I had three guys in my back seat on the way to lunch yesterday, drove by a large window, and noticed the rear end was very saggy. I crawled under the car to ensure the ELC sensor ram had not broken off like my last one, and it was ok. Detached it and pushed it up to simulate a large load on the rear, waited several minutes... nothing. Tried the inflator, still works. Did the ELC trick and it raised the rear. Checked the fuse... all good but no response from the ELC sensor. Is there anything else I should check before I go looking for a new ELC level sensor?

nope, well check one thing.
the sensor has one wire that put to grnd, turns on the pump. on the 97 it'* yellow, the white one turns on the purge. look at the wires from the sensor, if there is a yellow, grnd it. if the pump comes on, it'* the sensor. there should be only 5 wires, const 12v, switched 12v, grnd, pump on, purge. both pump on and purge are actuated by putting them to grnd.

I haven't had tome to check the wiring yet, but it doesn't purge either. The back end is still high from the ELC trick.

i would be thinking that a ELC Height sensor has gone bad

or now power to the elc sensor, or the pump head is causing the elc to blow (personal experience)

Any way to trick this thing into a purge, short of crawling under and cutting into a ground wire? How about the relay next to the solenoid? It'* got seven wires, including a yellow and white.

you could always pull one of the airlines...this would drain all the air out of the shocks

Off the strut? Or is it easier to pull one off the solenoid?

well you have options.....

the strut(*)
the selector valve in the trunk
at the compressor

undoing any of thoes lines will vent the air from the system

I pulled the lines off the compressor. It released pressure, but the rear didn't go down much. It'* sitting at 28 7/8" to the top of the fender well edge. How high is factory? My FSM says the rocker panel should be a little more than 9", but it'* at 8 now and the rear still seems a little high. I don't think the FSM is correct.