LEFT SIDE air struts leak out overnight

[Aggmeister2010]

Hey folks,

Randomly last week, I came out in the morning and noticed that the driver side front and rear air struts had dropped down an inch overnight. Immediately when I got in the car, the compressor kicked on and refilled them to the proper height. They leaked out again the following night. I put the car in "high" tonight to see if it does it again and diagnose further.

But I'm puzzled....what would cause just the two driver side struts to leak out overnight when the car hasn't moved? I could see one leaking down due to a bad seal or something....but two? At the same time? I can't think of any way that the two are connected....

 

[Awiner]

Hey folks,

Randomly last week, I came out in the morning and noticed that the driver side front and rear air struts had dropped down an inch overnight. Immediately when I got in the car, the compressor kicked on and refilled them to the proper height. They leaked out again the following night. I put the car in "high" tonight to see if it does it again and diagnose further.

But I'm puzzled....what would cause just the two driver side struts to leak out overnight when the car hasn't moved? I could see one leaking down due to a bad seal or something....but two? At the same time? I can't think of any way that the two are connected....

Usually a leak in the air bag or in the lines feeding the bag from the pump.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

Usually a leak in the air bag or in the lines feeding the bag from the pump.

Sure, but two independent bags / lines start leaking at the same exact time?

 

[Aggmeister2010]

- UPDATE -

Last night, I put the car in "high" to give it more 'room to drop.' I was suspicious that perhaps just one corner was dropping but that made it look like the other corner dropped just becuase the car was so low to begin with.

My suspicion was confirmed......just the left rear is dropping. I'm actually happy about that, because it isolates my diagnostics to just the air strut (i have a spare) or the line connection to the air strut, which has leaked before and just needed to be tightened.

I did find a replacement VOSS fitting (surprisingly difficult to source!) for the line to the strut, and am going to swap that in to see if that fixes the leak. Once i confirm that this product fits properly, i'll post a link to it.

If that doesn't work, then i know i have a leak in one of the strut seals and I'll have to get my spare out of the attic.

 

[Doanster1]

You’re an expert now so am sure you’re starting at the block first with soap/water before pulling the Voss connector. Btw, Rebuild Master Tech stocks them.
Hope it ends up being something simple like a connection vs the actual strut. Less swap labor.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

You’re an expert now so am sure you’re starting at the block first with soap/water before pulling the Voss connector. Btw, Rebuild Master Tech stocks them.
Hope it ends up being something simple like a connection vs the actual strut. Less swap labor.

For sure. I've been lucky that the block has never been an issue for me, but I've had the voss connector on the RL strut leak before when I put the Unplugged Performance struts in. That's when I ordered a spare strut just to make sure i had some parts if needed. If I had to guess, the voss connector at the strut backed itself out and just needs a little bit of light thread locker to keep it in place.

 

[Doanster1]

Voss connectors are handy on paper - one-step install by inserting the line and tugging to engage the internal collar. Works most of the time, but when I was going through my own compressor/block issues last year, on more than one time, the collar wouldn’t catch and the line just pulled out. I had to manually take it apart and crimp the collar. Leak potential…

 

[Aggmeister2010]

Voss connectors are handy on paper - one-step install by inserting the line and tugging to engage the internal collar. Works most of the time, but when I was going through my own compressor/block issues last year, on more than one time, the collar wouldn’t catch and the line just pulled out. I had to manually take it apart and crimp the collar. Leak potential…

I'm actually remembering now that the collar broke on mine when I last removed the connector, and so it's likely not getting great seating compression. I found this repair kit, and will use just the voss fitting and collar from it to see if that works, combined with this air line medium thread sealant:

Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XZB54O

 

[Aggmeister2010]

UPDATE AGAIN:

I confirmed the leak is NOT from the voss fitting, at either end. Fortunately, the struts are super easy to remove, so I have taken it out and will put it in a bucket of water to test for leaks again tonight. I now suspect it's the upper seal.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

UPDATE AGAIN AGAIN:

I removed the strut from the car and rigged up an air line to try to identify the leak. I pressurized the strut and dunked it in a bucket of water, and I found a pinhole leak coming from the air bag itself, not something that’s easily repaired.

I pulled my spare strut out of the attic and swapped the bag over to my UP shock. So far, it appears to be holding. If it’s not resting on the jack in the morning, it’s a success.

 

[Doanster1]

UPDATE AGAIN AGAIN:

I removed the strut from the car and rigged up an air line to try to identify the leak. I pressurized the strut and dunked it in a bucket of water, and I found a pinhole leak coming from the air bag itself, not something that’s easily repaired.

I pulled my spare strut out of the attic and swapped the bag over to my UP shock. So far, it appears to be holding. If it’s not resting on the jack in the morning, it’s a success.

Nice!! See, the suspension is not so complicated/voodoo magic to work on contrary to popular belief.
Back to the Voss connector again, all I did was manually crimp the collar that wouldn’t grip/seat correctly. I think the key here is that the end of the air line that’s inserted must be a clean “cut”, ie if normal diags were used to cut the end or somehow it was “squished”, the collar may not grip correctly.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

Yep, came out this morning and the car hadn't dropped even a millimeter. All fixed. Pays to have a spare strut sitting around to disassemble and cannibalize, but I'm going to look into RMT, that's a much better deal than buying used on ebay.

 

[Gtech]

Yep, came out this morning and the car hadn't dropped even a millimeter. All fixed. Pays to have a spare strut sitting around to disassemble and cannibalize, but I'm going to look into RMT, that's a much better deal than buying used on ebay.

Do you have a picture of where the air bag was leaking?

 

[Aggmeister2010]

Do you have a picture of where the air bag was leaking?

The old bag is in the trash, but here’s where it was leaking from via an eBay part picture.

The leak was from beneath this rubber shield. It was a spot in the airbag where it folds over, maybe a high movement area.

At any rate, the replacement has held with no issues for 2 days now, so I’m calling this fixed.

 

[Gtech]

Thanks, I have now seen those gen2 struts leak at the top cover (x ring), between the strut and alu disk, between alu disk and air bellow and now your leak makes 4 different ways they can lose air

 

[Aggmeister2010]

Thanks, I have now seen those gen2 struts leak at the top cover (x ring), between the strut and alu disk, between alu disk and air bellow and now your leak makes 4 different ways they can lose air

That's air suspension for ya.

 

[Alabaster]

Yep, came out this morning and the car hadn't dropped even a millimeter. All fixed. Pays to have a spare strut sitting around to disassemble and cannibalize, but I'm going to look into RMT, that's a much better deal than buying used on ebay.

did you ever get a cost for RMT to rebuild your air struts? I likely need one replaced and sent them an email and am awaiting a response.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

did you ever get a cost for RMT to rebuild your air struts? I likely need one replaced and sent them an email and am awaiting a response.

I never did, because I ended up not needing their service. My e-bay one was the cheapest way to get a parts donor, however if you're looking for something you can just bolt directly in and go, Arnott makes an identical replacement strut that's plug and play.