Greetings All,
98LX, 117K miles, all original AHC components. Since buying it, I have flushed all damping actuators and the accumulator 4 months ago until fresh red fluid came through. Ride quality improved for about a week, and has since gone way down hill worse than when before I flushed fluid.
Fast forward to present day. The LX has been parked in the driveway and hasn't moved an inch in over two months. It's a constant source of disappointment every time I walk out into the driveway and see it sitting there, looking neglected, needing some love that I just can't wrap my head around where to begin now.
I took it out to the 4x4 beach the day before I parked it. At the beach, I found a tiny mouse in the engine compartment hiding out near the battery. It does sit idle for days on end so this mouse wasn't too much of a surprise. He had definitely NOT taken up residence when I found him....he was just looking for a place to escape the heat I think. I'm rambling on here about any detail leading up to the LX getting parked that I can think of that may end up relevant or not. That said, I haven't found any chewed up wiring or any damage that the tiny mouse may have caused.
When I got home from the beach, I noticed the AHC light was blinking OFF, and the fronts had settled and parked itself in the lowest position.I drove it to work the very next day. about halfway to work, AHC operation returned to normal, the flashing light went away, and I could cycle through L-N-H and back down. On my way home from work however, it defaulted back to limp mode, and the front is back down on the bumps with the flashing OFF light and no up/down control of the AHC
I pulled the DTC's with my amazon techstream, and got DTC C1751 (continuous electric current to compressor) and C1762 (abnormal oil pressure for pump). I've read every one of the VERY few threads here on mud regarding these two DTCs, (which point to the pump sub-assembly), as well as reviewing the FSMs that I own. In the past I've considered myself a pretty handy fellow around a vehicle...but EVERYTHING to do with the AHC completely confuses me to the point that my frustrations with the suspension are so frustrating that I let it sit parked and try to ignore it. But the time has come to fix the damn thing and get back to loving every minute of driving it.
First and foremost, I'm not even sure how to clear the DTCs in my copy of techstream. I figured that if i cleared the codes, I could at least get it back to N height to drive it to a indepentent shop or the dealership to get their eyes on it. But if I managed to clear the DTC's, that may not even work to get me back to N height.
I can say that I have somewhat visually confirmed that the height sensors are still connected...but it's difficult short of removing the front wheels when the suspension is stuck so low on the bump stops.
I've read several instances of manually activating the pump with a jumper wire in the DLC1, but I'm not sure which posts to jump, (even with my FSM I feel blind), and I'm not positive this would even get my height back up to N.
Basically, I'm looking for ideas on what to do next. I'm pretty sure at this point its probably more cost effective to replace the AHC rather than throw parts at it, just to find out I need more parts. But I could just be fed up enough that I've convinced myself the whole system is too troublesome and needs to go. My logic tells me that right now my issues are just with the pump itself - but once I get that fixed I still have to deal with the bouncy harsh ride - and we all know how much those dampeners and accumulators run.
I'm definitely handy enough to swap out standard suspensions for standard suspensions, but I'm not sure what to do with the AHC. I'd prefer to do it the right way and rip the whole system out if I have to, but that may be above my pay grade and I may be better off just capping the lines and swapping out to a standard suspension.
I'd replace with an OME medium kit (~$1,700 w/ UCA's), or something Icon/Fox/King designed for the LC ($$$$$). At any rate, I'm confident a nice lift with aftermarket goodies would still be light years cheaper than to replace my AHC components at this stage.
I guess what I'm looking for is recommendations from those experienced on what I should do next. I'm down to tinker with the AHC and codes.....but I'm so confused at this point I'm not sure where I'd start first.
Can anyone recommend an experienced LX/LC shop somewhere in NC or close that has done conversions? I believe it's slee that will do a full conversion and removal of all AHC components even including the bulb on the dash and the "pocket" coin holder....Are there any companies that sell kits for capping off the lines if I were to do the conversion myself? Can anyone comment on the level of difficulty of completely removing all the AHC components and lines myself?
So confused on what to do......thank you ALL for your input.
