[jblakeman]

Hello All,

I'm 4 months in to owning my "new" 12 Overland and it's been for the most part a HUGE update to my previous 08....

The air suspension has always made at times interesting noises from the compressor (nasty vibrations on occasion...felt through the dash) and it seems it would vary between Aero & Normal modes even though I wasn't at that magic "63 MPH" speed....

But now that it has gotten much colder up here in Wisconsin with lows regularly in the 20's the system has really been wacky...Driving home the other night about 30 minutes into the drive I noticed the rear end was bottomed out (every bump WAS FELT like you were on the ground...). I pulled over (no messages in the dash or anything...) and the rear shocks were flat....I proceeded to pull into a gas station and tried the suspension switches to RAISE to OR1 / OR2 or LOWER to PARK / EXIT and all the switches would do is blink (LED's)....no compressor / no movement. I shut the Jeep off and got out. Looked around, checked the TIPM fuse (J1), all good. Started it back up and same behavior (the switches would blink but the suspension wouldn't do anything / compressor...).

I thought...ok it's the rear let's proceed home (another 20 minutes)....started driving and sure behold I received in the EVIC (Immediate Service Required / Air Suspension System) which doesn't stay up and disappears after 3 seconds....then about 5 more minutes down the road I stop at a stop sign and all the sudden I feel the rear come back up and the EVIC states "Normal Ride Height". I proceed home and everything is normal....

Fast forward to the next day, I start the Jeep and immediately hear the nasty vibration (which I was used to sparingly occurring over the summer / fall) followed by the same EVIC message "Immediate Service Required"...then before I head out of my driveway (Jeep is parked outside, cold temps...) the front shocks are flat, rear are all the way up!! Now what I'm thinking....so I back up to the garage, try the switches again to LIFT / LOWER jeep on the console and but this time the LED stays on the First indication (Normal Ride Height) and doesn't respond to my requests...further I now see in the EVIC "Ride Height Not Available" for each of my choices. No compressor noises no difference in the front shocks....I turn off the Jeep...wait 20 minutes, and start it back up...sure and behold the compressor fires up and sounds normal...balances back out the suspension and we're in business. I thought now I'm going to pull that J1 fuse so this thing doesn't keep having a mind of it's own....

So now I've been driving it with the fuse unplugged..shockingly (notice the pun in words...) the ride has stayed somewhat level, I've noticed the front does lose some air (about 1/2 inch every few days) but no compressor sounds and no bottoming out....I do get the EVIC "Immediate Service" but figured that's because it cannot call on the compressor to balance the height.

This AM the front was pretty low (inch / half lower than rear). So I popped hood, plugged in J1 fuse, fired her up, waited for compressor to balance out the shocks again then immediately yanked fuse once it shut off. Still drives as normal...no bottoming out....

Reading the forums and Google sounds like the compressors in these just start becoming flaky in the cold and can fail if un-diagnosed....Is it safe to keep doing this until I can take it in for Max Care checkup?

Thanks,

Jon

 

[jim_in_PA]

If you have MaxCare, no need to hesitate to get it looked at, IMHO.

 

[ColdCase]

A noisy compressor is the first sign its about ready to burn up. Sounds like a sticky valve body, perhaps due to contaminants in the nitrogen fill (moisture freezing). It sounds like you don't have a massive leak, perhaps a small one. So a replacement compressor, which comes with a new valve body, along with a careful check for leaks and purge/fill with fresh nitrogen will likely fix the issue. If there is a small leak, makeup air will be drawn in which could have some moisture in it. It will eventually corrode the valve body and freeze up in cold temperatures.

These things are unpredictable, but your work around seems to be working for now.

 

[woodsy18]

Sounds like a bad compressor. Mine just went 2 weeks ago. Bad compressor and front airlines were destroyed. Over $2300 bill. Route 66 covered all but 200 for nitrogen fill and dig time. For the last 2 seasons when the temps change in iowa some component of the air suspension fails in my 12 overland

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[Easy_B]

Sounds like a bad compressor. Mine just went 2 weeks ago. Bad compressor and front airlines were destroyed. Over $2300 bill. Route 66 covered all but 200 for nitrogen fill and dig time. For the last 2 seasons when the temps change in iowa some component of the air suspension fails in my 12 overland

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Yep. Compressor. Our 2017 trail hawks bit the dust. Thought the repair was closer to $3000 all in. But hey, what's a few hundred $ between Jeep nuts.

