Panagiotis Kyriakis

Long story short: Got a 2005 Audi A8. Needed a simple oil change. Took it to an apparently clueless mechanic you jacked the car up without putting it into jack mode. When he was done the front left side was titling a lot but it slowly returned to normal (almost). Didn't really know much and he told me this is normal, it takes a bit to level up etc. So I took his word for it. Kept driving the car for about a month. Overnight it used to tilt a bit, about one inch but it leveled up after starting the engine. Every now and then I used to see a a green suspension light which apparently means that the car is lower that is supposed to be and it tries to level itself. The light used to go on and off, it was green so I didn't think it might indicate an issue. Yesterday while driving the yellow suspension light went on, the car tilted a lot and it was impossible to drive it. I was close to a mechanic, took it there, he did a visual inspection and told me that there's an air leak and I need to replace the strut (the other mechanic told me there's a small air leak but I don't need to worry about it). None of these guys are audi specialist so I am gonna have it inspected by one just to make sure. It seems that the compressor is fine cuz when I put it on lift it pumps it up a little bit but it goes down again. There is an leak most likely cuz I can hear the air being squeezed out like a balloon.

Honestly, the first appears to be a straight-up guy who did a mistake, he told me that he forgot to put the car on jack mode but it is not really necessary to do so before lifting it up. Apparently it is important (right?) and this might be the cause of the problem. I am sure he is not gonna be willing to reimburse me cuz this is a super-costly repair. I have a proof of his negligence to put the car on jack mode. So, how should I go about this?

Jack88

The second one is right, the strut needs replacement. These cars should not need to pump themselves up at all, even after sitting for weeks, except for maybe an adjustment for load or leveling. The light you saw early on and the inch drop overnight indicated the failing strut. It's absolutely not something that is okay, even a little bit. You will want to replace the strut, either with a new OEM one(expensive,) a rebuilt unit(usually okay, warrantied,) or a used unit(roll of the dice, cheapest option.) Aftermarket new do not function like factory ones, and will affect handling and ride quality negatively, no matter what anyone else says. Replace the strut and don't drive the car until you do, your compressor will be destroyed quickly trying to keep up with the leak, you are lucky it hasn't already failed.

TSHong

If he lifted the whole vehicle with all 4 wheels off the ground, you do not have to put the car in jack mode. Jack mode is there for only lifting one corner of the car. You just have a problem with an air suspension like everyone here on this forum will eventually have.

Panagiotis Kyriakis

Not sure how he lifted it up. Not trying to blame it on him offcourse. But the car was perfectly fine before he worked on it. And the manual clearly says that it needs to be put on jack mode. Not sure about the technical details but if this is the cause of the problem I don't wanna pay for it myself.

actually the car has an aftermarket strut. Suncore. And it was perfectly fine for me before this happened.

how would you go about this legally? There's a negligence on his part to put the car into jack mode which as far as I read online and been told by another mechanic might damage the supsension.

Jack88

You are supposed to put it in jack mode before lifting it, but it wouldn't take out a strut that didn't already have problems. Suncore sells low end rebuilt and new struts. Their new struts are not OEM quality, they lack the adaptive dampening of the factory units, and their rebuilds are really cheap, making me question the quality. To replace it with another new Suncore would not be super costly, their new strut is $470 and rebuilds are about half that, compared to an OEM one that cost more than twice as much.

2004A8L

If i was him I'd tell you take that strut and stick it u know where lol... the jack mode is there to prevent the car from self leveling when you jack one side up. And no it won't damage anything

MP4.2+6.0

For what its worth, if you gave me a dollar for every time I forgot about jack mode on the way to lifting up a corner, I could at least buy a nice sit down dinner by now. And likewise, if my strut then broke every time I forgot, I would be in the poor house. And...most D3's on the planet--and any other make with similar air ride systems--would probably be in the scrap yard by now too. The system is not made of magic pixie dust that somehow breaks if you make one small non by the book error. From BTDT, what happens specifically--and only sometimes--is suspension takes a dump and car ends up on the bump stops after it comes off the jack. Then it starts working via compressor and all and it comes back to normal.

Net, most likely just coincidence. If it did the full dump I described it is possible I suppose it had enough range of motion to start a leak going. But if so, that was probably just a question of time before suspension moved that much anyway and it happened by itself. A VCDS scan might help for issues like level sensors BTW. Scan also might give you more pointers on the issue(s), though it often doesn't tell you much for a straight leaky strut other than compressor eventually gets overworked as a symptom.

jlbell

Also pressure drop mainly due to significant temperature decrease. I have noticed nearly no drop during the summer but during the winter (depending on daily temperature difference) it can be as significant as an inch or two. This also may be the result of me leaving it in jack mode, because when it isn't in jack mode the car will do a shelf check and adjustment every 2, 4, 8, and 12 hours.

jlbell

From the Audi Suspension SSP the car knows whenever it is being lifted by a two post lift, and jack mode only needs to be activated whenever it is lifted on a per wheel basis. I just activate it regardless of lifting operation.

Panagiotis Kyriakis

Update on this.

Run a VCDS scan. The suspension related codes are:

01577 - Turn of due to over-temp, Upper limit exceeded (this error came up while the mechanic was working on my car)
01400 - Suspension level control - Lower limit exceeded
01400 - Suspension level control - Upper limit exceeded
01781 - Car extremely un-level, mechanical failure
01780 - Sensor for vehicle leveling - mechanical failure (when this came up the car was extremely un-level and not drivable)

Thoughts?