Air Suspension Failure - twice on the same trip

[jmcdermo]

We have a 2019 2500 Laramie Cummins diesel with the Air Suspension and before this most recent trip we've towed our travel trailer about 10k miles on about a dozen trips. On day 11 of our recent travel trailer vacation (less than 20k miles on the truck) our right rear Air Spring went "bang" and the icon and "Service Air Suspension Immediately" message came up. 6 days later and $55 to "expedite" the new spring the truck was repaired and we were back on the road planning to catch up with our friends. I took a picture of the removed "failed" air spring when I picked up the truck. I expected to see a big hole, judging by the noise it made, but it looked relatively normal (picture 1).


Then, on the same day we picked up the truck, just 100 miles down the road, the rear end felt squirrelly in a turn and the icon and message were back. This time there was no "bang" - just the familiar feel of the rear end with no air suspension and the icon and messages. So once again, we limped into the closest dealer (not the same dealer who did the first replacement). This time I took pictures at the dealer and the spring that was just replaced was mangled, looked like an accordion that had been pulled apart and stepped on (picture 2)

.

This time the codes indicated that the air suspension controller needed replaced, but I'm betting it needed a new spring too - specially since I could hear hissing coming from that side of the truck before the codes were thrown and the suspension gave up trying to level the truck (not the standard compressor noises). It would have been another week for the parts and by then we were going to be on day 24 of a planned 30 day vacation and 5 days away from home. So we pulled the plug and paid a transport company to haul the trailer 1500 miles to home and we drove the truck with the failed air suspension without the trailer. The ride was like the truck didn't have any shock absorbers. Our local dealer has the truck now and they're so backed up that they're saying it could be 7-10 days before they've completed a diagnosis and possibly 2 months before it's repaired.

Three questions:
1) have any of you had an air suspension failure and if so, was the dealer able to fix it such that you have restored confidence in your vehicle? Right now, after two failures and a ruined vacation, I'm not sure I'll ever trust this truck again. I saw a post from gyoung360 on 8/24/20 about his air suspension failure, but he didn't post the resolution.
2) have any of you ripped out the factory Air Suspension and replaced it with something more reliable? If so, what?
3) do you think putting the truck in "bed low" position and then raising the truck using the trailer jack to connect the tension bars of the weight distributing hitch is a problem. Like other posters I've looked and couldn't find any "official" way to connect a Ram with Air Suspension to a weight distributing hitch.

PS - the tongue weight of the trailer is around 1100 lbs and I've been through the CAT scales and with the trailer connected the truck is loaded (9700 lbs) but not over it's 10K GVWR.

 

[Brutal_HO]

Can't answer your questions but just want to point out that the accordion you see (without an expected hole) is just a dust cover over an inner air bag.

If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say the controller isn't calibrated properly and is overfilling the bags causing them to fail.

 

[jmcdermo]

Ahhh - the dust cover over the inner air bag explains a lot. Also, your wild guess isn't so wild, as I said in my post, the second dealer pulled the codes after the second failure and walked the service decision tree. That pointed him to replacing the controller.

Thanks! I did hear from the Gen Mgr at a Ram Dlr in CO who has sold and serviced a bunch of these that he's never seen an air suspension controller fail and not eventually need to also replace the compressor. But working with the dealer service dept it's a very linear/serial process: replace part A, if condition persists, replace part B, if condition persists, replace part C... With the current back log at dealer service departments, I'm afraid I may be battling this for months.

 

[Brutal_HO]

Unfortunately, shotgunning a whole bunch of expensive parts isn't likely to happen, nor does it identify the root cause. Dealers are also at the mercy of working within the confines of warranty reimbursement. There *may* be cascading and repeated failures but if the dealer is having trouble identifying, they need to get a STAR case open and escalate for specialist help.

 

[RamCares]

Hello @jmcdermo!

We would like to look into this matter further in tandem with your dealer appointment. Please send our team a private message with your VIN as well as the date of your latest dealer appointment for us to review.

Hannah
Ram Cares

 

[jmcdermo]

Private message with all the details sent to the @RamCares team.


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[Firebird]

That really sucks! I wonder if you could retrofit Firestone bags in place of the stock system?

 

[jmcdermo]

@Firebird - that’s kind of why I was asking. Wondering if anyone out there got so fed up with the factory air suspension that they replaced it with something more reliable.


