PARTS USED:
1 x LR045251 – Air suspension compressor kit (See update below for LR072537)
3 x RYH500170 – Spring Nut Circlip M8 X 1.25 Inch
As this vehicle is now 9 years old, and the air compressor is the original, I think we might be better off replacing it with a new unit anyway. I’ve found that there’s a kit for this, the LR045251 which comprises (clockwise from top left in picture below) the new design AMK compressor (including new bracket), lower compressor cover, upper compressor cover, new exhaust pipe, new inlet pipe, new air line high pressure pipe (to valve block), new compressor relay, various hardware fittings – 3 * compressor bracket bolts, brass insert, valve block connector, 2 * bolts and washers & 1 * taptite screw (all to secure lower compressor cover).
I managed to find this ‘brand new, in unopened box’ kit through eBay for an amazing £440 (including VAT at 20%). The seller turned out to be my local LR service centre and were clearing stock because they had 20 units on the shelf!
Update: Since writing this, the LR045251 kit has been superseded twice and the recommended part is currently the LR072537 kit but the cost is much higher at about £700 including VAT for a genuine LR part but you could save by using an OEM kit such as the Bearmach at around £350 including VAT.
The advice from the RRS forums is also to get 3 * RYH500170 captive nuts as the originals will probably break as you remove the old compressor.
These were purchased from same place for the princely sum of 79p for three including VAT!
My early RRS came with the Hitachi compressor but there is also a old-design AMK compressor sometimes used as well. This kit replaces both. The Hitachi was fitted on VIN 5A900203 to 9A215622 and either the Hitachi or old-design AMK was fitted from AA215623 to DA768550. If you’ve already had a replacement then all bets are off.
In the kit you get complete instructions on paper which is great when you’re under the car. My kit had the v2 instructions (available below) but there is now the v3 instructions available on TOPIx (also available below). Not sure what the difference between the instructions are but the v3 document says it succeeds the v2 document and that you should destroy or mark it to indicate it is no longer valid.
Technical Bulletin LTB00420v2 (03 OCT 2012)
Technical Bulletin LTB00420v3 (20 MAY 2014)
The actually replacement was fairly straight forward – the technical bulletin says 0.6 of an hour. I did this on my flat drive using a pair of ramps for the back wheels with the car in normal height mode. The instructions tell you to keep one wheel off the ground – so that the system does not relevel while you’re under it – but we just made sure the ignition was turned off, the park brake was on, the gear selector was in park and the battery was disconnected.
Follow the instructions for the model of compressor you have on the car already – we worked on the assumption it was a Hitachi but the two sets of instructions are similar. I didn’t get any pictures of this work unfortunately (or if I did, I can’t find them now).
After a cup of coffee and a smoke mid-way through I got it finished in about 90 mins (not bad for an amateur, under a car, in the cold). Then I refitted the battery, started the engine and the compressor kicked into life to refill the air reservoir. A few seconds later it went quiet. I rolled the car off the ramps and gave the system a quick raise/lower/raise/lower/raise test to see if it all worked. This time there was no warning light!
The last part of the instructions does tell you to hook the car to JLR’s SSD and to execute a compressor replacement function so you’ll want a friendly Indie or A.N.Other to help with this bit – you’ll want this anyway to clear the yellow warning light that is most likely still hanging around (Old DTC). The compressor replacement function is supposed to reflash the ECU with new software to use new compressor run timings to give it a longer lifespan and who knows what else. I’d advise doing this, as does all of the forums and parts sites…
The Trials of a Range Rover Sport Owner 
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