iloveandhateaudis

2006 A8L W12

Im no mechanic, my wife's nephew is and helps me with this car. I'm trying to get educated so I don't take up too much of his time and can help out as much as possible. Mine is the first Audi he's worked on and he replaced a blower motor last weekend and I watched, he figured his way around things pretty smoothly. I hate not knowing wth is going on so I'm trying to learn.

1 month ago: Suspension went out, car completely lowered. Took to independent shop as nephew was too busy, "new compressor needed". A bunch of $ later.... car back up. In the past several weeks, its been very cold here, temps single digits to -30 windchill ...if left outside, the car will lower only in the rear, if inside garage, it will lower, sometimes all the way, sometimes part way...and then as soon as I fire it it up it raises back up. So from what I've read on these forums, this means a leak in the system / strut(s). If thats correct, its just a matter of time till compressor is burned up again correct?

Also have noticed a big crunching noise in the front left, after hitting any bumps and we have tons of them here with our winters. Also from reading on here, that seems to be the upper control arm bushings. So those either need lubricated or replaced correct?

These two issues are separate right? As in..the car lowering / strut / leak issue is not related to the crunching sound? Thats how I understand this from what I've read.

Driving on bumps/the car slides a bit, definitely worse in snow/ice so is that a tire problem (they are worn down) or is that related to a strut problem as well? Would the problem with suspension cause the car to sway and almost fishtail ever so slightly after bumps or is that something else entirely or more related to tires?

Nephew found these codes (prior to replacing blower motor last weekend...yeah, THAT was fun with no heat for a few weeks...thank God for the seat warmer lol)

Thank you for any help.

00956 Key Fob
01857 Air Outlet Sensor Middle Left G347 Open
01273 Fresh Air Blower V2 Open
00003 Control Module Mechanical Malfunction
01800 Rear View Mirror
01520 Rain/Light sensor - check fuses
00446 Low Power Check Fuses/Bat/Alt
02627 Sensor for Swivel Position Right
02627 Dynamic Cornering V318 Open

mishar

You are mostly right. Only thing you are wrong is lubricating bushings. That won't help.

Problem with swaying comes from wrong alignment and worn tires.

You need VCDS scan so we can help.

iloveandhateaudis

Thanks much, I've read through many of your posts looking around here, you definitely seem to know what is going on. So is it even possible to just replace the bushings?...or is that a 1 piece type deal that you just replace the whole thing?

Are the codes provided not a full scan? Im not sure what the difference is with VCDS.
Thanks! Very helpful!!

bob_man

Look in your wheel wells and inspect the arms over the top of the tires. Mine were creaking and groaning but I did not realize how bad they were until I looked and saw the arms broken out of the bushings and rubbing against the mounting bracket. You can buy replacement bushings but for all the effort to change the bushings, spend the extra bucks and buy new arms (because, if you subscribe to Murphy's Law, the next thing to go will be the ball joints on the old arms). Replace the sway bar brackets while you are in there as well - a cheap and easy fix which may also be part of the noises that you are hearing.

mishar

You can replace only bushings if ball joints are good. It is much cheaper, especially if you go with OEM parts.

Scan you posted is not from VCDS. I don't think anybody here can help based on it.

Mister Bally

There are tons of threads here about this. Use the search functions. See the top sticky post. The one that says "READ THIS FIRST" please.

iloveandhateaudis

You were 100% correct on swaying...new tires completely fixed that problem

iloveandhateaudis

So there are upper front and rear...there are lower front and rear control arms...how do know just the upper are the ones causing the crunching noise?

MP4.2+6.0

You don't "know" with scientific certainty, but can observe about 98% of reports and confirmed issues are on uppers, and most of the 2% residual are guys just generically thinking a kit with lowers must be "twice as good" without a lot of specific info on wear. To really know, gotta get in there up close and examine.

And FWIW, as usual, next most likely noises after uppers are the sway bar links and then main sway bar bushings, rather than the lowers.

iloveandhateaudis

Excellent info. Thanks!!