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[Swede 21 2500 Big Horn]

We have a 2019 2500 Laramie Cummins diesel with the Air Suspension and before this most recent trip we've towed our travel trailer about 10k miles on about a dozen trips. On day 11 of our recent travel trailer vacation (less than 20k miles on the truck) our right rear Air Spring went "bang" and the icon and "Service Air Suspension Immediately" message came up. 6 days later and $55 to "expedite" the new spring the truck was repaired and we were back on the road planning to catch up with our friends. I took a picture of the removed "failed" air spring when I picked up the truck. I expected to see a big hole, judging by the noise it made, but it looked relatively normal (picture 1).
View attachment 22952

Then, on the same day we picked up the truck, just 100 miles down the road, the rear end felt squirrelly in a turn and the icon and message were back. This time there was no "bang" - just the familiar feel of the rear end with no air suspension and the icon and messages. So once again, we limped into the closest dealer (not the same dealer who did the first replacement). This time I took pictures at the dealer and the spring that was just replaced was mangled, looked like an accordion that had been pulled apart and stepped on (picture 2)

View attachment 22953.

This time the codes indicated that the air suspension controller needed replaced, but I'm betting it needed a new spring too - specially since I could hear hissing coming from that side of the truck before the codes were thrown and the suspension gave up trying to level the truck (not the standard compressor noises). It would have been another week for the parts and by then we were going to be on day 24 of a planned 30 day vacation and 5 days away from home. So we pulled the plug and paid a transport company to haul the trailer 1500 miles to home and we drove the truck with the failed air suspension without the trailer. The ride was like the truck didn't have any shock absorbers. Our local dealer has the truck now and they're so backed up that they're saying it could be 7-10 days before they've completed a diagnosis and possibly 2 months before it's repaired.

Three questions:
1) have any of you had an air suspension failure and if so, was the dealer able to fix it such that you have restored confidence in your vehicle? Right now, after two failures and a ruined vacation, I'm not sure I'll ever trust this truck again. I saw a post from gyoung360 on 8/24/20 about his air suspension failure, but he didn't post the resolution.
2) have any of you ripped out the factory Air Suspension and replaced it with something more reliable? If so, what?
3) do you think putting the truck in "bed low" position and then raising the truck using the trailer jack to connect the tension bars of the weight distributing hitch is a problem. Like other posters I've looked and couldn't find any "official" way to connect a Ram with Air Suspension to a weight distributing hitch.

PS - the tongue weight of the trailer is around 1100 lbs and I've been through the CAT scales and with the trailer connected the truck is loaded (9700 lbs) but not over it's 10K GVWR.

I have a '21 Long Horn 2500 Crew Cab short bed. The air suspension initially worked great but at about 1,200, with no load, an error message popped up stating air suspension required service. I pulled the fuses connected to air suspension and reinserted. This reset the system. No issues.
However I recently pulled my 38 ft. 5th wheel, 12,000 lbs. on the trailer, 2,500 lb. tongue weight, just shy of 24,000 lbs. GCWR, and had no issues going to camp. However, on return, the air suspension had some issues. It would not adjust to ride height but still functioned. This time I went into the main menu screen where you can tell the air suspension to deflate for service or tire change. Deflated the system and then requested return to normal height. Worked and no problems since.

I would check the system. MY GUESS is that the system went to no air which damaged the air bags.
Your weight is not close to the limit. Actual '21 2500 owners manual states: Max trailer 25,000 lbs., Max tongue weight 3,750 lbs.

 

[jmcdermo]

I have a '21 Long Horn 2500 Crew Cab short bed. The air suspension initially worked great but at about 1,200, with no load, an error message popped up stating air suspension required service. I pulled the fuses connected to air suspension and reinserted. This reset the system. No issues.
However I recently pulled my 38 ft. 5th wheel, 12,000 lbs. on the trailer, 2,500 lb. tongue weight, just shy of 24,000 lbs. GCWR, and had no issues going to camp. However, on return, the air suspension had some issues. It would not adjust to ride height but still functioned. This time I went into the main menu screen where you can tell the air suspension to deflate for service or tire change. Deflated the system and then requested return to normal height. Worked and no problems since.

I would check the system. MY GUESS is that the system went to no air which damaged the air bags.
Your weight is not close to the limit. Actual '21 2500 owners manual states: Max trailer 25,000 lbs., Max tongue weight 3,750 lbs.

Thanks for the info and tip. I’ll keep that in mind for when we get the truck back from the dealer. I’m betting the controller may be at the root of all this. Too much air in the first failure (we heard the loud bang), then possibly too little or no air in the second failure.


