1998 cadillac deville air ride suspension problems...

Asked by migration_kyridgerun... Sep 30, 2010 at 03:18 PM about the 1998 Cadillac DeVille d'Elegance Sedan FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

98 cadillac deville, 4.6 110.000-miles great car, runs and drives awesome... but does not ride worth a crap... its riding way to low and i was told it was the air ride suspension... but i cant hear the pump running...and there isn't any lights on the dash that are on... anybody have any idea's.???

9 Answers

170

I actually have a Cadillac Deville myself and it was doing the same thing. I didn't have any lights on the dash and i felt like it was too low to the ground. I went into my dealership and they actually told me it was my air suspension, and i would need to replace it. It was going to cost me around 5 grand with the labor. That was way too much money for me to spend on my car that i didn't have. I began to look up some websites. I came across one that was Strutmasters.com and i found a conversion kit that eliminates the air and puts my car back up the way it suppose to be for under a grand. Not only did it fix my car but it came with a lifetime warranty and now i don't have to worry about the problem ever again.

17 people found this helpful.
480

brian's answer, I think is the best way to take care of the problem. I've done that on Lincoln Town cars. I've got a strut-masters catalog, but don't remember the price. Otherwise, It's usually very expensive to fix the problem with original equipment. It could be a bad compressor, leaking shocks, or a bad level sensor, which is located on the rear lower control arms. You should check all of the fuses, there may be 3 or 4 fuse boxes, check your manual. But make sure all of your connections at the compressor, and the level sensors are hooked up, and ok.

5 people found this helpful.
260

i have a 1999 cadillac deville since i had it the suspension never worked right i tried everything . then i went to the junk yard took the air compressor off a 2005 cadillac deville changed some brackets and the conector and with the new air shocks from arnott susp. it has improved to the point where i can load up the whole familly and go to the beach and it still wont bottom out i was very releived i spent 25$ on the air compessor and 350$ on the air struts from oreilly auto parts with lifetime waranty and best thing is i didnt even have to align it so the dealer wanted 5500$ to replace the suspension and i spent less than 400$ so my point is the air compressors get old and coroded and crap out eventaully leaking out air even though they might turn on they might not be pumping air in the right places so watch for that because its hard to tell unless your under the car checking the air pump .disconect the air lines where they connect to the pump to see if you have air flow coming out of the main port if not the pump is bad change it be sure if you get one from the junk yard get it out of the newer models of cadillac 2004 or newer .so at least the chances of finding a good one are far better only a few modifications are needed ..oh by the way i changed the air stuts first and got no results when i changed the air pump everything started working right and i got an udjustable arm on the level sensor so i can get the suspension a little higher in the back also a reason it dosent bottom out any more been working good for three months now hope this info helps somone.....

25 people found this helpful.
20

I HAVE A 1998 LASALLE SEDAN BY E&G JUST BOUT CAR GOT A GOOD DEAL ON CAR HAS BEEN SETTING UP FOR A YEAR OR SO JUST HAD TO REPLACE AC BUT IT SEEMS CAR IS LOW THE GUY THAT WORKED ON IT SAID IT ALL LOOKED FINE CANT FIND MUCH INFORMATION ON LASALLE ANY HELP FROM YALL WOULD BE FINE WHERE IS THE AIR COMPESSOR LOCATED AT ON THE CAR PLEASE TEX ME 478-494-3734 NEED ALL THE HELP I CAN GET IT CAN COST A LOT.

2 people found this helpful.
260

I would most likely be under the hood if it is air ride equipted if not then change the rear shocks or struts..

1 people found this helpful.
250

Ok here is your complete answer from a Cadillac owner and a certified long time technician (me). First thing to do is check the fuses.. under the hood on the drivers side there is a huge price of plastic covering it up. (Not just the little window flap) there are two fuses related to the stability control and air ride.. check thoes. There is one fuse in the trunk under the package tray( back glass area.. but in the trunk.. ) check that... if that's all ok .. on the left rear suspension towards the front of the upper and lower control arm there is about a 2 inch little rod connected to a gray box.. ( that is what senses your ride height and tells your rear air height compressor what to do) if that is connected properly and all of your fuses are ok then it is a bad rear air compressor.. located under the car at the right rear suspension. Just follow the air lines going to it you can't miss it.. I found one on parts geek for about 175$.. here's the important thing.. when you replace the compressor if your suspension doesn't go up at all or it goes up and slowly leaks back down replace the rear air shocks for about 300 otherwise you will just burn up your new compressor eventually.

25 people found this helpful.
20

It's a common problem, just plan on replacing everything before you start, it's one of those deals. Shocks, compressor, sensor and tubing... You have to drop the sub-frame bolts a few turns to get the compressor out, there are 4 bolts I believe, once you drop the rear sub-frame it's pretty easy. If your rear shocks have the hex key for the backup wrench, make sure you clean that hex key very well to get the dirt and rust off it or the hex wrench won't sit deep enough and it'll strip and you'll be grinding the rear shock nut off...

2 people found this helpful.
50

i also am having a sagging rear end in my 98 deville making it look like some sort of inner city drug dealers car , as i am not a mechanic i do take an active approach and/or participation to any mechanical or potential issues my vehicles,...So i asked my Dad, he told me to mix dawn dish soap with water and spray lines ,connections and air bags on shocks , so i backed up on some ramps and sprayed the lines and shocks and sure enough the rubber around the left shock was bubbling around the whole the whole shock... so i guess i start there

5 people found this helpful.
20

1999 Devill to low replaced pump Finley put some old school spacers in springs on back to ease the car raised car stoped bottoming out was solo hit a turtel now its ok cost 30.00 fixed 2 years

2 people found this helpful.

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