96 Continental Air Ride Suspension

Well, I had some work done on my car and it runs great. Unfortunately I held back on suspension work and yesterday my compressor finally died. Now, the front of my car is almost touching the ground. More bad news is that my wife and I have just separated and I am with 4 kids and make ends meet with my paycheck. I have to drive to work about 70 miles everyday and have no money to fix the car right now. I am just thinking if I can just replace the compressor for now, that will allow me to go to work and hopefully compressor will survive until next month and then I can replace the bags or put a conversion kit. Any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Now, I am a do-it-yourselfer and very mechanically inclined. I recently acquired a 1989 Mark VII that had a leaking air spring in the front. My compressor didn't run all the time since the computer will shut it down with a fault light if it runs continuously for more than three minutes during one ignition key on cycle. Yours may have done the same. Try restarting the car and see if it restarts the compressor. If not, check the fuses to make sure the compressor is truly bad and that you didn't just blow a fuse. Also check the air suspensioin switch in the truck to make sure it wasn't shut off by accident. If you do have power to the compressor, my suggestion to you, if you too are mechanically inclined, is to find a used compressor in a wrecking yard and install yourself.

With the help of a dedicated Mark VII forum, I learned that air spring replacement, at least on the Mark VII, is very simple. It can't be that much different on your Conti'. I purchased a pair of rebuilt front air springs from a company named Bagmaster (www.bagmasterair.com (http://www.bagmasterair.com/)) for half the price of new at Ford. I put them in myself and took me 20 minutes per wheel. Check Bagmaster for the price and availability of new or rebuilt air springs. They may have new or rebuilt compressors, as well.

One other thing to note, if the compressor is truly bad, you won't have air for the rear springs either. Though only your front end is on the ground now, the rear will get there eventually without a sourse of air.

One more thing, I can feel for your situation. I, too, am separated with two kids. Working on my own cars helps me save money.