amsnooze

I have gone through a few existing discussions on this forum about Air Suspension issues but my issue is a little different and i am hoping i can get few tips and recommendations.

**For the past week every morning the "Green" light will come up when i start the car and go away after 20 to 30 seconds. If I leave the car parked over the weekend i will get "Yellow & Green" light and both will go away after a min.

**Driver side was pretty low to the ground this morning. I appreciate any contribution to this question.

mishar

Welcome to the board!

I must disappoint you. Your problem is not any different than those you found. You have an air leak, most likely driver side front strut. If you don't fix it right away it will kill your air compressor. You can find refurbished strut on eBay, but before you proceed you have to find that leak. Engage Lift Mode, take off the driver side front wheel, put some solid support (wood block) under the suspension, close to the brake and lower the car to it. That will keep the strut under pressure. Spray the air connection area with soapy water and look for bubbles. Same think with other wheels until you find the leak. Replace that strut. After that replace the compressor relay. Depending on MY of your car it can be in different locations. If it is 2007 and older it is behind the instrument panel. Careful with that knee trim. There is an airbag.

amsnooze

@Mishar, Thank You. I have come across your posts all over the forum and your suggestions/recommendations are always clear and well laid out.

**i am concerned if i should ship my strut to have it rebuilt or buy a refurbished one and return mine as the core. I will be doing 'soapy water' test tomorrow am.

mishar

I believe the end result will be pretty much the same. You can only save some time and risk that your shock absorber is not good.

Mister Bally

The Arnott reman struts are good and come with a guarantee. Historically they only rebuilt the pneumatic components around a hydraulic strut that had a minimum of 80% of new specifications. Now they are actually returning the struts to new unit specifications.

You can always buy new if money is no issue....

707chris

Should also add as an option rebuild master tech does rebuilt struts with lifetime warranty. Just pay for the core charge and ship your old one back. I suggest replacing them both, unlike myself I waited to just fix the one I knew was broken, and now the other side blew a couple days later. These front ends are heavy and take a lot of force on bumps. While your at it and in the area replace the upper control arms on both sides. Really easy to do and you are already in there and disconnect half of the arm anyway. My ball joints and bushings were shot in my upper control arms. BUT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be careful when removing the pinch bolt that runs through the upper control arms. Get a can of PB-Blaster and soak it. Shoot into the area the bolt runs through to remove any debri caught in there that will seize the bolt. I had tons of rock,dirt,road salt in that small crevice and it took me quite a bit of "soaking it, tightening and loosening, repeat" to get it back out without stripping seizing. OR if it does seize either you cut it out or replace spindle. FCPEuro hooked me up with a front end kit (both upper control arms for driver and passenger) for like ~$120 shipped to California. Real good deal on quality parts. Let me know if you have any problem removing! Good luck

mishar

I would not suggest replacing both struts unless they are both leaking or if you replace them with brand new struts. What happened to you is a pure coincidence. The other strut may as well last longer than the rest of the car. If not, replacing it anyways has nothing to do with replacing the first one.

I would suggest checking them first. Ball joints can last very long and bushings are quite likely bad. Replacing only bushings with OEM ones is better and cheaper solution than replacing arms with some aftermarket cheap junk.

1Wasserwerks

I've waited long enough on my issue. Ordered an Arnott left front yesterday. With the cold weather the front is always dropped after a cold night. Mostly the left is the issue but the right side will have to wait another few weeks to a month.
When I was under the car these past two weeks changing upper control arms, I checked the valve block (rear inner fenderwell area) and strut for leaks but did not visually see any. I have 71K on the car now and it is probably time. My guess is that the bag is leaking (cracked) internally on the strut. I have not thrown a leak code, but I have gotten the "lower limit exceeded" code as far as the suspension is concerned.
Your issue sounds very similar to mine. When I unlock/open the car in the morning, wait till you hear the resevoir attempt to refill the front airbags. You will hear it fill and the front will rise. At least let that happen and you will not get the flashing green and yellow lights. You alteady know you have an issue.
If you will be replacing the upper control arms it is fairly easy to do. Plenty of articles on here recommending staying with Audi arms. I opted to stay with the same S8 arms, they have HD bushings and life expectancy is about 70K. I saved the old arms to have new bushings pressed in before the next 70K.

Panelhead

Are you sure they now rebuild the hydraulic dampening section? If so, this is the way to go, and in pairs.
If not, a worn damper should work well with another worn damper. No guarantee they wear together. But if new dampers I always replace in pairs.

amsnooze

Placed an order today with "RebuiltMasterTech" . Bushings will be getting replaced as well, i am glad that was brought up in this discussion. Currently waiting for the parts to arrive. Will be updating the post.