New (to me) A8L, New Member, Another suspension story
08-19-2017, 09:23 AM
#1
AudiWorld Newcomer
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Northern California
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
New (to me) A8L, New Member, Another suspension story
Hi All, just wanted to say hi and share my car/suspension story. I recently bought an 04 A8L with 72k for what I think is a great price (less than 7K!). It being a San Francisco car, it has its share of minor dings here and there on the front and rear bumpers and the wheels have a decent amount of curb rash, but the interior is perfect. Even has maintenance records since new and the original window sticker!
I knew before buying it that it was going to need a timing belt replacement, given the mileage and age. I had spent hours and hours reading the forums on these cars so I had a good idea what I was getting into. After taking the car home, I started to familiarize myself with the car. First things first, got an OBDeleven.
I noticed the CD player was in Christmas lights mode, so I went to a local salvage yard to get a replacement and swapped it out. I want to add the AMI unit to the car, but I need to update the MMI software version first, which means i need a working CD player. I'm still waiting for my appointment with the dealer to get the CP removed.
For the timing belt, I took it to a reputable shop here in the bay area and they also gave the car a once over. They noticed the typical stuff, like the front engine mount was shot as well as all four upper control arm bushings. Most alarmingly, they showed me the timing belt. It had a huge amount of slack. Turns out, the tensioner had failed, and it was just a matter of time before disaster. I felt pretty lucky to have made the decision to take the car in sooner rather than later. So I had the shop take care of all these items along with a transmission fluid change (stayed with the gold stuff). This was a pretty sizable bill, to say the least, but I felt it was not completely unexpected and worth it for a car of this caliber.
At this point, everything was working pretty well, except I noticed the suspension would work sometimes and other times not. The MMI screen control menu would gray out some options sometimes and other times everything would work. I didn't notice any one corner lower than the others at first. The thing that stumped me the most was that I had no dash error lights come on. The OBDeleven scan gave me 3 suspension errors. One for a leak detected, one for the level sensor, and one for an improbable signal. But again, no dash lights. It kept bugging me so I kept investigating and reading literally every single suspension thread on the internet.
Last week, I finally made some progress. I'm not going to go accusing anyone, but someone (one of the previous owners, I'm the third owner) had placed black electrical tape over the lower section of the dash, and even took the time to follow the two gauge cluster curves for a really seamless and undetectable tape application. I had been staring at this dash for good 2 weeks and never even noticed it! Upon removal of the tape, yep two dash lights. One yellow and one green. Great.
So with new confirmation that my suspension has issues, I had to decide how I was going to go about addressing it. At this point, I'd already watched pretty much every single suspension video by ltooz_a6_a8_q7. I noticed the passenger rear was a bit lower than the drivers rear at one point, so I suspected I may have had a leak there. What were my options at this point? Replace the shock with a new oem unit and hope that's the issue? Eliminate the easy fixes first? I decided to go with the less expensive route first. I ordered a new relay (still in shipment). I also decided to try one of bagpipingandy's compressor rebuild kits.
After reading up on how to remove the front end (i needed to reattach the lower grills as they were held on by zipties!!) I tackled getting the compressor out. A bit of a pain unless you remove the fender liner, lower engine cover, and front bumper. But for those of you considering removing your compressor, it's doable with the fender liner pulled back, and the front bumper and lower engine cover loosened rather than completely removed.
The rebuild kit was really straightforward. A few screws, clean up the cylinder walls, replace the PTFE ring, use the included fresh gasket, put it all back together, and done. Putting the compressor back in was even more of a pain than removing it, but I got it back in and hoped all this effort wasn't in vain. Slapped the wheel back on, lowered the car, torqued wheels to 90lbs, turned off jack mode, and took a drive. Immediately the yellow light turned off!! Green light still on. Tried to switch the suspension setting from dynamic to automatic, and not only did it work like a charm, the green light turned off! The performance of the height adjustment is now very noticeable and much quicker than before. I've cleared the suspension errors with OBDeleven, and will be checking to see if they come back, but so far so good. I just saved myself a TON of money!
One question I have for you guys. Does the green suspension light stay on when in dynamic mode? Mine does. I hope that's normal.
If you've read all the way to this point, thanks for reading and thanks for all the great information that has allowed me to understand and diagnose my car. Cheers!
I knew before buying it that it was going to need a timing belt replacement, given the mileage and age. I had spent hours and hours reading the forums on these cars so I had a good idea what I was getting into. After taking the car home, I started to familiarize myself with the car. First things first, got an OBDeleven.
I noticed the CD player was in Christmas lights mode, so I went to a local salvage yard to get a replacement and swapped it out. I want to add the AMI unit to the car, but I need to update the MMI software version first, which means i need a working CD player. I'm still waiting for my appointment with the dealer to get the CP removed.
