Thanks for the reply. I crawled underneath once to take a look at the air lines but since they where all covered with wire loom making them hard to inspect, I admit I didn't check them out as thoroughly as I should've.
I wanted to wait until I got the service manual I ordered online to better walk me through the different components, so all I did at that time was disconnect the harness so the compressor wouldn't kill my battery. It didn't continuously try to pump up the shock unless I had something heavy in the rear of the van, but since I leave some materials for work in there it was enough to kick it on and off once in a while.
My thinking at the time was that since it was kicking off after a while it was either pumping up the shocks only for the air to slowly leak out, or it had some kind of safety timer so the compressor wouldn't constantly run. I couldn't see the back end raise any.
As for the boots on the shocks themselves, I didn't see any. I know what you mean because I've had air shocks before and it was a common easy way to jack up the back end without a rear end lift kit. But those always had a tee in the line so one line could split into 2 and pump up both sides. This system doesn't. The line goes to the left shock first
(see pic here) and then has a second line cross the axle to the other shock. That's just a little different than what I was use to seeing and is making me think it might still be the original factory shocks.
Now that I have the service manual I will need to make the time to put it up on jack-stands and check out the the junctions better. I'll also check for the air boots better and see if they're even trying to fill up with air or not, as well as what kind of shape they're in.
Lastly I'll have to check out the compressor Assembly with the air dryer and exhaust solenoid to see if it is creating a seal and any real pressure or just making a lot of noise.
Thanks a lot for your reply though. I was just wondering if there were any common suspects to check out first. Oh and by the way, I guess I unfortunately have one of the rare breeds with a 3.1 V6, 3 speed auto and a bunch of options added instead of the 3.8 V6 with the overdrive which usually accompanies these options. (sure wish I had that overdrive though, the gas economy isn't anything to brag about!)
I know I'm making this another marathon post but this reminds me I do have another question. When I'm on the highway at cruising speed, I notice that every time I give it a little gas there is a small but noticeable jerk in the drive train almost like there is torque-converter lock disengaging, but with no overdrive I didn't think it would do that. Does that seem right or common to you, or is one of my CV joints starting to go bad? There's no clicking when I take sharp corners and all 4 boots look good to me.
Again thanks, Scott
P.S.
Here is a recent YouTube video of my van here.