c.beland@comcast.net

I just bought my wife a 2004 a8 with 139,000 miles on it. A few days after we had it she came home from work and the front suspension looked like it was slammed to the ground while the back looked normal. Is there an adjustment for this in the car? We didn't get an owners manual with the car so I'm hoping she bumped a button somewhere. There are 2 lights on one is a yellow car with and up and down arrow and the other one is a flashing green car with a down arrow. Thanks for any help!

91quattro

Many posts about this, do a search on "air suspension" and do some reading on this topic. Sorry, but there is no "easy button" for this. Basically, the front air suspension (separate from the rear suspension, which is why the rear looks normal) probably has an air leak somewhere - usually one or both of the air shocks - or maybe one of the air lines - or the compressor is not operating to keep the system "inflated." Shocks are the most likely suspect. What can happen is the compressor runs to try and keep the system inflated, and it can burn itself out in the (futile) process. This is a common problem with the car when it reaches about 100K miles. If one shock has gone out, the other won't be far behind. Replacing the two front shocks with rebuilt ones will cost anywhere from $1200-$1800 depending on who does the work. Worst case, both shocks, the compressor and the relay for the compressor...$2K. Forget new shocks - from Audi they are over $2000 each.

As I said lots of info on this topic and many very knowledgeable resources here to help. I went through the same thing with my A8 a few years ago, ended up replacing both front shocks with rebuilt ones, and all is fine now. Fortunately this doesn't usually happen but every 10 years or so.

Finally - if you plan to keep and maintain the car for a period of years, you should consider investing in VCDS, a diagnostic tool that is a tremendous help in troubleshooting problems like this. Ross-Tech: Home

Jack88

Yep, a very common issue. I'm sorry to say you bought a car with a likely preexisting condition. Not a complicated repair, but one of the more common issues. Along with that, at the mileage the car is at, if it has not had the full timing belt maintenance done, that will also need to be done. Look for a sticker under the hood that'll tell you when it was done. Failure to do this maintenance always ends in belt failure, most often as a side effect of one of the other components in line with the timing failing. It's around a $1500 maintenance item that's supposed to be done every 75k miles.

Again, sorry to hear you have this big expense so soon into buying the car. Odds are, the previous owners sold it because they could not afford to fix it, I hope you at least got a good deal out of it.

gaber6

Firat step probably compressor ring. $17
you might be able to get a few layers of foil tape on the inner ring and reset the same old ring for free to see if that gives you a little compression. I just did that proir to doing a full fix.

Aceler8

I did plenty of research before buying our 2006 model so the air suspension going out was not a surprise.
Folks who buy these cars without prior knowledge are in for a shocker when things go bad. DIY skills or a fat wallet are a must when you roll in an 8.

Jack88

You need an even fatter wallet for an old Benz or BMW, Lexus is the only top marque that usually leaves your wallet alone, more or less. A8's really depend on their service history. A well maintained example can have a surprise or two, but the abused or neglected ones can be trouble, especially when you first get them. Look at some of the other threads, to aid with diagnosis and give you the appropriate warnings. You don't have to replace both sides, but if you can't pin it down to a side, you may have to. The compressor and compressor relay will need replacing if it doesn't seem to try to run anymore. If it does run, you will want to pull the fuse for it so it doesn't burn itself out. The biggest advice I have for any A8 owner is do not take shortcuts or skip out on maintenance or repairs. Keeping ahead of the game pays off big in the long run with these cars, minimizing down time and cost. When repairs are required, get quality parts, cheap ones will fail again, often very quickly.

MP4.2+6.0

+1. Well said.