bmantaray

hello all. i’m sad. my 04 allroad has told me that it no longer wants to do the air ride. first the front tire went to lowest height. then it corrected. now the lowest light on the height indicator is just blinking. car is low. anybody have advise? sorry to butch and moan. i still love my car. just am a neeeewb.

OregonCoast_Ss

Is the compressor working properly? Do you hear it running all the time, trying to raise the car up, or does it sound angry? I've got an '04 as well and I solved a lot of issues with Bagpiping Andy's rebuild kit. Super easy to do, you can do it in the car but I just pulled everything so I could check all the wiring, Deoxit the connectors, etc. It solved about 98% of my problems. Here's the link to his shop, I don't get a thing from posting it but it's cheap....http://www.bagpipingandy.com/.

A few other things I did both intentionally and not, that helped as well, but it depends on if you've pulled codes. I have the Ross-Tech stuff so it's easier, but it really helps to know if you have an issue with a level sensor or the pressure sensor or if you just have leaky bags. I had codes for both the pressure sensor and a front level sensor and the car would drop to level one over night, sometimes just the front, sometimes the whole car. The front level sensor is ridiculously expensive so I just pulled mine and used a Dremel to get in to it. Turns out the contacts from the wires to the little PCB in there had never been soldered, and had a little bit of corrosion. I cleaned it up and soldered the pins and epoxied it all back, works like a charm. Now, I'm handy with a Dremel (that white nylon cover just pops off if you use a cutoff wheel around the edges, and then you can just epoxy it back in), and I have a nice Hakko soldering iron but it can be done with a Radio Shack iron just as well. I didn't document the process but if anyone who reads this has a dead sensor they don't mind me getting in to (if I can fix it you've got a working sensor, if not it was already dead), message me.

Also, unplugging all the connectors and cleaning them at the distribution block and compressor cleared the pressure sensor code and it hasn't come back so I think it was poor connection.

I'd start with the cheapest things first...pull codes. I had them for the front level sensor, the pressure sensor, and a compressor overheat and shut off. Rebuilt the compressor and it's now quiet and working properly, code hasn't come back. Cleaned all the connections at the distribution block next to the compressor and checked all the fittings and that code went away and hasn't come back. Rebuilt the level sensor and that's fixed. Once in a while the front will drop a level overnight if it's cold out, or the right rear will sag a level, so I might still have a slow leak somewhere. Going to be rebuilding the front suspension in the next couple of weeks and plan on cleaning up and resealing the bags and replacing the fittings at that time, see if it solves the problem. Speaking of fittings, Audi wants $45 for one. The same part is uses in some GM air ride compressors, and your local Chevy dealer will sell them to you for about $6 to $9 bucks. If anyone wants that part number message me. I did a lot of talking with companies in Germany and here in the States and talked with some incredibly helpful people who shared that bit of info with me. Our local GM dealer says the part is being discontinued so it's a good time to stock up.

Again, pull codes to see what's going on. Sometimes it's something simple causing lots of headaches. Hey, is the level light on tach on as well, or is just the level light flashing?