@PADDO
98LX, 117K miles, all original AHC components. Since buying it, I have flushed all damping actuators and the accumulator 4 months ago until fresh red fluid came through. Ride quality improved for about a week, and has since gone way down hill worse than when before I flushed fluid.
Fast forward to present day. The LX has been parked in the driveway and hasn't moved an inch in over two months. It's a constant source of disappointment every time I walk out into the driveway and see it sitting there, looking neglected, needing some love that I just can't wrap my head around where to begin now.
I took it out to the 4x4 beach the day before I parked it. At the beach, I found a tiny mouse in the engine compartment hiding out near the battery. It does sit idle for days on end so this mouse wasn't too much of a surprise. He had definitely NOT taken up residence when I found him....he was just looking for a place to escape the heat I think. I'm rambling on here about any detail leading up to the LX getting parked that I can think of that may end up relevant or not. That said, I haven't found any chewed up wiring or any damage that the tiny mouse may have caused.
When I got home from the beach, I noticed the AHC light was blinking OFF, and the fronts had settled and parked itself in the lowest position.I drove it to work the very next day. about halfway to work, AHC operation returned to normal, the flashing light went away, and I could cycle through L-N-H and back down. On my way home from work however, it defaulted back to limp mode, and the front is back down on the bumps with the flashing OFF light and no up/down control of the AHC
I pulled the DTC's with my amazon techstream, and got DTC C1751 (continuous electric current to compressor) and C1762 (abnormal oil pressure for pump). I've read every one of the VERY few threads here on mud regarding these two DTCs, (which point to the pump sub-assembly), as well as reviewing the FSMs that I own. In the past I've considered myself a pretty handy fellow around a vehicle...but EVERYTHING to do with the AHC completely confuses me to the point that my frustrations with the suspension are so frustrating that I let it sit parked and try to ignore it. But the time has come to fix the damn thing and get back to loving every minute of driving it.
First and foremost, I'm not even sure how to clear the DTCs in my copy of techstream. I figured that if i cleared the codes, I could at least get it back to N height to drive it to a indepentent shop or the dealership to get their eyes on it. But if I managed to clear the DTC's, that may not even work to get me back to N height.
I can say that I have somewhat visually confirmed that the height sensors are still connected...but it's difficult short of removing the front wheels when the suspension is stuck so low on the bump stops.
I've read several instances of manually activating the pump with a jumper wire in the DLC1, but I'm not sure which posts to jump, (even with my FSM I feel blind), and I'm not positive this would even get my height back up to N.
Basically, I'm looking for ideas on what to do next. I'm pretty sure at this point its probably more cost effective to replace the AHC rather than throw parts at it, just to find out I need more parts. But I could just be fed up enough that I've convinced myself the whole system is too troublesome and needs to go. My logic tells me that right now my issues are just with the pump itself - but once I get that fixed I still have to deal with the bouncy harsh ride - and we all know how much those dampeners and accumulators run.
I'm definitely handy enough to swap out standard suspensions for standard suspensions, but I'm not sure what to do with the AHC. I'd prefer to do it the right way and rip the whole system out if I have to, but that may be above my pay grade and I may be better off just capping the lines and swapping out to a standard suspension.
I'd replace with an OME medium kit (~$1,700 w/ UCA's), or something Icon/Fox/King designed for the LC ($$$$$). At any rate, I'm confident a nice lift with aftermarket goodies would still be light years cheaper than to replace my AHC components at this stage.
I guess what I'm looking for is recommendations from those experienced on what I should do next. I'm down to tinker with the AHC and codes.....but I'm so confused at this point I'm not sure where I'd start first.
Can anyone recommend an experienced LX/LC shop somewhere in NC or close that has done conversions? I believe it's slee that will do a full conversion and removal of all AHC components even including the bulb on the dash and the "pocket" coin holder....Are there any companies that sell kits for capping off the lines if I were to do the conversion myself? Can anyone comment on the level of difficulty of completely removing all the AHC components and lines myself?
So confused on what to do......thank you ALL for your input.
@PADDO
