FAQ: Automatic Leveling Control (ALC) Concerns

I actually prefer having extra weight in the rear. It keeps the car a bit more neutral in hard cornering situations. Buick obviously thought about this, but still the car ended up front heavy. I decided to keep the faux dual exhaust system & spare tire, added a trailer hitch, installed a subwoofer enclosure in the trunk, and would have retained the ALC pump if it hadn't burned out - all with some consideration for more evenly distributed weight balance.

Some would say adding weight to the car slows it down. I would argue that adding power & torque more than makes up for it. A few strategically placed pounds in the rear isn't going to hurt acceleration that much, and it may help to add a bit of oversteer, something not typically seen in a heavy FWD car.

I have a full front/rear KYB suspension upgrade on order with MOOG springs included. NO ONE has a GM factory air line kit that I've been able to determine so far. Kit has been discontinued by GM, dealers don't have them. Checked a couple of the big GM parts houses, no dice. I know it's just air line, anyone have suggestions for sources, or should I avail myself of the McMaster-Carr catalog? (If you've never seen one, check out their website.)

There's a problem with the rear shocks on my riv I believe. When im going down the road, the back end will kind of bounce up and down, not a lot but it is definitely noticeable and has been pointed out to me before. Also, the motor for the air ride turns on a lot more than it is supposed to it seems. Can someone verify that the problem is the rear shocks? or is it something else?

Definitely sounds like the rear shocks. Either one of both is leaking pretty bad. Since you know your air pump is running a LOT, do yourself a HUGE favor and unplug the fuse for the ELC pump. That way it won't keep running and burn your pump out - then you can get yourself some nice new shocks and plug 'er back in.

yur better off geting rid of the OEM air ride.It's just a failure ready to happen.

http://www.strutmasters.com/Buick-Riviera-Air-Suspension-Rear-Conversion-Kit-p/-cad-r1-br.htm

robotennis61 wrote:

yur better off geting rid of the OEM air ride.It's just a failure ready to happen.

http://www.strutmasters.com/Buick-Riviera-Air-Suspension-Rear-Conversion-Kit-p/-cad-r1-br.htm

if the compressor is working and you have a bum shock, just get a pair of MA-822 shocks or some such and install them. You can find them for well under $100 pair (rockauto.com). If you look using the search function at Robotennis' earlier posts, you will see he does not use his car for variable duty (no passengers/luggage). If you do, you're better off *with* the air ride and fixing it by the way is cheaper than installing the strutmasters kit.

Albertj

Wow, does that Strutmasters deal really cost $277 + shipping? Why? Just buy a pair of MaxAir replacements from Rockauto for $56 (see discount code here: https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t8972-rockauto-introduction-discount-code) and be done with it! Keep the ALC pump, or if you need to bypass the pump, buy a manual air fill kit for $10-15 and keep using the MaxAir shocks. You can add or remove air to adjust he ride height to your needs. These shocks will last you at least 100k miles, probably more.

@ AJ.yeah but theyre so kool!

@ AA.Yeah but theyre so cool!

There are schools of thought and opinion out there that say a coil over set up,not necessarily an adjustable set up,act quicker on the suspension than say a set up where the shocks & springs are independent of each other like the Rivs.I am of that opinion.Whats my opinion? not much.But I can say,if you remove a stress point on a control arm,that has two stress points,and combine shock and spring,making it one unit.your suspension will work better.Is this a proven set up?maybe.But I can feel the difference between the two.And I like the coil over set up much better.An adjustable coil over setup thrice as much.

I see your point robo, but these guys at Strutmasters are selling their product based on an idea that dealerships are out to rip off their customers, and we will save us "thousands" of dollars, and days of rental car fees by using coil-overs, and that's simply not true. They are making the ALC system seem overly complex, using miles of air tubing, and some kind of "computer" - when it's actually very simple, quite reliable, and inexpensive to fix. Maybe Cadi and Lincoln owners would see some savings, but Rivieras use a different set-up. The shocks can be done in about an hour's time, even by a home mechanic, for about 1/4 the price.

