First air suspension issue

[mannyo]

4 weeks into D3 ownership and the air suspension throws a wobbly.

After a night of very heavy rain, went out this morning in the D3.

Started normally and set off along the farm track, after 50 yards the green low clearance light pops up and goes out again. Green light stays out until I am on the main road driving at 60mph and it comes on again, except now it stays on.

After another mile the amber light pops up, indicating issue with suspension. Car feels fine, so I carry on to my destination which was only another mile or so.

Arrive with both lights still on, so I check the MMI, and all looks fine.

I get out, expecting to see either a wonky car or a car on the decks but no its at its normal ride height and looks perfectly ok.

So I go and do the shopping, get back to car which still looks ok, hop in and start the engine. Green low clearance light still on, but the amber one has now gone out.

On the MMI I tried the different settings, Lift - the car goes up and the green light goes out, Auto - the car goes back down and the green light pops back on, dynamic the car goes down and the green light stays on. So I pop it back to auto, car goes up and now the green light goes out.

Drove home, no issue at all. Tried the MMI settings again, the car still goes up and down normally and all seems like it did last night when I parked it.

When my laptop has some charge in it, I'll pop out and scan it with VCDS. Who knows what I'll find, watch this space.

[mannyo]

Fault codes

Saturday,04,January,2014,10:11:14:10074
VCDS Version: Release 10.6.4
Data version: 20110418



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Address 34: Level Control Labels: 4E0-910-553.lbl
Control Module Part Number: 4E0 910 553 E HW: 4E0 907 553 E
Component and/or Version: LUFTFDR.-CDC H05 4290
Software Coding: 0015510
Work Shop Code: WSC 02313 785 00200
VCID: 2545F5A79571
2 Faults Found:

01772 - Signal from Level Control Pressure Sensor (G291)
008 - Implausible Signal - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00101000
Fault Priority: 3
Fault Frequency: 3
Reset counter: 64
Mileage: 207890 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2014.01.02
Time: 08:36:08

01400 - Suspension Level Control
002 - Lower Limit Exceeded - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00100010
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 64
Mileage: 207901 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2014.01.04
Time: 08:58:15

[PsYcHe]

Given that the light goes out when it goes up a bit, I'd be inclined to check the level sensor first if everything looks level.

[mannyo]

I was just looking up the codes online, and spotted that the first one 01772 occurred on Thursday, which would have been when the car was first started having been left for a few days. This maybe a red herring since previous to this the car had only done a few days of short journeys, so the battery will not have been tip top.

The low level exceeded is only showing as occurred once, so maybe things are not as bad as I thought.

How can I check the level sensor?

[PsYcHe]

The sensor has thrown the error 3 times, and the control error would tie in with you driving off for a bit and then the yellow coming on.

I'll try and get a look later to spot where that sensor is, but if it's the one I think it is, then should be one on each corner with a lever resting on the lower control arm.

[mannyo]

Those three faults could be because of three first thing starts perhaps then. I do wonder, where I have to park here on the farm the car is not on the level, so one of the four corners ends up with more gap between tyre and wheel arch because of uneven ground. At work and elsewhere, the ground is always even and flat.

I have cleared the codes and for now they have not returned. I'll scan the level module again in a few days and see what crops up. Previous to this I last cleared the faults on the 30/12/13. The car was then driven on the 31st Dec, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Jan. Yesterday it completed four journeys and the rest were two.

[mannyo]

I do however have a feeling the 01772 will return, I have just looked through the first scan I managed to do just after buying the car. At the time there were a lot of the errors (and I mean lots) due to the car having a duff battery. Buried in the level control module is this.

01772 - Signal from Level Control Pressure Sensor (G291)
008 - Implausible Signal - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00101000
Fault Priority: 3
Fault Frequency: 162
Reset counter: 37
Mileage: 202012 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2013.05.06
Time: 11:59:35

So it looks like that fault has been occuring on and off for several thousand miles. Maybe the compressor has issues first thing.

[mannyo]

Must be the season for problems.

Just been out to the car, suspension still at normal height after sitting for more than 24 hours.

Start engine, no suspension lights. After 5 mins running, amber light pops up again. All options still available under car on MMI.

Stop engine, and restart. All lights are out, car still goes up and down. Left running for 10 mins, no faults showing or anything.

Select LIFT, get out of car and listen to compressor by nearside front (difficult at the moment because the exhaust flexi has a hole in it). Not sure, but what should a good compressor sound like? Should it be audible above the sound of the engine, what does a failing one sound like.

From Auto to Lift, how long should it take before the rear and front of the car raise?

When left on Automatic how often would you expect to hear the compressor kick in?.

Sitting in the car, with the heater and aircon off I can hear the relay clicking as the compressor switches on/off.

Can I use VCDS to measure anything to tell me weather its the compressor or something else.

The car is having its cambelt and what have you changed on Tuesday, I'll ask the specialist to take a look at the compressor whilst they have the front end off. The specialist is 15 miles from here and they are collecting it and dropping it back later.

If the compressor is declared dead/dying then I'll most likely have to layup the D3 and go back to the D2 for the time being until I can get it fixed. I have found a source for a replacement compressor/relay in Germany, but I need the car to be reliable daily, and to be sure that replacing the compressor and relay is the first thing to try.

[Delboy]

This may be worth while looking into see attachmens

[mannyo]

Car is back from the workshop after the cambelt change. The suspension issue is FIXED, hopefully.

After changing the cambelt, they set about my suspension. First they checked all the components externally, so the Valve block and its air and supply connections, the compressor connections. Then onto VCDS.

First they checked the suspension level control measuring blocks and discovered that the car thought that each corner was at completely different heights.

Before sorting that, they then checked the electrical connections on each of the level sensors. All were OK, except the NSF which when disconnected showed signs of water ingress. The inside was green from corrosion, so after cleaning it all up everything looked ok so it was reconnected.

Next they sorted out the suspension ride height issue above by recalibrating the whole lot one corner at a time. The car now has all 4 corners at the correct setting, which is good. The car raises and lowers correctly, and all 4 corners look the same.

After a road test the suspension issue itself has now cleared. Hooray (lets hope it stays that way).

BUT the compressor is weak. Rather than replace the whole compressor, they recommend using the repair kit from Ebay and having the existing compressor rebuilt. They have done quiet a few Touregs with the kit, and never had an issue with it. Currently the compressor is running too often ,as it struggles to cope with the demand placed on it. There is no air leak, which is good.

The cost of the work done so far on the suspension, £0. all done for nothing, since they know me.

Now to source the repair kit from Ebay.