For the timing belt, I took it to a reputable shop here in the bay area and they also gave the car a once over. They noticed the typical stuff, like the front engine mount was shot as well as all four upper control arm bushings. Most alarmingly, they showed me the timing belt. It had a huge amount of slack. Turns out, the tensioner had failed, and it was just a matter of time before disaster. I felt pretty lucky to have made the decision to take the car in sooner rather than later. So I had the shop take care of all these items along with a transmission fluid change (stayed with the gold stuff). This was a pretty sizable bill, to say the least, but I felt it was not completely unexpected and worth it for a car of this caliber.
At this point, everything was working pretty well, except I noticed the suspension would work sometimes and other times not. The MMI screen control menu would gray out some options sometimes and other times everything would work. I didn't notice any one corner lower than the others at first. The thing that stumped me the most was that I had no dash error lights come on. The OBDeleven scan gave me 3 suspension errors. One for a leak detected, one for the level sensor, and one for an improbable signal. But again, no dash lights. It kept bugging me so I kept investigating and reading literally every single suspension thread on the internet.
Last week, I finally made some progress. I'm not going to go accusing anyone, but someone (one of the previous owners, I'm the third owner) had placed black electrical tape over the lower section of the dash, and even took the time to follow the two gauge cluster curves for a really seamless and undetectable tape application. I had been staring at this dash for good 2 weeks and never even noticed it! Upon removal of the tape, yep two dash lights. One yellow and one green. Great.
So with new confirmation that my suspension has issues, I had to decide how I was going to go about addressing it. At this point, I'd already watched pretty much every single suspension video by ltooz_a6_a8_q7. I noticed the passenger rear was a bit lower than the drivers rear at one point, so I suspected I may have had a leak there. What were my options at this point? Replace the shock with a new oem unit and hope that's the issue? Eliminate the easy fixes first? I decided to go with the less expensive route first. I ordered a new relay (still in shipment). I also decided to try one of bagpipingandy's compressor rebuild kits.
After reading up on how to remove the front end (i needed to reattach the lower grills as they were held on by zipties!!) I tackled getting the compressor out. A bit of a pain unless you remove the fender liner, lower engine cover, and front bumper. But for those of you considering removing your compressor, it's doable with the fender liner pulled back, and the front bumper and lower engine cover loosened rather than completely removed.
The rebuild kit was really straightforward. A few screws, clean up the cylinder walls, replace the PTFE ring, use the included fresh gasket, put it all back together, and done. Putting the compressor back in was even more of a pain than removing it, but I got it back in and hoped all this effort wasn't in vain. Slapped the wheel back on, lowered the car, torqued wheels to 90lbs, turned off jack mode, and took a drive. Immediately the yellow light turned off!! Green light still on. Tried to switch the suspension setting from dynamic to automatic, and not only did it work like a charm, the green light turned off! The performance of the height adjustment is now very noticeable and much quicker than before. I've cleared the suspension errors with OBDeleven, and will be checking to see if they come back, but so far so good. I just saved myself a TON of money!
One question I have for you guys. Does the green suspension light stay on when in dynamic mode? Mine does. I hope that's normal.
If you've read all the way to this point, thanks for reading and thanks for all the great information that has allowed me to understand and diagnose my car. Cheers!
08-19-2017, 09:41 AM
#3
AudiWorld Senior Member
Welcome Aboard Jimmy.
the tape, yep two dash lights. One yellow and one green..
WOW !! What a low move !!!
just saved myself a TON of money!
Yes you did !
One question I have for you guys. Does the green suspension light stay on when in dynamic mode? Mine does. I hope that's normal.
Yes it is, at least on the 2004, my 2004 stayed on when ever in dynamic, yet my 2005 only stays on for a brief moment to warn of the lowered state.
If you've read all the way to this point, thanks for reading and thanks for all the great information that has allowed me to understand and diagnose my car. cheers!
Yes, I read it all, nicely done !
the tape, yep two dash lights. One yellow and one green..
WOW !! What a low move !!!
just saved myself a TON of money!
Yes you did !
One question I have for you guys. Does the green suspension light stay on when in dynamic mode? Mine does. I hope that's normal.
Yes it is, at least on the 2004, my 2004 stayed on when ever in dynamic, yet my 2005 only stays on for a brief moment to warn of the lowered state.
If you've read all the way to this point, thanks for reading and thanks for all the great information that has allowed me to understand and diagnose my car. cheers!
Yes, I read it all, nicely done !
08-19-2017, 10:51 AM
#4
AudiWorld Super User
why would anyone still buy an 04? Hope you didn't pay more than $2000 for that car...
