Air Suspension Problems

[Bob S.]

Cold weather air suspension failure at temperatures below - 15 C. Air suspension fails truck rides like 1 ton, took it into the dealer and they claimed they had never seen the problem!
They put the system under vac for 12 hours then refilled the system with dry nitrogen ($ 450.00) not covered under warranty FC!
It worked for few days and failed again, took it back to the dealer now he said the 5 more failures!
Started our trip south for the winter and the air suspension failed ever day until we got to Salt Lake City into some warmer weather! Working fine now that it warm.
Anyone else had this problem!

 

[Richard]

I live in Northern CA where we have mild weather and haven't had any problems. I do love the air suspension and hope it holds up. Good luck!

 

[jdn112011]

I'm 10 miles from the Canadian Border in northern Minnesota and I have been completely happy with my air suspension, 2 winters on it now without fault

 

[Brokedownbutgood]

No cold weather issues with mine.

 

[Bob S.]

Well here we go with replacement of the defective Fiat / Chrysler air suspension system, $ 2,400.00 later and I am sure the problem will not be fixed because it is defective design from Fiat/Chrysler that can not withstand cold weather and fails consistantly any time the air temperature is below 0 C or 32 F. Dealer is replacing the valve box and compressor and they claim there is no control problem!
I have asked the question; are the replacement parts upgraded, redesigned or just the same old original defective parts and I am told they are the original parts no upgrades that they know of!
It just totally amazes me how a system can operate properly for 3/4 of the year then have these failures but when I drive south for the winter and get in the warmer climate it operates perfectly! How can a valve system and compressor fail and then magically repare themselves and function properly for another 3/4 of a year. In my mechanical experience when valves and compressors fail they are done for and can not be operated or am I missing something here.
I do not understand how there is no Electronic control (ECU) or some type of sensor failure when the system fails, I lose suspension and lose cruise control and mechanical failures just do not fix themselves.
Fiat / Chrysler needs to address this system DEFECT!
My advise to anyone living in an area where temperatures can drop below 0 C / 32 F for extended periods of time
TO NEVER BUY THIS TRUCK WITH A FIAT / CHRYSLER AIR SUSPENSION SYSTEMS.
Don't get me wrong the truck is great, the diesel is a marvel but I wish I had a standard suspension package and I would be a very happy camper.
I will advise how the replacements have functioned as it's going to - 20 C here over the next week!

 

[jdn112011]

I'm in roseau Minnesota, 10 miles I south of the Canadian Border a little west of Lake of the woods, we spend 5 months of the year in zero Celsius, my 2015 air suspension is perfect. I would not trade my load leveling capabilities for anything.

The only flaw would be if I were to put a plow on the truck, where I would install a interrupter for the air suspension fuse as to not overwork the compressor trying to level the front every time the weight of the plow was on it, not for regular driving, but actual plow time it would need to be shut off.

I have had air at least in the rear of our last 3 vehicles without flaw, 2001 BMW x5 had rear air, 2007 Lincoln town car again rear air, and the 4 corner on the Ram. No issues here.

 

[Bob S.]

jdn: I agree with that air suspension should not be rocket science with many types of vehicles using it.
My problems started at about 98,000 km now at 118,000 km the system functions for about an hour at HWY speeds and shuts down. Interesting point is that when you shut down the truck for an hour or so it usually resets and functions again for a while then back to the same old problem, driving like a brick wagon!
There are many trucks up here with the same problem, extended warranty will not cover it, I suspect because they know it is a design flaw. The replacements parts they tell me will be warrentied for two years so we will see! I have a ten hour run up and back to Fort Mac over Xmas weekend so we will see how well the new parts do at - 15 to -20 C, I am hopeing for the best but just not have much faith at this point.
As I said before if it was not for this design flaw I would have no complaints about the truck, I think the EcoDiesel is a great truck just what I was looking for fuel economy.

