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2016 Ram Rebel Air Suspension Problems

31K views 26 replies 12 participants last post by  Blondie 16  
#1 ·
tl;dr

Air suspension does not adjust properly. It will not go into off-road mode. Button doesn’t seem to work and compressor seems to run at inappropriate times.

We got our 2016 Rebel in June of ‘19. We heard the compressor kick on a couple of times while we were in park, but didn’t think much of it because we’d never had that function before and thought that’s just how it was.

We went out to CO and UT and then it really started acting up. Within a few days, the front appeared to be in entry/exit mode and the rear was in normal. This made for really rough riding and the from tires were leaning inward at the top. When we got back to Indianapolis, we took it to a Ram dealer and they said the compressor was bad and replaced it. It seemed to run normally after that, but about a month later, it seems to be acting up again.

Now, it does not go into off-road mode and the front kind of looks like it’s in Aero and the back looks normal. Also, he compressor still seems to kick on inappropriately at times. The button also doesn’t seem to put it in the mode it should be in. Last night we tried to put it in entry/exit and it didn’t even do that.

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, did you get it resolved. We’d like to keep the air suspension and we just want it to work properly. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a warranty with it.
 
#5 ·
80k miles on my 2017 with a good bit of abuse ranging from being overloaded, river crossings up to the door handles, 100mph through the desert, etc and the only issue thus far has been the factory fender flare adhesion. By far the most durable vehicle I’ve owned. People want to call the air suspension a known issue, but I’d say it’s an incredibly small percentage of the 500k plus rams sold with air ride. Most of those being people in extremely cold climates. If I lived in an extremely cold climate I might opt for the steel suspension, but here in California I’d by the air ride again in a heartbeat. 35’s and still able to fit in the tightest of parking garages? Rides level with nearly 3000 lbs in the bed of a half ton truck? Tows 8,000+ lbs without the slightest bit of squatting? These are all things I’ve done personally and been impressed every time. Hopefully it’s something simple and you can get back to enjoying your truck.
 
#6 · (Edited)
tl;dr

Air suspension does not adjust properly. It will not go into off-road mode. Button doesn’t seem to work and compressor seems to run at inappropriate times.

We got our 2016 Rebel in June of ‘19. We heard the compressor kick on a couple of times while we were in park, but didn’t think much of it because we’d never had that function before and thought that’s just how it was.

We went out to CO and UT and then it really started acting up. Within a few days, the front appeared to be in entry/exit mode and the rear was in normal. This made for really rough riding and the from tires were leaning inward at the top. When we got back to Indianapolis, we took it to a Ram dealer and they said the compressor was bad and replaced it. It seemed to run normally after that, but about a month later, it seems to be acting up again.

Now, it does not go into off-road mode and the front kind of looks like it’s in Aero and the back looks normal. Also, he compressor still seems to kick on inappropriately at times. The button also doesn’t seem to put it in the mode it should be in. Last night we tried to put it in entry/exit and it didn’t even do that.

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, did you get it resolved. We’d like to keep the air suspension and we just want it to work properly. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a warranty with it.
Are you getting any error messages on the dashboard? if so which ones?

I recently had a similar issue with my truck refusing to go into selected suspension modes. including the awkward ride do to the incorrect ride heights in each air spring. let me know if you would like detailed information......my truck was doing literally what you described. I recorded videos of my truck doing this as well. I opened a case with RAM customer service and they were extremely helpful getting this fixed quickly.

It turned out my trucks air suspension had the wrong ride height parameters stored for each air spring in the computer. The second dealer re-calibrated the system and now all is good. According to second dealer the previous dealer must have messed with settings somehow. When the truck eventually sensed the air springs were adjusting to heights that are not close enough/within in a certain spec the system went into a "safe mode" which attempts to prevent you from changing ride heights.
 
#7 ·
Haven’t gotten any error messages this time around. Out in UT it told us to service immediately. I don’t recall seeing safe mode, but your info could be very helpful. A guy at a dealership in Cortez, CO reset some parameters, but that didn’t help for too long.

Not getting error messages sure makes it harder to diagnose. Maybe we can get it back to the dealer here in Indy.

I hope it’s as simple as what you described.
 
#8 ·
My truck never stated with a message on the dashboard "safe mode" - this was a term the dealer used to explain the trucks behavior. In my case the issue was caused by incorrect ride height parameters. However, the dealer also pointed out there is some sort of Air ride control module that can go bad (or need resetting) and if it does the air suspension will not cooperate / act weird.

When you select a ride height setting does the dashboard blink "lowering" along with the physical button? And then NOT change ride heights at all? or just adjust partially and then the dash/buttons indicate it completed the ride height change? This is what my truck was doing.

See the attached video. I have other videos of my truck doing different sequences of fail ride heigh adjustments as well.

I could only get mine to raise the rear into off road and the front would raise to normalish (but the truck would say it achieved off road mode). Then I could not lower the truck at all unless I turned the ignition off and on again. Even when I could get the truck into normal or what the truck though was normal or aero mode the ride was really odd feeling.
 