AA wrote:

Wow, does that Strutmasters deal really cost $277 + shipping? Why? Just buy a pair of MaxAir replacements from Rockauto for $56 (see discount code here: https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t8972-rockauto-introduction-discount-code) and be done with it! Keep the ALC pump, or if you need to bypass the pump, buy a manual air fill kit for $10-15 and keep using the MaxAir shocks. You can add or remove air to adjust he ride height to your needs. These shocks will last you at least 100k miles, probably more.

Yeah... Strutmasters can get a lot because for some reason I don't get, some GM dealers' standard charge for this job exceeds $1,000. For that kind of money I think it assumes they R&R the compressor, lines and shocks IIRC. Issue is, I don't know of **anyone** with a maintained Riv who has had to do all that. Including me, I am on my third set of OE air shocks.

If you don't let the compressor burn out, you can fix the air ride with a pair of new shocks and hey, if you're so inclined you can replace the shocks in the driveway without even jacking the car up. The only thing is, and this is minor, you might want to get a new pair of Speednuts for the shocks (4 total) because on the older ones the old speednuts tend to rust, and if they are far enough gone they snap in 2 when you disassemble.

Fyi robo that link you provided is for 86-93 rivs. If you thought $277 was bad, the actual price for 95 and up is $289. And yeah the site seems like a bunch of bs. Quoting $500-$1000 for replacement air shocks is a bad joke and is only designed to scare ppl into buying their product.

@ Derek,Yeah but theyre so cool!

if you are hellbent on removing the spring and air ride then rockauto also sells a monroe "conversion kit" for $112.
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1022038,parttype,13000


I installed them on a friends 97riv and they work well. A tad bit too high for me but a stock height looks too high to me anymore.

those are cool!

My 2 cents is that the rear springs in my '97 Rivi are waaay stiffer than the one's in my previous Eldorado... The Cad needed the Level Ride to keep up with the cushy springs, while the pump on my Riv seldom does anything if I'm not hauling sacks of concrete.

Having said that, I believe in keeping things stock within reason, and I seem to remember someone (quite possibly AA) listing aftermarket air shocks that had the same quick-snap connectors as the Delco units - for much less money...

While driving home a couple days ago, I felt something different when I took a corner. It felt like one of the wheels were about to fall off, and the ride was extremely bumpy. After I got home (it was only a block away after I realized something was wrong) I got out to see that my dampeners decided to stop working. Luckily my coil springs are still in good shape, so they're taking all the weight currently as the Riv sits on my patio. Should my final verdict be replacing the old dampeners with new ones to solve this issue? Or could it be the self leveling system not working?

The ALC (self-leveling) system probably has a leak. This leads to your air pump working overtime until it burns out. The leak could be in the line, a connection, or the shocks themselves. If you have more than 100k miles on original shocks, they should be replaced. If you want the ALC to work, you'll need a new pump as well.

You must find the leak and fix it before you install a new air pump, or the same problem will happen again. An alternative option is to bypass the air pump and install a fill valve somewhere on the car, so you can manually fill to raise/lower the rear end. A kit for this costs $15-20. Saves you the price of a new pump.

Coltrain wrote:

While driving home a couple days ago, I felt something different when I took a corner. It felt like one of the wheels were about to fall off, and the ride was extremely bumpy. After I got home (it was only a block away after I realized something was wrong) I got out to see that my dampeners decided to stop working. Luckily my coil springs are still in good shape, so they're taking all the weight currently as the Riv sits on my patio. Should my final verdict be replacing the old dampeners with new ones to solve this issue? Or could it be the self leveling system not working?

The ALC is not that expensive to fix -- not free but not $1000 or even $500.

you can get a new compressor from Arnott Industries for under $250, a new line kit from a dealer for under $50 last time i checked, and new Monroe MA-822 shocks for under $100 most auto parts stores. There are other sources of rebuilt compressors, and you can consider getting a used one from a junkyard or the Morad link from the Dash on this site.

what of those parts you actually *NEED* depends on what's actually broken.

Here are some hints.

