DIY for front air struts

[LeMansX5]

Its open now. I had drenched in lithium grease overnight. Still did not budge.
Used the Gorilla extendible wrench with a 3-feet pipe bar at the end and it gave up. I have that wrench and pipe for these instances.
But impact wrench is way to go.

[Ricky Bobby]

I bought a 24" breaker bar from harbor freight for 10 bucks, works on any stubborn bolt you could imagine, 1/2" drive but I use 3/8" adapter on it if needed.

That and 5 bucks worth of PB blaster is worth its weight in gold.

[SlickGT1]

I also have a heavy duty Snapon ratchet adapter for my breaker bar. So I can even ratchet with it if I have to. And sometimes, you do need to ratchet on those bastard rust covered bolts.

[cncmastr]

Originally Posted by civdiv99

If you have EHC2 (4whl self-level), then your system doesn't use the 30 amp fuse. If you have EHC2, then your compressor system is a 50 amp fused circuit. In front of the spare tire is a fuse block. Pop off the white cover and note the 50 amp fuse (designated F204) with red/blue wire. Trace that wire and you will see that it goes to your air system compressor assy, no detours. If you have this system then your relay (designated K126) is under the compressor housing. It is still removable, just more work.

See the attached pics; note the red/blue wire.

Note: If you have EHC2 AND your sticker on the back of the passenger side rear cover (fuse block and subwoofer cover) says that fuse 87 (30A) is your air suspension, it's lying to you. Very easy to pull the white cover in front of the spare and see for yourself.

Can you just unplug the battery to accomplish the same thing?

[SlickGT1]

Originally Posted by cncmastr

Can you just unplug the battery to accomplish the same thing?

Yes you can. The only reason I can think of not doing that though, is the fact that you will reset everything when the battery is disconnected for a long time. I am not talking about radio and seats. I am talking about all the computers.

[cncmastr]

Originally Posted by SlickGT1

Yes you can. The only reason I can think of not doing that though, is the fact that you will reset everything when the battery is disconnected for a long time. I am not talking about radio and seats. I am talking about all the computers.

You're saying everything in NVRAM, all the information in the ECU is going to be discharged by not keeping them supplied with voltage?

[SlickGT1]

Originally Posted by cncmastr

You're saying everything in NVRAM, all the information in the ECU is going to be discharged by not keeping them supplied with voltage?

Yea, plus the fact that pulling 3 fuses, is easier if you pulled the correct ones. You know how people have problems when the disconnect the battery and then reconnect. Would you want to be dealing with new lights and errors after you just did a repair?

[LeMansX5]

You can tell that I am taking my sweet time to finish. I am enjoying driving my other car these days.

Originally Posted by civdiv99

If you have EHC2 (4whl self-level), then your system doesn't use the 30 amp fuse. If you have EHC2, then your compressor system is a 50 amp fused circuit. In front of the spare tire is a fuse block. Pop off the white cover and note the 50 amp fuse (designated F204) with red/blue wire. Trace that wire and you will see that it goes to your air system compressor assy, no detours. If you have this system then your relay (designated K126) is under the compressor housing. It is still removable, just more work.

See the attached pics; note the red/blue wire.

Note: If you have EHC2 AND your sticker on the back of the passenger side rear cover (fuse block and subwoofer cover) says that fuse 87 (30A) is your air suspension, it's lying to you. Very easy to pull the white cover in front of the spare and see for yourself.

Opened the fuse box by prying with flat head screwdriver in holes with arrows as shown in pic below, while pulling very slowly or you will break the tabs.

The colors on mine are switched. The box is blue instead of green and the red cable has green stripe instead of blue. And more cables going to box than yours.

[LeMansX5]

All finished this evening.
I have had the dealer put the driver side last month for $1700 less 10% discount. Passenger side costs, with me doing the labor, $350 after returning the old unit. Money saved for future mods, priceless.

Strange was that dealer did just one side, despite me asking him; "Don't you need to do both sides?" Within 2 days from dealer visit, I hear noise on passenger side when going over pot holes.

Driver side is OEM unit so car is slightly higher than passenger side. Hope it corrects by itself.

Its proved, none of fuses; 72, 79 or 87 relate to air struts.

[SlickGT1]

Very nice. That is quite a savings. Post a link to the DIY. I'm sure this thread is going to keep going.