.S. My appologies if some of the instructions are not perfect. English is not my first language. Should you need more info, please do not hesitate to ask on this thread. I'll try to read it from time to time.

 

Stéphane

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can sometimes find a replacement air ride assembly on ebay. I bought one that fit a 2005 Yukon Denali and it was a perfect match for my 2001 Yukon XL Denali. My air ride suddenly stopped working at 130,000 miles. I applied 12 VDC to the Red(+) and the Black(-) wires on the 7 pin connector using a battery charger and the pump motor turned on just fine. The fault was a bad pressure switch on the dryer; it has a 3 pin connector that goes to it and sends the signal to the pump to turn off so it doesnt over pressure the shock bags. So I wish I could find a new pressure switch for my air ride assembly but can't seem to find one maybe Delphi would sell me one? Anyway I suspect that this is a very common problem with these assemblys and what could be a quick inexpensive swap of a pressure switch ends up being a $700+ air ride assembly swap at a dealer. I ended up buying the assembly off of ebay for $300 as I said above and swapped it out in 10 mins tops. Anyone know where I could get a new pressure switch for my old one?

[Fyrcaptain]

From previous thread(s) FWIW......

 

These are the folks that make the Autoride stuff for GM, I believe their prices are cheaper than from the dealer.

 

 

http://www.arnottindustries.com/

 

 

Looks like I'm off to the dealer......the compressor on my 06 after sitting 2 weeks and then loaded for a trip did not come on.

Thank goodness it's still under warranty until July!