#9 ·
My truck never stated with a message on the dashboard "safe mode" - this was a term the dealer used to explain the trucks behavior. In my case the issue was caused by incorrect ride height parameters. However, the dealer also pointed out there is some sort of Air ride control module that can go bad (or need resetting) and if it does the air suspension will not cooperate / act weird.

When you select a ride height setting does the dashboard blink "lowering" along with the physical button? And then NOT change ride heights at all? or just adjust partially and then the dash/buttons indicate it completed the ride height change? This is what my truck was doing.

See the attached video. I have other videos of my truck doing different sequences of fail ride heigh adjustments as well.

I could only get mine to raise the rear into off road and the front would raise to normalish (but the truck would say it achieved off road mode). Then I could not lower the truck at all unless I turned the ignition off and on again. Even when I could get the truck into normal or what the truck though was normal or aero mode the ride was really odd feeling.
The lights blink as if it’s changing, but it doesn’t change. The dash will indicate that it’s in NRH, but something seems off. I could tell the other day that it didn’t feel as smooth when hitting bumpy roads.

Unfortunately, I don’t the the video.
 
#12 ·
The results seem to be in...finally. It appears that our air suspension system was filled with compressed air instead or Nitrogen. This caused condensation to form and the system wasn’t reading the height properly and wouldn’t let it sit right. There was no recalibration that needed to be done to the computer. If you get an error message that says “system cooling down” or something to that effect, keep this in consideration.

I won’t go into details with our issues with the dealership, but I will say that if you feel like they’re not communicating with you properly or they seem like they don’t know what they’re doing, contact Mopar immediately. They have the power to get the ball rolling...and quickly.
 
#19 ·
Dealing with a similar issue. 2015 Rebel has 82km on it now but had about 60 when I first encountered the issue. Get to freezing temperatures, truck won’t air up. Says in it’s normal height but will be bagged right out. Blew the 40 amp fuse today airing it up. Following that I took it to a friends garage and let it thaw out. Checked it this evening and air’d up fine.
Dealerships only offer to help me since day 1 was to pay them to put in regular 1500 suspension. This defeats the purpose of me buying the rebel. Has anyone gotten aftermarket air compressors that’s maybe a little heavy duty? I’m thinking that’s my problem. Every year as soon as we hit freezing temperatures, it won’t air up. Any and all help appreciated
 
#24 ·
tl;dr

Air suspension does not adjust properly. It will not go into off-road mode. Button doesn’t seem to work and compressor seems to run at inappropriate times.

We got our 2016 Rebel in June of ‘19. We heard the compressor kick on a couple of times while we were in park, but didn’t think much of it because we’d never had that function before and thought that’s just how it was.

We went out to CO and UT and then it really started acting up. Within a few days, the front appeared to be in entry/exit mode and the rear was in normal. This made for really rough riding and the from tires were leaning inward at the top. When we got back to Indianapolis, we took it to a Ram dealer and they said the compressor was bad and replaced it. It seemed to run normally after that, but about a month later, it seems to be acting up again.

Now, it does not go into off-road mode and the front kind of looks like it’s in Aero and the back looks normal. Also, he compressor still seems to kick on inappropriately at times. The button also doesn’t seem to put it in the mode it should be in. Last night we tried to put it in entry/exit and it didn’t even do that.

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, did you get it resolved. We’d like to keep the air suspension and we just want it to work properly. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a warranty with it.
Same issue with my 16 rebel
 
#25 ·
tl;dr

Air suspension does not adjust properly. It will not go into off-road mode. Button doesn’t seem to work and compressor seems to run at inappropriate times.

We got our 2016 Rebel in June of ‘19. We heard the compressor kick on a couple of times while we were in park, but didn’t think much of it because we’d never had that function before and thought that’s just how it was.

We went out to CO and UT and then it really started acting up. Within a few days, the front appeared to be in entry/exit mode and the rear was in normal. This made for really rough riding and the from tires were leaning inward at the top. When we got back to Indianapolis, we took it to a Ram dealer, and they said the compressor was bad and replaced it. It seemed to run normally after that, but about a month later, it seems to be acting up again.

Now, it does not go into off-road mode and the front kind of looks like it’s in Aero and the back looks normal. Also, he compressor still seems to kick on inappropriately at times. The button also doesn’t seem to put it in the mode it should be in. Last night we tried to put it in entry/exit, and it didn’t even do that.

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, did you get it resolved. We’d like to keep the air suspension and we just want it to work properly. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a warranty with it.
Hi Ya'll thanks for the share. So, I also have a 2016 Dodge Ram Rebel. Mine has done the same thing. Tires slanted in ward at the top. The front end has dived down in the front. Dealer said my warranty didn't cover it so I didn't get it fixed. Someone told me to check the air ride fuse under the hood. Of course, the fuse was not blown.
Check back in if you figure something out and ill do the same.
Thanks, Blondie 16