A different level control fault
 

Hi guys. I have had the orange light of despair on on my dash for quite a while now - months anyway. It comes and goes the whole time youre driving and is rarely off for more than a couple of minutes.

When it first appeared I thought that I might have a burst suspension airbag but it seems to keep its height more or less. When I got VCDS I did a scan and got this fault:

00776 - Level Control System Sensor; Left Front (G78)
012 - Electrical Fault in Circuit - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00101100
Fault Priority: 3
Fault Frequency: 188
Reset counter: 214
Mileage: 0 km
Time Indication: 0


Reading the other level control fault thread in this section, it seems that the orange light of despair is more indicative of the system being unable to maintain the correct height and recently on a couple of journeys the green light has come on as well, but its only flashed on and off a few times. So now I'm starting to worry. I did another scan and got the same fault. I also got another one, but only in one scan. I cant remember off the top of my head what it was and Id have to fire up the other laptop to find out. It was something to do with a valve block.

What is the concensus? I think the extra fault was a random one as it only appeared in one scan (I regularly have to disconnect the battery to reset the auto dimming mirrors - at least 5 times a week - so often have spurious faults logged)

Would the orange light just be because of the faulty level sensor? I need to replace it anyway but its unlikely to be until the new year, I have far too many big expenditures plus christmas to deal with right now.

Am I going to be looking at a hugely expensive compressor repair?

gill

Hi, Gill.
Please see the diagnosis procedure from Ross-tech

00776 - Level Control System Sensor; Front Left (G78): Open or Short to Ground
Possible Symptoms

Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL) active

Possible Causes

Level Control System Sensor Front Left (G78) faulty
Wiring/Connectors from/to Level Control System Sensor Front Left (G78) faulty

Possible Solutions

Check Level Control System Sensor Front Left (G78)
Check Wiring/Connectors from/to Level Control System Sensor Front Left (G78)


In all the cases, the compressor is not involved

Cheers

Until you fix the level control sensor then the system is thinking the levels are incorrect and not matching the levels they were calibrated to, so the short answer is yes, you need to replace or fix the level control sensor and then see.
It could just be that one end of the sensor has come off its ball and socket mounting or could be broken

I had this problem and other fault codes, in the end all the sensors were ok and it was an electrical connection issue. One of the sensor connections had water in it, and the connectors themselves had gone green and oxidised. Four years after cleaning all the gunge out all is well with mine. Your problem could be the same, except it's been left so long you may have more issues than simply cleaning.

I checked the sensor itself, ie: the mechanical connections to the suspension arm and checked the connector for water ingress/corroded contacts at the time the light started coming on which was roughly the time I got VCDS and it all looked OK. With the hot start issues I was having I didnt have any appetite for trying to diagnose other problems at the same time.

I had planned on getting a new sensor next month anyway, but when I saw the replies on the other level system post I got a little panicky haha. Thats put my mind at rest though. I'm fairly sure it will be the sensor itself as none of the wiring should have been disturbed at any point. It used to only do it whenit was in dynamic, but if you lifted it into the comfort setting it stopped doing it. It looks like a crop sprayer on comfort though. Im looking at it out of the window just now and there is about 3 or 4 inches between the top of the back tyre and the wheel arch, the front is sitting a bit lower but my drive isnt level, it usually sits ridiculously high at the front as well.

Because you've got a faulty sensor it will be throwing out all the other settings as the car constantly tries to "level itself" to where it "thinks" it needs to be and typically if the front sensors are playing up then the back can either be way to high or too low so I'd replace the sensor and let it all settle and see where its at +++

As Neil said, change that faulty sensor first before you start panicking +++

This will more likely solve the problem, if not we will find the cause one way or another.

I was getting green light in the mornings when firing up the car when I had suspension air leak - car sitting too low message basically.
But then compressor kicks in, tops it up and light goes off.
Fixed it by changing all suspension struts.

I'm sure you know this by now, but don't forget the jacking mode before jacking up the car +++

update: I bought a sensor off of our sponsors, very good price, although I cant rememeber how much now. Just about the easiest job I've done on this car yet. Didnt even need to take the inner wing out. 15 minutes tops from starting to take the wheel nuts off to tightening them back on.

Bit of disappointment when I started it up and the orange light was still on. More disappointment when I set it from lift to dynamic and it didnt move, then joy when I remembered to take it off jacking mode!

No more orange light! Will have to try it in auto/comfort mode to make sure its not dropping overnight and doesnt look like a crop sprayer anymore. Will hook it up to vcds and have a go at the suspension setup if it still looks too high up.

Good stuff +++
Don’t forget to clear the faults as well.
Don’t think calibration will be necessary, it never was for me at least.

It seems to have settled now, not quite so high up and I was looking at a D4 A8L today and the gap was much the same so good news re: calibration.

Is there a detriment to not clearing the codes? Timely reminder anyway as i havent done it yet, although as i have to disconnect the battery twice a day to clear the bl**dy mirrors, there wil be hundreds of codes in there!