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tomorrow morning I'm going to try and swap out the pair of air-shocks for my 2001 UL. I've been searching around and I know I need to reach the topmount through the self but I haven't seen anywhere any mention of the air line location. In the diagrams and the actual shocks I have, it seems to be quite high, but not high enough to be visible through the top shelf.
So to anyone who might have tried to change them out themselves, are the airlines accessible directly through the wheel well, do I have to take out the arch liner, or do I have to go through the trunk where I suppose I would have to take out the trim on the back of the seats and under the shelf?
Also, do I really need to take out the trims near the door/roof-liner, or can I get away with it with pulling the seats forward and moving the shelf out of the way?
The repair manual seems to suggest that you can get to the air line from under the vehicle after you remove the fender liner. You will need a special tool to release the air hose. You can make the tool using a short section of plastic tubing and cut it open length-wise.
You will need to separate the seat-back by a few inches so you can reach down to detach the 2 plastic fasteners. No need to remove the side trims.
the process is quite simple and it took me less than 2 hours including time to put the seats back.
Didn't need to disconnect anything in the suspension arms and linkages, only the lower nut of the shock. The air suspension shocks can be compressed easily when empty of air, so it's no problem taking them out and putting them back in.
Liner is a PITA to put back in the first time, but the 2nd time it was easier (changed both shocks).
Most difficult part of the process was to avoid touching anything in the interior with the dirty hands. Failed miserably, I need to do a thorough clean tomorrow.
Actually both shocks were not leaking anything, nor ********.
But during a tech-inspection (required by the authorities) the shocks were measured for their damping effect with a bouncing rig and the two sides had healthy numbers but a big difference between them and so the car failed the inspection.
So I bought a used set from a UK vendor that has parts from cars with less than 70k miles, and I hope that the pair I got will be better.
OMG how much information I get from this page so thank you guys. I have completely the same (big difference between them) problem and I have gathered information so I could do this myself.
1. You will need to separate the seat-back by a few inches so you can reach down to detach the 2 plastic fasteners. No need to remove the side trims.
2. The repair manual seems to suggest that you can get to the air line from under the vehicle after you remove the fender liner.
3. You will need a special tool to release the air hose. You can make the tool using a short section of plastic tubing and cut it open length-wise.
4. Didn't need to disconnect anything in the suspension arms and linkages, only the lower nut of the shock.
Only one question so do I need to remove fender liner so that I can access to air hose and disconnect it before I can pull shock down or do I need to remove fender liner so that I can first pull shock down to access air hose?
Only one question so do I need to remove fender liner so that I can access to air hose and disconnect it before I can pull shock down or do I need to remove fender liner so that I can first pull shock down to access air hose?
I did this last weekend, second time, no big deal. All the comments so far are accurate.
I'll add:
you don't need to completely remove the seats, just lean them forward.
package tray does not need to be removed, just lifted up a couple inches.
you must remove the finder liner so that you can get access to the air hose inlet. You can't even really see the air hose inlet without removing the fender liner You don't want to pull that shock down until the air hose is removed, otherwise you might damage the air hose.
remove the liner, grasp the plastic attaching connector and gently pull out, the air will rush quickly so go slowly. Once the air is out, loosen all the mounting bolts underneath package tray, loosen the bottom big bolt of the strut, and it will drop free.
use some brake cleaner to clean the inlet area and hose. Put some MP grease on the hose and gently reinsert into your new strut. The shop manual says to use new o-rings but I've reused the existing ones twice with no issue.
05-13-16, 09:04 AM
Rear air suspension shock replacement