 

[jdn112011]

I'm not really sure what you mean that the truck seems to be riding like it's on bricks, unless the air bags completely deflated you'd still be sprung and comfortable. Your problem makes me think of Mercedes air bags that have valve bodies for the Inner shock portion that we have the equivalent of in the front bags, as we do not have separate shocks

 

[Bob S.]

jdn: the brick wagon was a reference to what the ride feels like in the truck These are the two warning messages one gets as the air suspension system fails and this is what the truck looks like with the drivers side full down.
Also I was mistaken the first failure started at 87,000 km and it's taken until now to get an actual documented failure where the second dealer could read the error codes. Note: not covered under the original F/C 100,000 km warrenty and as I indicated not under the full extended warrenty either!

 

[jdn112011]

Haha jinx'd myself. Pulled into subway today and this popped up, but I can't pull any codes on torque anyways. Going to try my speedo calibrator scanner which is more in depth in a bit here.

 

[Bob S.]

Jdn, do not feel bad, just back from Fort McMurry and the repaired suspension system failed once again. I will try to remember to send list my error code read out just to compare. So the dealer replaced the valve block, changed out the compressor, mostlikley recharge the N2 system and it last 6 or 7 hrs of driving! Shut down the the truck for 5 minutes and restarted, error message cleared system functioned fine for the rest of the day as before!
I my mind there has to a ECU and sensor problem that F/C does not want to talk about!

 

[jdn112011]

Well I don't have any dropped corners, I just get a red code just after startup then it turns yellow just after that showing it's stored but not active, pulled a b17fb code but no luck just clearing it

 

[jdn112011]

Well tdr had the code, dumbest code I've ever read. Auto high beam camera blocked. No shit, it's winter

 

[Bob S.]

jdn,
Here are codes that were scanned on the system prior to the last work done on the system. I am heading south in the morning so we will see how well the system does over next three days until I get out of this cold weather! The truck worked fine today with all it's levelling functions so we will see what 700 km at -25 C does for it.

 

[Brokedownbutgood]

Most likely it’s a loose connector on your truck don’t make a big deal over a small problem. The trailer brakes are a completely different circuit thus meaning it’s a wiring or electrical issue, not a system issue.

 

[jdn112011]

Most likely it’s a loose connector on your truck don’t make a big deal over a small problem. The trailer brakes are a completely different circuit thus meaning it’s a wiring or electrical issue, not a system issue.

I had codes pop up when I first got my truck and played with the air suspension too much. What @Bob S. is experiencing is related to the suspension. Some faults with the suspension do shut down the Trailer brake controller and other systems, I have seen it first hand.

 

[DavidD]

Well after reading this I'm pretty discouraged. Mine is going in the shop tomorrow for the first time with a dropped corner. Truck only 6 weeks old to boot.

 

[jdn112011]

Well after reading this I'm pretty discouraged. Mine is going in the shop tomorrow for the first time with a dropped corner. Truck only 6 weeks old to boot.

Well my buggy electronic issue has gone away, I think it's a corner position sensor because sometimes the fault would only come up if it was parked at a weird angle like with one corner raised, but it had happened just going down the highway. But it hasn't done anything in days now, so I'm not taking much to heart. 2.5 years and that's the biggest bug I've seen, which didn't amount to anything thus far.

Solely personal experience. Bob's seems rather troublesome, but the only I've heard of on the trucks

 

[Yves DENIS]

Mine is a 2014 model...For a second year truck is the dealer garage...last year they kept it for a 5 weeks, change the compressor. It was my third visit ( change first a relay, then a fuse ( 40 amp ) ) problem occu always when tempature is below 10 celsius... Same thinks vthis year... leak in the sytem, no more nitrogen in the system so no more supension... And no more warranty...so guest what : i will have to fight again if i dont want to pay the bill...sorry, but this is not normal...problem with the system in the cold...they didnt say in the advertising that we need a garage

 

[BoostN]

Mine is a 2014 model...For a second year truck is the dealer garage...last year they kept it for a 5 weeks, change the compressor. It was my third visit ( change first a relay, then a fuse ( 40 amp ) ) problem occu always when tempature is below 10 celsius... Same thinks vthis year... leak in the sytem, no more nitrogen in the system so no more supension... And no more warranty...so guest what : i will have to fight again if i dont want to pay the bill...sorry, but this is not normal...problem with the system in the cold...they didnt say in the advertising that we need a garage

Where are you from? If it's an extremely cold climate, that could be some correlation for some of these issues.