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[andyo5]

I must admit, after reading about all the Quadralift problems on this forum and others, I wish I had avoided it. A suspension that could fail and leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere at 2am? Not worth it. A regular spring/damper suspension would not do that.

 

[0f02r]

If threads like this don’t give you pause when considering a used QL vehicle or even a new one. I read this forum extensively prior to getting a WK2 ...I first considered a used 15 overland but settled on a new limited and my main decisions were items I didn’t want...all due to insight i received reading this forum. Sure it all sounds good but several threads recently have only justified my decisions to exclude certain options...I spent some on installing recovery hooks and skid plates and dual exhaust and think the HID lights would be neat but I am still not convinced they are nightmares too. Thanks to all who influenced me when deciding.

 

[jblakeman]

Thanks all for replies...my dealer of choice is backed up in doing recall work and can’t see me for two more weeks. Keeping the fuse out has worked...no issues other than the occasional service bleep in the EVIC...

After it’s “fixed” I may just keep the fuse out...I never really use the raise / lower features and this way if another leak sprouts up I’ll notice it before the new compressor craps out again....

I still don’t regret my choice...the Overland had everything I wanted...though it would have been nice if the QL was an option instead of standard...after warranty expires I will swap out the shocks for traditional sprung units if I keep the beast....

 

[andyo5]

Thanks all for replies...my dealer of choice is backed up in doing recall work and can't see me for two more weeks. Keeping the fuse out has worked...no issues other than the occasional service bleep in the EVIC...

After it's "fixed" I may just keep the fuse out...I never really use the raise / lower features and this way if another leak sprouts up I'll notice it before the new compressor craps out again....

I still don't regret my choice...the Overland had everything I wanted...though it would have been nice if the QL was an option instead of standard...after warranty expires I will swap out the shocks for traditional sprung units if I keep the beast....

Thanks for the write up. Questions:
1. Where is the J1 fuse located in the TIPM? I have looked in mine but did not see the fuses identified.
2. So if I set mine to normal height and then pulled the fuse, it would stay at normal height?

My Jeep is pretty new and the compressor sounds fine, but I am collecting information to use just in case that it screws up sometime in the future.
Thanks!

 

[Easy_B]

If threads like this don't give you pause when considering a used QL vehicle or even a new one. I read this forum extensively prior to getting a WK2 ...I first considered a used 15 overland but settled on a new limited and my main decisions were items I didn't want...all due to insight i received reading this forum. Sure it all sounds good but several threads recently have only justified my decisions to exclude certain options...I spent some on installing recovery hooks and skid plates and dual exhaust and think the HID lights would be neat but I am still not convinced they are nightmares too. Thanks to all who influenced me when deciding.

That's how I ended up with a JKU for myself. Had all these cars and trucks that had every option under the sun on them and guess what always breaks. The extra crap.

Even on my JKU when it does weird stuff, it is with the navigation radio/Bluetooth. But once I heard the Alpine radio upgrade I had to have it and this was the one we found.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[andyo5]

After studying my TIPM more closely, it seems that mine is a different version than the one used on the 2012 Jeeps. On my 2018, there are no fuses or other elements marked 'J'. All fuses are marked 'F'. The fuse designated for the air lift compressor is fuse F05. I have located it. It is a 40 amp fuse located on the far right rear corner of the TIPM.

 

[jblakeman]

With mine once inflated to normal height it stays at that ride height unless I go over 62 MPH then it’ll lower to Aero. It won’t go back to Normal w/o the fuse but I don’t care...I just eye out the height every few days and put the fuse in only when I need air or the height for 4 Low...hoping no leaks once they fix it so I can keep the fuse out longer....

 

[macmechanic]

I discovered that the QL in this 2011 does not like the cold and does the same thing, the compressor never turns on and it just blinks the lights but doesn't actually lift the Jeep. For the first 9 months after I got it, the front shocks would slowly bleed down if it wasn't used daily. I thought that it was rather odd but wasn't exactly sure if it was normal or not but then it stopped doing it all on it's own. I saw the "Service Air Suspension System" EVIC message one time just recently but the QL seems to work fine and I haven't seen it since.

 

[andyo5]

I saw the "Service Air Suspension System" EVIC message one time just recently but the QL seems to work fine and I haven't seen it since.