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[H3LZSN1P3R]

I would be really interested to see if you could run a a set of airlift bags and the oem bags tied in together, they would share the load and ad more stability as the airlift bags would be outboard much further than the oem bags

 

[jmcdermo]

FINAL RESOLUTION (for now)
As a reminder - this was a real physical failure. The first air spring exploded (we heard it) and the second air spring lost air and got crushed between the frame and truck body. It looked like a kids slinky that got stepped on.

We got our truck back from the local dealer "fixed" - for now (fingers crossed). They installed a new air spring and flashed new software onto the controller per TSB 08-073-20. The local service advisor said the previous dealer installed the replacement spring incorrectly and didn't follow the TSB to flash the software, since the Air Suspension Control Module (ASCM) accepted the new software. Had it been previously updated it would not have allowed the update this time. I can actually feel a difference in the rate of change when going from "normal ride height" to "lower bed" So the controller with the new software is behaving differently.

After the repair, when our Ram Customer Care rep heard that the local dealer was claiming the part was installed incorrectly she started to try and move the blame, and therefore the responsibility for any reimbursement, to the dealer who performed the first repair. I pitched a fit - a direct quote from my lengthy email to my customer care rep:
Now, I have the service advisor from XYZ Dodge verbally telling me her technicians are good and they installed the part correctly, it must be a defective part.
And, I have the service advisor in [my home town] verbally telling me her technicians say the part was installed incorrectly.
I have nothing in writing stating either.
It shouldn’t be my problem to resolve the conflicting claims of the service advisors from two factory authorized service centers.
A warranty part failed, was repaired, and failed again on the same day the truck was repaired. Our vacation was ruined and we were left with no choice but to incur expenses to have our trailer safely hauled home and stay in hotels as we drove our broken truck home.

To her credit, after receiving my email, the representative did take the initiative and request reimbursement for the cost of having our trailer hauled back to NM from Oregon. I FOUND OUT TODAY THAT THE REQUEST WAS APPROVED AND "THE CHECK IS IN THE MAIL." Good for FCA, LLC for trying to retain us as Ram customers and good for Janet our Customer Care Representative for seeking approval for this reimbursement!

Postscript - two things:
1) While looking for Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) that concern air suspensions I came across something called a "GPOP - Issue Review System" notice #90044123, dated 12/11/2019. I've attached the PDF. This tells service techs the names and numbers of two people to call in Michigan when servicing Air Suspension issues. Must be a lot of issues for FCA to put out such a notice.

2) I came across a company in Canada called AirDelete <https://airdelete.com> They make a kit for $1250 CD that replaces the rear air springs with progressive coil springs and Bilstein shocks. Seems like there must be a good demand for such kits for a company like this to start a business and stay in business. I'm debating about pulling the trigger and ripping out the air springs, but at least now I know I have the option.

Cheers!

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

FINAL RESOLUTION (for now)
As a reminder - this was a real physical failure. The first air spring exploded (we heard it) and the second air spring lost air and got crushed between the frame and truck body. It looked like a kids slinky that got stepped on.

We got our truck back from the local dealer "fixed" - for now (fingers crossed). They installed a new air spring and flashed new software onto the controller per TSB 08-073-20. The local service advisor said the previous dealer installed the replacement spring incorrectly and didn't follow the TSB to flash the software, since the Air Suspension Control Module (ASCM) accepted the new software. Had it been previously updated it would not have allowed the update this time. I can actually feel a difference in the rate of change when going from "normal ride height" to "lower bed" So the controller with the new software is behaving differently.

After the repair, when our Ram Customer Care rep heard that the local dealer was claiming the part was installed incorrectly she started to try and move the blame, and therefore the responsibility for any reimbursement, to the dealer who performed the first repair. I pitched a fit - a direct quote from my lengthy email to my customer care rep:
Now, I have the service advisor from XYZ Dodge verbally telling me her technicians are good and they installed the part correctly, it must be a defective part.
And, I have the service advisor in [my home town] verbally telling me her technicians say the part was installed incorrectly.
I have nothing in writing stating either.
It shouldn’t be my problem to resolve the conflicting claims of the service advisors from two factory authorized service centers.
A warranty part failed, was repaired, and failed again on the same day the truck was repaired. Our vacation was ruined and we were left with no choice but to incur expenses to have our trailer safely hauled home and stay in hotels as we drove our broken truck home.