- shocks (dampeners you call them) that are leaking oil must be replaced.
- shocks with rubber air bladders showing cracking must be replaced.
- when you start the car, after a few minutes the air compressor should run. How to test - turn key to on (do not bother starting car) and wait. Compressor if working will turn on and run for a max of 45 seconds. If it turns on you you may not have to replace
- there is a chance that an air line to a shock became disconnected for some reason. If the air compressor is running, then Inspect the air lines to the shocks and repair/replace as needed - again, dealers sell air line kits. Also - if you buy the Gabriel air shocks (CarQuest stores, and many on-line places have them) you will get an air line kit along with the shocks. KYBs and Monroes come with GM factory fittings in the application indicated for the Riviera.

Bottom line for me is you need to do some trouble shooting. You may simply have a disconnected damper, someone who knows the system and has a twisted sense of humor can vex you by simply partly disconnecting an air line from either damper, and the car will assume the attitude shown in your picture.

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't responded to your help until now. After getting it on a lift and inspecting everything, I found out that the rear left shock completely blew out and the right one was barely hanging on. So I took your advice, albertj, and went to Oreilly's to pick up a set of MA-822's. Luckily they had them in stock so I went ahead and purchased them. I was very surprised on how simple it was to swap out the old ones and to install the new ones! Now i'm back on the road again with no bad suspension. The only issue I have now is a bad wheel bearing in the front driver side. I picked up a Precision wheel bearing for about $112 from Oreilly's yesterday as well. I'll stay in touch in case I run into any issues with swapping that out as well! Thanks again for the very helpful advice!

you are welcome, glad you caught it before the compressor burned out...

I have a question about my air lines. From the looks of it, I have an air line going directly from one rear air shock to the other...and that's it?! There is no air lines on the air compressor going to the shocks whatsoever. The whole ALC system still "works"...leveling switch and compressor both seem to work fine, but it's not doing the shocks any good. I'm not sure if they are original shocks or not, but my Riv has 140k miles on it, so it's most likely time to change them.

So if I get the Monroe MA822's, is there a OEM air line kit I can get, or is there a way to get the AK29 kit to work with the factory air compressor?

Thanks
Matt

I thought you could use the AK29 kit to re do the lines in a stock car. They give you a tee, but you don't have to use it.

Matt, how do you know the ALC is working? If the air lines from the pump aren't connected to the shocks, the system cannot be leveling the car properly.

The ak29 kit is made to replace the ALC system, not work along with it. If the kit where installed retaining the existing system, when you released air at the fitting, the pump would then react by adding back air to level the car, and probably vice versa.

Well, it's an interesting situation. I know it's "working" because when my dad and I both sat in the trunk, after 20 seconds the compressor turned on. But I knew it was going to run forever, so a few seconds after one of us got out, it stopped running. This tells me the leveling system itself is working. Obviously it's not connected to the shocks, but that part still works. Now the un-usual thing is, the rear of the car is not dragging on the ground. It's at a normal height. It's bouncy a bit, but nothing really bad. Not sure what to do. I pulled the relay for the pump anyway so it doesn't kill itself by running too much if that happens.

Mattwa wrote:

I have a question about my air lines. From the looks of it, I have an air line going directly from one rear air shock to the other...and that's it?! There is no air lines on the air compressor going to the shocks whatsoever. The whole ALC system still "works"...leveling switch and compressor both seem to work fine, but it's not doing the shocks any good. I'm not sure if they are original shocks or not, but my Riv has 140k miles on it, so it's most likely time to change them.

So if I get the Monroe MA822's, is there a OEM air line kit I can get, or is there a way to get the AK29 kit to work with the factory air compressor?

Thanks
Matt

If you get the Gabriel shocks from Autozone, they come with an air line kit. Air line kits are not pricey even from a GM dealer, in any case.

Sounds like a PO modified your air ride. Maybe you could post snapshots if you need more help with it. Pics of the compressor, the switch, the routing of the existing air lines.

The air ride on the Riv is not really needed for daily driving - the compressor puffs the shocks up a little at startup and puffs even more if the autolevel switch detects the rear is sagging under load. But that's it. The springs and shocks are more or less conventional. If the shocks are connected to each other and not leaking air then the pressure will tend to equalize. My thinking is they will seep air over time, though. I get the impression, Matt, you might benefit from a more thorough inspection of the rear suspension and air ride. Just saying. I guess what I'm really saying is I'm having difficulty making sense of what you posted so far.