Air compressor for suspension turns on every morning

[suprteck]

Has anyone else’s air compressor for the air suspension comes on every morning or after the vehicle has been sitting overnight? My compressor turns on for a couple of minutes every time it sits overnight. I brought it in to the service center and the first time they replaced the compressor and tightened a fitting. That didn’t fix it and I brought it in a second time. This time they said that everything is normal and couldn’t find a problem. What I do to test this is I lower the suspension then raise it back up and wait for the compressor to build up air and then I leave it overnight. In the morning when I get in the car and put it in drive the compressor turns on again. To me there is a small leak somewhere. Anyone else have this issue or is it a normal condition?

Sponsored

 

[madgrey]

Yes. More info here:
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/front-suspension-drops-overnight.9734/

 

[madgrey]

The key takeaways are document the issue and don't give up.

When you park for the day, set in "tire change mode" (prevents any adjustment and gives you a repeatable baseline) and then measure the drop the next day. I put marks on a paint stir stick.

Make sure they keep it day to observe any drop after any "fix". This prevented me from taking it home prematurely after the first attempt.

 

[suprteck]

The key takeaways are document the issue and don't give up.

When you park for the day, set in "tire change mode" (prevents any adjustment and gives you a repeatable baseline) and then measure the drop the next day. I put marks on a paint stir stick.

Make sure they keep it day to observe any drop after any "fix". This prevented me from taking it home prematurely after the first attempt.

I parked my truck in off road mode highest setting and tire change mode on and let the compressor pump up and stop and after a day I didn’t notice any drop in suspension. But when I put the truck in drive and turn off tire change mode the air compressor turns on for a couple of minutes. I wish I could see the air suspension diagram to see how the system works. Seems to me the leak is on the air tank side like a check valve leaking…

 

[madgrey]

I parked my truck in off road mode highest setting and tire change mode on and let the compressor pump up and stop and after a day I didn’t notice any drop in suspension. But when I put the truck in drive and turn off tire change mode the air compressor turns on for a couple of minutes. I wish I could see the air suspension diagram to see how the system works. Seems to me the leak is on the air tank side like a check valve leaking…

Mine was running the compressor each time I started driving since day one but I didn't actually notice the drop, and that it was only happening on the front struts, for a couple of weeks. It started out pretty subtle but there was a measurable difference when I started checking. I'd just set a mechanical inside caliper to the initial height and compare in the morning. Of course, a big clue will be how many struts are losing air.

 

[atebit]

My compressor like to run for a while after I park in my garage in kneel mode. Not sure why it should run at all after kneeling, or why it only happens at home in my garage and not when parked/kneeled elsewhere.

 

[Prime]

Front vs rear after 48 hrs. Front drops completely, rear doesn’t budge. Can’t be normal. Brought it up before, was told it’s normal. Opened another ticket as it seems it’s getting worse (accelerating dropping).

 

[Riviot]

Within spec

 

[KyleJJ06]

Front vs rear after 48 hrs. Front drops completely, rear doesn’t budge. Can’t be normal. Brought it up before, was told it’s normal. Opened another ticket as it seems it’s getting worse (accelerating dropping).

Mine looks the same shortly after 48 hours of not being moved. I have noticed before the 48 hour mark it will raise up fairly quick back to normal drive height, but once it gets to this level it only slowly raises. Almost like the air tank has gone empty too. Ive got a service appointment in August for them to look at it.

 

[Sevn86]

I’m experiencing something a bit different. Like this morning I noticed at a stop light that my front end kept adjusting and I could hear the compressor running. It kept doing it. Do y’all think I have a leak somewhere?

 

[evhelphub]

I noticed the same issues with mine. It would run every day but also did this weird behavior some mornings where the suspension would randomly "shoot up" to the correct height after driving for a few minutes. I was never driving on auto mode either.

 

[SoCal Rob]

I parked my truck in off road mode highest setting and tire change mode on and let the compressor pump up and stop and after a day I didn’t notice any drop in suspension. But when I put the truck in drive and turn off tire change mode the air compressor turns on for a couple of minutes. I wish I could see the air suspension diagram to see how the system works. Seems to me the leak is on the air tank side like a check valve leaking…

This may be normal since you didn’t notice a drop in the suspension, assuming that you put the truck in drive and turned off tire change mode while you were sitting in the truck. The reason is that the suspension reacts to changes in height between the frame and the wheel. When the vehicle is standing still, adding and removing weight from the vehicle cause the height changes. That includes cargo and people.

The Rivian behaves exactly like our old Land Rover: when you add weight to the vehicle and the suspension is compressed the system will run the suspension air compressor to add air which brings the suspension up to compensate for the added weight.

Unless you truly weigh nothing, just getting in the driver seat is enough to trigger a reaction from the system. Similarly, when you get out of the vehicle after a drive, after a short delay you should hear or see the truck lower slightly to compensate for the fact that weight was removed when you got out. The pressure which is released is what must be added back in the next time you drive.

My R1S does something else, which may indicate a leak: the compressor runs when I unlock it but before I touch or get in the vehicle. It doesn‘t run for long and I’ll ask about it the next time I have to submit a service ticket. The compressor may be running as a test when the vehicle unlocks for all I know. If that’s the case then I don’t have a problem.

For people new to air suspensions, it can take time to get used to the fact that it is normal for it to be reacting to changes based on cargo added/removed, people getting in/out, cornering, slowing, accelerating, and terrain when off-road. That‘s the suspension’s job and it’s normal.

edit:added a few words for clarity

 

[Kacey3]

Mine did that for a while... and then I noticed that it was slower and slower to raise up out of kneel mode into the standard driving height. When I took it to the Service Center, they found a leak in the air system and replaced the pump. Everything has been back to normal since.

 

[atebit]

Mine did that for a while... and then I noticed that it was slower and slower to raise up out of kneel mode into the standard driving height. When I took it to the Service Center, they found a leak in the air system and replaced the pump. Everything has been back to normal since.

Tuesday morning coming out of the garage, I kept getting telltales to the effect of “raise truck before driving to avoid damage”. It apparently did not come out of Kneel mode itself. I manually put it in “Standard” height & it was fine after that. I didn’t drive it today; we’ll see what it does on the morrow.

 

[Kacey3]

Tuesday morning coming out of the garage, I kept getting telltales to the effect of “raise truck before driving to avoid damage”. It apparently did not come out of Kneel mode itself. I manually put it in “Standard” height & it was fine after that. I didn’t drive it today; we’ll see what it does on the morrow.

That is exactly the symptoms I was experiencing.

Sponsored