To her credit, after receiving my email, the representative did take the initiative and request reimbursement for the cost of having our trailer hauled back to NM from Oregon. I FOUND OUT TODAY THAT THE REQUEST WAS APPROVED AND "THE CHECK IS IN THE MAIL." Good for FCA, LLC for trying to retain us as Ram customers and good for Janet our Customer Care Representative for seeking approval for this reimbursement!

Postscript - two things:
1) While looking for Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) that concern air suspensions I came across something called a "GPOP - Issue Review System" notice #90044123, dated 12/11/2019. I've attached the PDF. This tells service techs the names and numbers of two people to call in Michigan when servicing Air Suspension issues. Must be a lot of issues for FCA to put out such a notice.

2) I came across a company in Canada called AirDelete <https://airdelete.com> They make a kit for $1250 CD that replaces the rear air springs with progressive coil springs and Bilstein shocks. Seems like there must be a good demand for such kits for a company like this to start a business and stay in business. I'm debating about pulling the trigger and ripping out the air springs, but at least now I know I have the option.

Cheers!

The biggest reason the air delete exists here is the fact that many truck with air ride mainly 1500s dont seem to work well in the cold i know the local dealer told me they wont sell them anymore due to the high compressor failure rate…. One time i was there they had 8 trucks sitting waiting for replacement compressors

 

[CharlieL]

Wow. What an ordeal for you. I have the rear air in my 2022. One reason I decided on that was due to how great the 4-corner air suspension was in my 2013 Laramie 1500. I read that folks had issues primarily due to cold weather. That was never a problem for me. The only message I ever saw was “Air Suspension Cooling Down.” That happened a few times and usually not when it was hot! Just took it as an oddity.

I found that when connecting the WD hitch on my trailer that it seemed best to put the air into “tire jack” mode. That turned the air off and the truck wasn’t fighting against being raised up by the trailer jack. I towed the trailer probably around 50k miles with no problems from the air suspension system. It weighed 5,000 loaded and had 500 lbs hitch weight.

 

[jmcdermo]

Wow. What an ordeal for you. I have the rear air in my 2022. One reason I decided on that was due to how great the 4-corner air suspension was in my 2013 Laramie 1500. I read that folks had issues primarily due to cold weather. That was never a problem for me. The only message I ever saw was “Air Suspension Cooling Down.” That happened a few times and usually not when it was hot! Just took it as an oddity.

I found that when connecting the WD hitch on my trailer that it seemed best to put the air into “tire jack” mode. That turned the air off and the truck wasn’t fighting against being raised up by the trailer jack. I towed the trailer probably around 50k miles with no problems from the air suspension system. It weighed 5,000 loaded and had 500 lbs hitch weight.

Glad to hear you haven’t had any problems. Hopefully our problems are over now.


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[CharlieL]

Glad to hear you haven’t had any problems. Hopefully our problems are over now.


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Yes, I hope so too for you. I see you are just up I-25 from me!

 

[Brutal_HO]

Wow. What an ordeal for you. I have the rear air in my 2022. One reason I decided on that was due to how great the 4-corner air suspension was in my 2013 Laramie 1500. I read that folks had issues primarily due to cold weather. That was never a problem for me. The only message I ever saw was “Air Suspension Cooling Down.” That happened a few times and usually not when it was hot! Just took it as an oddity.

I found that when connecting the WD hitch on my trailer that it seemed best to put the air into “tire jack” mode. That turned the air off and the truck wasn’t fighting against being raised up by the trailer jack. I towed the trailer probably around 50k miles with no problems from the air suspension system. It weighed 5,000 loaded and had 500 lbs hitch weight.

Yea, you're supposed to lock out the air when hooking up a heavy bumper pull with W/D.

 

[CharlieL]

Yea, you're supposed to lock out the air when hooking up a heavy bumper pull with W/D.

True. However, nowhere in the owners manual for either the 1500 or the 2500 could I find that info. Just seemed like the right thing to do.

 

[Zeeman]

The rear air suspension system on the HD is awesome. If you are really wanting to minimize any risks then you can always just get Air springs that go inside the coil springs for additional load leveling. I did this on my 1500 with 392 gears and when I order my 2500 I will do the same thing if needed.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

The rear air suspension system on the HD is awesome. If you are really wanting to minimize any risks then you can always just get Air springs that go inside the coil springs for additional load leveling. I did this on my 1500 with 392 gears and when I order my 2500 I will do the same thing if needed.

Airlift 1000 Bags in the coils is for 1/2 tons these trucks you use airlift 5000s they go when the bumpstops are and work much better… also how can you say its “awesome” if you have never had it…. Further more the OP does not have coils only airbags so your suggestion makes no sense