REPLACING
THE MARK VIII COMPRESSOR
The
Ford shop manual recommends removing the front bumper assembly to gain access
to the compressor. While removing the front bumper assembly isn't what I would
call hard, it is time consuming.
I
recommend the method of going through the fenderwell and removing and discarding
the air silencer.
NOTE:The
silencers only purpose is for noise reduction on wide open throttle. (air
rushing in like the old 4-barrel sound of years ago, personally, I like to
hear whats going on)
To remove the compressor,
FIRST TURN THE SUSPENSION SWITCH OFF!
Jack
up at least the RF side of vehicle and put on a jackstand and remove wheel(s).
Now
under the hood, temporarily move the air filter housing to the side. Now remove
the 3 or 4 x 11mm nuts.
Go to the RF fender
area and remove all the phillipshead screws around inner fenderwell from about
the 12 o'clock to the 3 o'clock position.
-THE
NEXT STEP MAY ONLY BE SUITABLE IN WARMER CLIMATES, AS THE PLASTIC MAY BREAK IN
COLD WEATHER-
Pull back the plastic inner
fenderwell up and over the RF rotor. This should hold it still so you can work.
Go
through the RF fenderwell and pull the silencer down, then out.
REMEMBER,
the silencer must be pulled down enough to clear the studs!
With
the silencer removed, you can finally see the compressor.
Disconnect the
air lines from the compressor dryer.
Click HERE
for help removing the lines.
Put your hands
up inside the fender towards the front of the vehicle and disconnect the 4 pin
compressor connector.
Depending
on how big a person you are, it "may" be easier to get to this connector
by going behind the RF headlight housing.
Now, going through
the fenderwell again, remove the 4 x 5/16 screws and remove the compressor from
its craddle.
Reverse to install.
NOTES FOR INSTALLATION:
When
inserting the air lines into the dryer, keep in mind that although it doesn't
matter which line goes in which hole, a line may have a certain bend made into
it and therefore "fit" better in a ceratin hole.
After installing
your compressor, you can simply let the car down off the jackstands and turn on
the suspension switch, then the ignition. The vehicle should raise itself up automatically.
A good strong compressor should bring the car up to normal ride height within
the 90 second alloted time, but depending how much air was remaining in the struts/springs
and if the car was down on all four corners or just one end, it may take another
90 second cycle to get the car up to normal height. In other words, the module
will only try for 90 seconds before giving up. If this does happen, just turn
ignition off, then right back on again. The module will then try again for another
90 seconds.
CONGRATULAIONS ON SAVING YOURSELF A TON OF MONEY DOING THIS
JOB YOURSELF!
