FAQ: Automatic Leveling Control (ALC) Concerns

There are other reasons the sides would be uneven. For instance, if you park it on a surface that's not level side-to-side. Or if you have a weak spring. Or a bad air shock. Or uneven weight.

This will be a lot cheaper to fix if you can get the parts from Ed Morad.

Albertj

Well where I live everything is pretty much flat... Literally. If there were no trees or hills you could probably see for miles on end... Im in NW Ohio by Toledo.

Since everything around heres flat for the most part I would guess thats not it. Our parking lots paved and fairly flat, lol

And like I said it was working on Thursday when I drove it to work. Everything was cushy and fine...

Thats why Im stumped. Its like I put the radio in BAM it dont work...

Go to your local auto parts store and buy the monroe replacements with the air line kit and pull the fuse on your compressor. Cheapest fix and it works great. The only down fall is that you have to manually put air into the shocks via a schrader valve.

What year is your car again Ryan?

The sensor is mounted to the left front side of the rear suspension support assembly. The actuating arm is attached to the left rear control arm by a short link. It is under car not by the compressor. Maybe you bent or broke this. 1995 car maybe diff on other years.

Yes its a 1995.

I seen the controllers for both sides with their little links. They both appear to be where they belong and normal.

Can someone with a working stock system start their car up somewhere level and measure from the ground to the top center of a wheel well for me?

I want to see how far off mine is.

I got a ton of flack last night and the cold shoulder when it was time for bed... Shes really mad and truly believes I did something to screw it up. Im a bit upset also as it seems funny how it just stopped working- but I cant think of anything I would of done.

My 1995 is 28.5 inches both sides. Trunk loaded very light.

All Auroras have the same compressor , sensors , relays and shocks if you are in a junk yard. At least I am pretty sure I was under one and it all looked the same. Dealer could verify. The relay under seat completes the 12v to the compressor motor when it is energized. The sensor under car controls the function. Min. air in shocks is maintained at 7-14 psi. When changing load in trunk it starts a timer circuit after 17 to 27 seconds the sensor under car provides a ground to complete the compressor relay circuit. You can test compressor unplug connector @ compressor. 1st connector black wire is ground. Third wire is green for 12volts. Good luck

I have compressor and sensor I pulled off my car. Working. PM me if interested.

hey thanks for that advice!

im going to try and jump that compressor before I jump to conclusions.

I think one shock is dead for sure however. its rammed up inside itself and wont come down

Check instrument panel fuse block HVAC CONT fuse before the above tests. Spare fuses under rear seat in fuse block marked under lid.I hope this is it.

Thats a fuse block under the rear seat?

Will check tonight for sure.

Thanks for the help guys! I need to get this car done/out of my hair so I can relax.

Instrument panel fuse block on left hand side of dash is the fuse HVAC CONT 10 amp. There are spare fuses in fuse block under rear seat if you need one. They are marked on the inside of the black cover.

Thanks for the help! After dinner I will go down and check fuses. I use a multimeter to check them.

I got plenty of the mini fuses as I bought a big assortment. Dont have any of the larger MAXI fuses though.

New shocks being ordered...

Well I went through the fuses.

Every fuse on the instrument block was good. I rechecked the ELC fuses under the rear seat. All good.

One thing I will note as odd. When I pulled the 60A Maxi (large) fuse and put it back in the power antenna went about half up then back down? Also if I pull that fuse (as previously mentioned) a light comes on @ the dash and it affects the voltage overall of the car...

new shocks ordered

Now to figure this pump out or go with the pre pumped shocks.

How often do they loose air?

Part of the beauty of the Riv is the bells and whistles. If you disconnect the link of the driverside actuator and push the actuator up car not running but key in run position (actuator on sensor) within 30 seconds the compressor should run. Also be sure the electrical connection on sensor and compressor are tight. You say you had an identical relay and replaced it under the back seat? I don't know how often they loose air.

Thanks for that advice. I will try that along with other possibilities to see what I can come up with.

Now just need the new shocks and get her back into the garage...

So how's it going?

Albertj

Well Im in a holding pattern until the shock arrive. I agree part of the luxury Riviera experience is this awesome air ride system.

Im will probably toss the new shock on and just fill/cap them off until spring when I can work on it easier.

Unless I can figure it out/fix it easily.

Ok I got the new air shocks in today...

Im a bit perplexed by what Im seeing. Sure the chart said it will fit the 95 Riviera but there dont even look the same???

Heres what showed up:


Heres whats on there:




So theres the major parts.

It also came with two bags of "sh...t" lol. Black tubes and other stuff. Now I gotta figure out whats what...

just a different style of air shock. They look kinda like Gabriels or Monroes maybe?!? Not sure. No biggie.

The hoses are supplied in case the OE fittings you have don't fit and in case your hoses are split or shot..

And it's great that the new shocks came with the top monunts, that alone saved you serious $$.

If the air nipples on the new shocks are the same as on the ones on the car, installation got simple. I won't go into details, you got instructions with the shocks no doubt.

The only other thing - I think you should go out and buy new bolts and speednuts for the bottoms. Unless they are in the two bags of parts you got. Because with the apparent age of the shocks on there now, those $#@&$(* bolts or the nuts are likely to break when you try to remove them even if you soak them in PBBlaster. And if you have new ones you don't have to worry about reusing the old ones. If you ask at a NAPA or CarQuest they should be able to sell you some cheap. If you know what you're looking at you can get them (bolts and speednuts) at a full-line hardware store or a Home Depot too, as long as you are sure to get Grade 8 or better bolts. It is VERY important you get grade-stamped bolts for this application.


Albertj

Ok its all done.

Im happy to say it wasnt very hard to do at all. The hardest part was holding the shock in while getting the bolts started on top. Yes I did this solo.

The lower bolts w/speed nuts werent even a challenge. I doused them with Kroil and they spun right off without any type of a fight.

The new shocks came with the upper mounts. I believe they were preinstalled as the center bolt wouldnt budge so I just pushed the hole assembly up in there.

The tricky part was trying to run the tubing to the back. I removed the plastic shroud to the rear of the car and put a hole into the wheel well behind it. THis lets me get the tube into the trunk.

I ended up putting the Tee onto the plastic piece ointing to the front of the car. Really nowhere else to put it except for hiding it in the back.

Aired it up now Im riding DONK style (Donk: Raised HIGH). Im at 31" Drivers side and 30.5" Passenger @ 95 PSI.

I need to know what others with similar setups is using PSI wise...

The range is 25-200 PSI. I figured I would shoot for about 100 for a start. The car hopped right up Im was shocked.

I think the last time I measured my car on level ground with stock air shocks and pump it was about 30".
I don't know what the PSI is because I'm running stock compressor.

The idea of air shocks is not to raise the back, but to add adjustable support, and raise it under a load. You should let all the air out, then add just enough for the back to start to rise a little bit. I'm making an educated guess it will be around 20 PSI. You should not ride around with the rear suspension 'stiff', you are just asking for trouble like that. In a hard corner you can get some odd bouncing and have control problems.