It's odd how the computer will send fault messages such as 'service 4wd system' (as I got yesterday) when everything is actually working. I had shifted into Sand mode. I saw two messages appear. "traction control off" plus the picture of the Jeep with squiggly lines, and "service 4wd". In sand mode, traction control is supposed to be off. The odd part was that the traction control button did not illuminate at first. After shutting the engine off and restarting in auto mode, the messages disappeared. When I shifted into sand mode again, the "traction control off" reappeared, this time with the button illuminated as supposed to be. No "service 4wd" message appeared for the rest of the day. Maybe it is learning what to do.

 

[andyo5]

I discovered that the QL in this 2011 does not like the cold

Check out this link. Cold seems to be a well known problem for QL:

https://suncoreindustries.com/produ...unctionality-common-issues-w2k-grand-cherokee

 

[ColdCase]

I discovered that the QL in this 2011 does not like the cold and does the same thing, the compressor never turns on and it just blinks the lights but doesn't actually lift the Jeep. For the first 9 months after I got it, the front shocks would slowly bleed down if it wasn't used daily. I thought that it was rather odd but wasn't exactly sure if it was normal or not but then it stopped doing it all on it's own. I saw the "Service Air Suspension System" EVIC message one time just recently but the QL seems to work fine and I haven't seen it since.

You probably got moisture drawn into the system to make up for the slow leak, which will freeze up the valve body, either with ice or corrotion, sometimes the compressor. They did change compressors sometime along the way to make it more tollerant of the cold and a little more robust.

 

[ColdCase]

It's odd how the computer will send fault messages such as 'service 4wd system' (as I got yesterday) when everything is actually working. I had shifted into Sand mode. I saw two messages appear. "traction control off" plus the picture of the Jeep with squiggly lines, and "service 4wd". In sand mode, traction control is supposed to be off. The odd part was that the traction control button did not illuminate at first. After shutting the engine off and restarting in auto mode, the messages disappeared. When I shifted into sand mode again, the "traction control off" reappeared, this time with the button illuminated as supposed to be. No "service 4wd" message appeared for the rest of the day. Maybe it is learning what to do.

There were quite a few reports of the service 4WD message when using sand mode over the years. Unless you were driving it hard and the clutches got hot, what you may be seeing are the symtoms of a balky shift mechanism. The transfer case is not in the position the computer wants, so it displays the indication, perhaps goes into default limp mode, which may over ride traction control settings.

There have been software updates over the years that address this. Perhaps its just one of those wear in items that loosen things up with use.

 

[andyo5]

There were quite a few reports of the service 4WD message when using sand mode over the years. Unless you were driving it hard and the clutches got hot, what you may be seeing are the symtoms of a balky shift mechanism. The transfer case is not in the position the computer wants, so it displays the indication, perhaps goes into default limp mode, which may over ride traction control settings.

There have been software updates over the years that address this. Perhaps its just one of those wear in items that loosen things up with use.

Good information. Thanks!

 

[jblakeman]

Just to update this post....dealer ended up replacing the compressor after all...it was shot! By the way the service department told me they recharge all of their Jeeps with normal air....not nitrogen and they've never used nitrogen on any Quadra-Lift models....not sure if this was true or not but they are a HUGE dealer so I thought that was a bit odd....

FCA covered the complete cost under MaxCare and the Jeep has been flawless since the repair but knowing what I "knew" I still decided to pull the J1 fuse just to see how it would maintain ride height both during our continued "average" winter (high's in the 20's) and more recently during our "polar vortex" (-20 degree average highs). Needless to say the suspension drop after a week with the fuse out in the "warmer" temps was marginal and other than the occasional EVIC bleep to "Service Air", it was fine....no real drop in height.

This week in the midst of the polar vortex I have noticed the shocks did drop noticeably after just 3 days....I'm not at the bumper stops yet but I'll be reconnecting the fuse on Friday (warmer temps) to allow it to refill to normal ride height....lost over an inch all the way around....

Thinking this is "normal" (may be a small leak but who's to know unless more owners try this and find out....) and most Quadra-Lift owners just don't notice this since the compressor is constantly making up the air loss in the "background"....therefore leading to greater run times and possible failures in the colder climates....I'm still on Maxcare and really shouldn't care about this but thought it's good to know for other owners....

 

[ColdCase]

Someone here posted that the O rings shrink a bit in colder weather and you can get a small leak that you wouldn't get in warmer weather. High quality Nitrogen is suppose to be used because it does not vary in pressure as much over temperature variations, (compressor works less), is dry to mitigate freeze ups, and has less tendency to leak. Nitrogen is cheap, why they wouldn't use it I dunno, but they are not following FCA directives. You may want to check the invoice and see if nitrogen is listed.