99 conti air ride questions

this is my first conti and im not familiar with this air ride system.First,from what i can tell from not taking the wheels off,i have airbags in the back only.the front appears to be controled by electronic struts.the rear goes up when the car is running and down when its not.the front doesnt appear to move at all.if it is supposed to it isnt.now when the car is running i have about 3 and a half inches of height in the rear and the front has well over 4 inches of clearence.from looking at other posts on this matter i see the ride height can be adjusted by the censors.My question is should i drop the front or raise the rear?And if i drop the front will anything hit when i ride over potholes and such?or should the front be lower than it is anyway?and if i raise the back same questons?I would really like to know this info before i find out something is wrong the hard way and it costs me a fortune to fix.thank you all for any help you can provide.

Your rear bags should not drop with the engine off... there's a leak somewhere that needs to be fixed immediately. IF you let this problem go, the compressor will be running constantly to compensate for the leak.

Your compressor is not designed to work that hard.. It will sieze very soon, if it hasn't since you first posted... Compressors are getting cheaper, but their still the most expensive part of the system. I think you can get one now for around $130 or so after it blows.

You should also have air bags in the front too from what I've been reading, I don't have the 1999 book yet so I can't be sure.

P.S.
One problem at a time.. first get the leak fixed before you worry about ride height.

Ok...As advised by someone i know i talked to Keith bagmaster about this..He says the 99 conti came with aribags in the rear only and the front is controled by the computer via electrontic struts.He told me the height in the front and rear is as it should be.And i cannot change the ride height in the front only the rear,which i dont have to anyway,because the computer contols it all....now im at the whim of a computer.not my favorite place to be....all i have to figure out now is that damn clunking in the front and that pesky low washer fluid warning i get ever time i start the car.And i have seen your post towncar about the flout so i checked that out.the tank in my 99 is built into the front fender....not an easy access spot for it...I tried to jar the flout but it didnt help...any other ideas towncar?.

Ok...any other ideas towncar?.

Well, yeah -- but you wont like 'em :)

There should be two sets of wires at the Washer bottle, one for the pump and another for the Level guage -- disconnect the guage set to see if that helps with the horrible warnings...

Ride height not adjustable? I don't buy that! The rears have to be adjustable at the sensor. Normally (I still dont have that 99 book), the sensor can be loosened and moved a bit -- up or down.

I'll bet the fronts are adjustable too, but their currently set to factory specs.

No...I can change the ride height in the rear but not the front.....at least thats what he told me....and he is supposed to be the formost authority on the matter of air ride suspensions.And if your reffering to the owners manual for the 99 forget it.....i have it and it just tells me that the suspension is made for "certain road conditions".Nothing about the censors or ride height.The ride censors in the 99 ARE electonic.I did see that much when i looked under the car so i am inclined to think i cant change them rather the computer does it.The censors on my conti have no screws on them.Just an electronic box and the shaft conected to the lower control arm.At least in the front.I didnt get a good look at the rear censors.Ok, getting back to the washer bottle,to be honest i cant see wires on that thing its so tight in there all i can really see is the nozzle for the bottle,the vapor canistor,the power stearing bottle and a wiring harness in the front next to the radiator.oh yeah and the support in the corner.thats about all i can see towncar.But you know what i did.I called ford and OMG! those people are like talking to chimps.they told me"sorry,customers are not allowed to talk to the techs only a tech rep" whatever the hell that is so i talked to him and he said it could be a bad censor in the bottle.I asked him how to get to it he said you have to take the bottle out.I asked him how to do that, LMAO,and he said i can get the specs online.Guess he didnt know how to do it.Can you say DOOOOOHHHHHH!!

Can you say DOOOOOHHHHHH!!

That's very funny :iceslolan :grinyes: :rofl:

The E.Controlled front's should be adjustable, even if it involves some computer programming or fooling the sensor.

The washer bottle: what a laugh :evillol: ; I'm going to try to get the 1999 service manual today... scratch that... I'm downloading one right now, should take about 30 minutes w/ my 768 connection.

We'll see about that bottle removal :)


SHIT... I got the service manual from fordcds.com and I can't run the damn thing. I gotta fly, catch ya later.

awwwww.how special...768..and all i have is a 256....damn it all to hell..now i feel slow.damn turtle..lol...thats not a bad idea.....i went to that site...any SPACIFIC doc i should be looking for other than 96 to 99 ford service manual?

..thats not a bad idea.....i went to that site...any SPACIFIC doc i should be looking for other than 96 to 99 ford service manual?

OK, I just came back from a very exciting day, winding it up now.
There's three different manuals there. Well, actually two, in three formats.

There's year specific Car or Truck CD's in ISO format. (Universal CD format)
There's year specific Car or Truck CD's in NRG format. (Nero propriitary format)

Then there's Multi-Year sets in DVD format, but their in torrant files, meaning their not kept on the internet, their hosted by others that have 'em, and are willing to share. Several folks report 10 days to get all the DVD's from the torrant clients. These would be the best 'sets' for a guy like me that's interested in keeping you all informed, however I havn't had the time to get 'em.

I did get your 1999 CD version working, looked up the Washer Warning.

The pump itself is fairly easy to replace, but of course that's not the problem your having.

The sensor is inside the bottle, and it's going to be a bitch to get out.
The job is easiest with the tire/wheel removed, then the splash guard, and <you wont like this part> the suspension air compressor is in the way too.

The bottle is bolted under the susp. compressor, and drops out from the wheel well.

I've copied all the relevant sections, including some electrical stuff from the service manual to PDF files.

I can either email the PDF's or post them somewhere on the internet.

Lemme see if there's a freebie hosting service for PDF's while I'm waiting for your reply.

PS, If you can get that manual, it's cool!! Better format than my 1996 manual.
Hmmm. Where's homeskillet been?

PPS: Here's a list of your ride height measurements:
http://www.MyOnlineImages.com/Members/dchartney/images/1999FrontRideHgt.jpg

ok i got the first dvd now im working on the other two just for....well....like you said.....they will be helpful to others.....i'll let you know if i have any probs opening them......oh and it isnt taking me 10 days to get them.......about 12 hours but not 10 days.....that ride height thing you made looks like german to me....lol....i'll let ya know how everything goes.....when i get all the dvd's we can find a way of posting them if you havent got that covered yet.