How to tell if the air suspension is damaged?

Air suspension is a popular suspension system in the market at present, with excellent shock absorption, ride comfort, lightweight and other characteristics, widely used in passenger cars, passenger vehicles, special vehicles, freight vehicles and other fields. At present, almost all medium-size buses in foreign countries use air suspension, and the utilization rate of air suspension in trucks has reached more than 80%.

According to the relevant domestic regulations: "total mass ≥12000kg dangerous goods transport truck rear axle, all dangerous goods transport semi-trailer, as well as three-axis fence plate, warehouse grid semi-trailer should be equipped with air suspension", mandatory installation provisions also promote the use of air suspension to a certain extent.

The air suspension has many advantages, and the resilience is somewhat weaker than that of the plate spring suspension. If the air suspension fails, it may lead to tire bias, wheel hub stress inequality, and even cause the vehicle to lie down and need to be treated with a trailer. Once the air suspension leakage phenomenon, it should be repaired as soon as possible, otherwise it will cause damage to the compressor and shorten the service life of the suspension system.

For those who are used to leaf spring suspension owners, air suspension almost belongs to a strange field, from use to maintenance must be re-familiar.

So, what phenomena can we usually judge whether the air suspension has failed?

In general, about 80% of the failures of air suspension are due to air bag leakage, which will lead to increased air bag output. If the output volume is less than the intake volume, the owner will not be aware of the collapse of the body, but can hear the sound of the air pump "Dong dong dong" constantly pumping, which side of the noise is large, generally which side has a problem;

If the output volume is > the intake volume, the air bag will collapse, the body may appear high on one side and low on the other, and the amplitude of turbulence will increase, especially when the speed bump or pothole section is encountered, the steering wheel is easy to run off, and the direction needs to be constantly corrected.

If the vehicle has recently fallen into a pit, and there is a strange sound of "clunking" during driving, it may be that the spring or other parts of the air suspension are broken.

The owner can also directly determine whether the air suspension is damaged through the system fault light. When the air suspension fails, the system fault light will be lit, and the vehicle central control computer board will have an alarm. At this time, the owner is advised to find a safe place to stop and repair as soon as possible or directly drive to the nearest maintenance point for maintenance.

How long will a set of air suspension last? Do I have to change the whole set when I change it?

Generally speaking, a set of qualified air suspension can be used for 3-5 years, which is related to the use of conditions, if the driving road conditions are poor, often run overload or unqualified maintenance, the service life of the air suspension may be shortened accordingly, and most compliant vehicles can still use air suspension for 5 years.

It is worth mentioning that some owners believe that if the vehicle is not used after the replacement of the air suspension, the empty suspension will not be bad, this is wrong, the air suspension will be used normally after the installation, if the long time stop, remember to fill the air suspension at intervals, release the air, otherwise the service life will be shortened.

Whether a complete set of replacement is needed when replacing the air suspension, which needs to be analyzed concretely, if it is the expiration of the service life, it must be replaced entirely; If a single part is damaged, it does not need to replace all, targeted replacement can reduce maintenance costs; If multiple components are damaged at the same time, it is necessary to judge according to the damage, and the entire air suspension system may need to be replaced.

Compared with the traditional plate spring structure, the design of the empty suspension system is more complex, the price is higher, and the maintenance cost is high, so it is recommended that the owner must find a strong regular brand when choosing, do not seek petty profits, otherwise even if the front cost is saved, there will be a series of troubles in the subsequent use, and the quality of the empty suspension system is not worth the loss. To bring higher safety and more operational benefits to the owner.