Hi All, just wanted to say hi and share my car/suspension story. I recently bought an 04 A8L with 72k for what I think is a great price (less than 7K!). It being a San Francisco car, it has its share of minor dings here and there on the front and rear bumpers and the wheels have a decent amount of curb rash, but the interior is perfect. Even has maintenance records since new and the original window sticker!
I knew before buying it that it was going to need a timing belt replacement, given the mileage and age. I had spent hours and hours reading the forums on these cars so I had a good idea what I was getting into. After taking the car home, I started to familiarize myself with the car. First things first, got an OBDeleven.
I noticed the CD player was in Christmas lights mode, so I went to a local salvage yard to get a replacement and swapped it out. I want to add the AMI unit to the car, but I need to update the MMI software version first, which means i need a working CD player. I'm still waiting for my appointment with the dealer to get the CP removed.
For the timing belt, I took it to a reputable shop here in the bay area and they also gave the car a once over. They noticed the typical stuff, like the front engine mount was shot as well as all four upper control arm bushings. Most alarmingly, they showed me the timing belt. It had a huge amount of slack. Turns out, the tensioner had failed, and it was just a matter of time before disaster. I felt pretty lucky to have made the decision to take the car in sooner rather than later. So I had the shop take care of all these items along with a transmission fluid change (stayed with the gold stuff). This was a pretty sizable bill, to say the least, but I felt it was not completely unexpected and worth it for a car of this caliber.
At this point, everything was working pretty well, except I noticed the suspension would work sometimes and other times not. The MMI screen control menu would gray out some options sometimes and other times everything would work. I didn't notice any one corner lower than the others at first. The thing that stumped me the most was that I had no dash error lights come on. The OBDeleven scan gave me 3 suspension errors. One for a leak detected, one for the level sensor, and one for an improbable signal. But again, no dash lights. It kept bugging me so I kept investigating and reading literally every single suspension thread on the internet.
Last week, I finally made some progress. I'm not going to go accusing anyone, but someone (one of the previous owners, I'm the third owner) had placed black electrical tape over the lower section of the dash, and even took the time to follow the two gauge cluster curves for a really seamless and undetectable tape application. I had been staring at this dash for good 2 weeks and never even noticed it! Upon removal of the tape, yep two dash lights. One yellow and one green. Great.
So with new confirmation that my suspension has issues, I had to decide how I was going to go about addressing it. At this point, I'd already watched pretty much every single suspension video by ltooz_a6_a8_q7. I noticed the passenger rear was a bit lower than the drivers rear at one point, so I suspected I may have had a leak there. What were my options at this point? Replace the shock with a new oem unit and hope that's the issue? Eliminate the easy fixes first? I decided to go with the less expensive route first. I ordered a new relay (still in shipment). I also decided to try one of bagpipingandy's compressor rebuild kits.
After reading up on how to remove the front end (i needed to reattach the lower grills as they were held on by zipties!!) I tackled getting the compressor out. A bit of a pain unless you remove the fender liner, lower engine cover, and front bumper. But for those of you considering removing your compressor, it's doable with the fender liner pulled back, and the front bumper and lower engine cover loosened rather than completely removed.
The rebuild kit was really straightforward. A few screws, clean up the cylinder walls, replace the PTFE ring, use the included fresh gasket, put it all back together, and done. Putting the compressor back in was even more of a pain than removing it, but I got it back in and hoped all this effort wasn't in vain. Slapped the wheel back on, lowered the car, torqued wheels to 90lbs, turned off jack mode, and took a drive. Immediately the yellow light turned off!! Green light still on. Tried to switch the suspension setting from dynamic to automatic, and not only did it work like a charm, the green light turned off! The performance of the height adjustment is now very noticeable and much quicker than before. I've cleared the suspension errors with OBDeleven, and will be checking to see if they come back, but so far so good. I just saved myself a TON of money!
One question I have for you guys. Does the green suspension light stay on when in dynamic mode? Mine does. I hope that's normal.
If you've read all the way to this point, thanks for reading and thanks for all the great information that has allowed me to understand and diagnose my car. Cheers!
I knew before buying it that it was going to need a timing belt replacement, given the mileage and age. I had spent hours and hours reading the forums on these cars so I had a good idea what I was getting into. After taking the car home, I started to familiarize myself with the car. First things first, got an OBDeleven.
I noticed the CD player was in Christmas lights mode, so I went to a local salvage yard to get a replacement and swapped it out. I want to add the AMI unit to the car, but I need to update the MMI software version first, which means i need a working CD player. I'm still waiting for my appointment with the dealer to get the CP removed.
For the timing belt, I took it to a reputable shop here in the bay area and they also gave the car a once over. They noticed the typical stuff, like the front engine mount was shot as well as all four upper control arm bushings. Most alarmingly, they showed me the timing belt. It had a huge amount of slack. Turns out, the tensioner had failed, and it was just a matter of time before disaster. I felt pretty lucky to have made the decision to take the car in sooner rather than later. So I had the shop take care of all these items along with a transmission fluid change (stayed with the gold stuff). This was a pretty sizable bill, to say the least, but I felt it was not completely unexpected and worth it for a car of this caliber.
