Hi, I have a 96 SE. I was walking out to my car today and noticed a black thing hanging from under my car. I checked it out and it was two small black rubber hoses that looked like they had rotted and fallen off their connections. Walking up to the rear of the car they were on the far right side, next to the exhaust pipe.

I started my car and went back to see what they did. They were just blowing a small amount of air out. If you have any ideas, please let me know. Right now it has not seemed like life or death, but it would be nice to figure out.

Also I am looking for a walk through to tune up my car, know of anything on the net?

kyle

Do you have air struts? Do you have buttons inside your trunk by the trunk latch, just above the bumper that say "ON" and "OFF" for an air inflator? Do you have buttons on your center console, inside the car, for "performance" and "Touring " RIde?

If the answer is yes to any of the above, then you would have a compressor behind the passenger side, rear wheel, that has very small air lines to operate some or these features. It could be that at one point, you did have air struts, and they have been replaced by non-air struts and the lines could have been left unconnected.

I wouldn't expect a 96SE to have ELC from the factory (electronic level control), but stranger things can happen. The inflator controls in the trunk would answer that question, or FE2 suspension (the only way to get ELC). I bet the car is FE1 with no ELC.

HOWEVER, this doesn't rule out aftermarket air struts at some point.

CCR would have no tubes (ride control). Just electrical connectors, and that'* a far stretch for an SE.

Sounds like you have a 1996 SLE. My bet is you have leather and aluminum wheels, as well as the Computer Command Ride which has buttons on the console as mentioned ^^, one saying NORMAL SHIFT and the other saying PERFORMANCE SHIFT.
My buddies old 1995 SLE had that feature.

As for those hoses, yes, they rot very fast and easily in the location they are in. But at least it'* only a $.30 fix.... 2 feet of vacuum hose (take a chunk of your broken line with you for proper size replacements) at your favorite parts store, and cut it to proper lengths. Two minute job, not counting the 2 minutes it'll take to scrub the rotting rubber off your hands.

Hold on a second. Since when did CCR ever use air? There'* some mass confusion in this topic. CCR (computer command ride) does not use air and cannot have hoses.

ELC uses air and hoses, but to have it, the car MUST have FE2 suspension.

Just listen to the ELC info.

Still wrong. CCR doesn't require ELC.

CCR has no air.

ELC does, but requires FE2 suspension. If we can get the owner to check for codes on his spare tire cover in the trunk, we can settle this.

It doesn't matter if it has CCR or not. It uses no air and no hoses.

It would be good to know if the car has FE2 or FE1 suspension, as ELC comes as an integral part of FE2, and cannot be had with FE1. Just check your RPO code label and let us know which FE you have.

The car does have the leather and the buttons near the shifter. I do have the air compressor type object in the trunk. I have never known how to use this, let alone what it does. Anyway, it sounds like an easy fix, but where will I connect it, I could not tell from underneath and what does this do?

I would be willing to check the codes in the trunk, but I have no idea what they would mean. Let me know how to help.

Thanks again for the help.

You need to take some pictures. I've never heard of ELC hoses disconnected before. Please take a pic of the lines where you described them.

Please also take a pic of the rpo label on your spare tire cover, and we'll nail this down for you.

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