At this point, everything was working pretty well, except I noticed the suspension would work sometimes and other times not. The MMI screen control menu would gray out some options sometimes and other times everything would work. I didn't notice any one corner lower than the others at first. The thing that stumped me the most was that I had no dash error lights come on. The OBDeleven scan gave me 3 suspension errors. One for a leak detected, one for the level sensor, and one for an improbable signal. But again, no dash lights. It kept bugging me so I kept investigating and reading literally every single suspension thread on the internet.
Last week, I finally made some progress. I'm not going to go accusing anyone, but someone (one of the previous owners, I'm the third owner) had placed black electrical tape over the lower section of the dash, and even took the time to follow the two gauge cluster curves for a really seamless and undetectable tape application. I had been staring at this dash for good 2 weeks and never even noticed it! Upon removal of the tape, yep two dash lights. One yellow and one green. Great.
So with new confirmation that my suspension has issues, I had to decide how I was going to go about addressing it. At this point, I'd already watched pretty much every single suspension video by ltooz_a6_a8_q7. I noticed the passenger rear was a bit lower than the drivers rear at one point, so I suspected I may have had a leak there. What were my options at this point? Replace the shock with a new oem unit and hope that's the issue? Eliminate the easy fixes first? I decided to go with the less expensive route first. I ordered a new relay (still in shipment). I also decided to try one of bagpipingandy's compressor rebuild kits.
After reading up on how to remove the front end (i needed to reattach the lower grills as they were held on by zipties!!) I tackled getting the compressor out. A bit of a pain unless you remove the fender liner, lower engine cover, and front bumper. But for those of you considering removing your compressor, it's doable with the fender liner pulled back, and the front bumper and lower engine cover loosened rather than completely removed.
The rebuild kit was really straightforward. A few screws, clean up the cylinder walls, replace the PTFE ring, use the included fresh gasket, put it all back together, and done. Putting the compressor back in was even more of a pain than removing it, but I got it back in and hoped all this effort wasn't in vain. Slapped the wheel back on, lowered the car, torqued wheels to 90lbs, turned off jack mode, and took a drive. Immediately the yellow light turned off!! Green light still on. Tried to switch the suspension setting from dynamic to automatic, and not only did it work like a charm, the green light turned off! The performance of the height adjustment is now very noticeable and much quicker than before. I've cleared the suspension errors with OBDeleven, and will be checking to see if they come back, but so far so good. I just saved myself a TON of money!
One question I have for you guys. Does the green suspension light stay on when in dynamic mode? Mine does. I hope that's normal.
If you've read all the way to this point, thanks for reading and thanks for all the great information that has allowed me to understand and diagnose my car. Cheers!
Cheers,
Louis
08-19-2017, 11:44 AM
#6
AudiWorld Member
Put the car in jack mode, measure the height at each wheel, and leave it for a few days. Measure again, and you will see what corner is leaking. The front may sag together, and the rear should sag individually.
I do this if the car will be sitting for awhile. It will help you catch any leaks early that may cause bigger problems. You may also see the green suspension light come on for a few seconds on start up, this means the height has changed more than a few mm and a leak is possible.
I do this if the car will be sitting for awhile. It will help you catch any leaks early that may cause bigger problems. You may also see the green suspension light come on for a few seconds on start up, this means the height has changed more than a few mm and a leak is possible.
08-20-2017, 09:00 AM
#7
AudiWorld Newcomer
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Northern California
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks for all the helpful info guys! In researching the car, I didn't come across anything that would indicate the 04 model was considerably less desirable. Is there something I don't know? Thanks!
Trending Topics
08-20-2017, 09:51 AM
#8
AudiWorld Super User
Nothing is wrong with an 04 as long as you'll never want any options
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto...268049551.html
If you do your homework, you'll see 04 is the first year for the US, not sure if you get the fully loaded one either with massage and ac seat.
+ Timing belt + suspension + back up camera if yours is under $9k?
What I've seen people do up here, MR. Bally is an exception, buy the cheapest 04, then later fixed everything and wanted to RETROFIT everything, after all said and done, the money spent way more than if they gotten the new car in the first place and still only have an 04 with high mileage and bunch of retrofits.
Cheers,
Louis
08-20-2017, 12:10 PM
#9
AudiWorld Member
Hey Jimmy
Can I just make you aware that I used the compressor it kit and it worked great for me also for about a year and then finally the compressor gave up and had to get a new one and fix the leak in the rear strut which probably cause the compressor to wear in the first place. Good luck
