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Thread: A6 Allroad - Air Suspension fault

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  1. A6 Allroad - Air Suspension fault 
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    Having read all the issues many of you have had with the air suspension system on the A6, I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction

    My car is an A6 4F 2007 Allroad and I love it. It's done 193000 miles without any major issues until the rear o/s air spring showed signs of failing two months ago which a local garage replaced. All sorted.

    The strangest of faults has now started in that when i open the car the suspension now sinks both front and back! I thought this was another leak when i listened under the o/s front wheel arch and heard the air escaping from there. Garage changed the front strut for me today. The fault remains.

    The dash shows both orange and green suspension lights with the orange static and the green flashing. The suspension will rise when a mode is selected but sometimes it is not possible to select a mode at all and the suspension will not rise. When the suspension is at the chosen level there are no warning lights.

    VAG states the an actuator is faulty on the n/s front and that's my next route to explore but I have a feeling that is not the problem.

    Any pointers would be most helpful.
     
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  2. Re: A6 Allroad - Air Suspension fault 
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    What do you mean by “when you open the car”? You mean when you open any of the doors? Did the garage who replaced the air spring calibrate the air suspension using vcds?

    I suggest engaging jacking mode on MMI and seeing if the behaviour is still the same, or whether maybe just one corner drops instead of the whole car. Without jacking mode on, the system tries to keep the car level, so a leak can be hard to isolate.

    There is an actuator within the air compressor, which opens to drop the level of the whole car when you command a lower setting, so maybe that is faulty or stuck a little open. The compressor is under the front bumper on the right hand side of the car, so the location fits where you said you heard air escaping.

    ps. You’ve done well to get to 193,000 miles with few issues. My car is at 125k and has had all sorts of problems in the last couple of years. Some days it feels like it’s breaking faster than I can fix it!
    2007 A6 Allroad 3.2 FSI Tiptronic (C6 pre-facelift) - left hand drive
     
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  3. Re: A6 Allroad - Air Suspension fault 
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    Quote Originally Posted by 54A4Avant View Post
    What do you mean by “when you open the car”? You mean when you open any of the doors? Did the garage who replaced the air spring calibrate the air suspension using vcds?

    I suggest engaging jacking mode on MMI and seeing if the behaviour is still the same, or whether maybe just one corner drops instead of the whole car. Without jacking mode on, the system tries to keep the car level, so a leak can be hard to isolate.

    There is an actuator within the air compressor, which opens to drop the level of the whole car when you command a lower setting, so maybe that is faulty or stuck a little open. The compressor is under the front bumper on the right hand side of the car, so the location fits where you said you heard air escaping.

    ps. You’ve done well to get to 193,000 miles with few issues. My car is at 125k and has had all sorts of problems in the last couple of years. Some days it feels like it’s breaking faster than I can fix it!
    Thanks for the help 54A4Avant. Very useful.

    Suspension stays up overnight. When I open a door in the morning it collapses and as you say the air noise is coming from the area where the compressor is, so that's where my next effort lies. Given the mileage and the fact that its the original compressor (it's a bit noisy) should I just get it changed rather than fit a new seal kit?

    With Jacking mode on the behaviour is the same i.e. no corners collapse.

    The garage says that they calibrated the suspension.
     
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  4. Re: A6 Allroad - Air Suspension fault 
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    Ok. Bit peculiar this, as I’m not sure what would cause the compressor’s solenoid to open in response to you opening the car door, and I’d be concerned that you could easily replace the compressor and end up with exactly the same behaviour. If I were in your shoes I would try a post in this thread:
    Allroad Air Suspension Problems
    .. which is in the C5 section of the forum. Although yours is a C6, that forum section is where you are most likely to meet bagpipingandy (Andy Fulton), who knows more about these air suspension systems than most people. The C5 folk are a nice bunch who seem to tolerate C6 owners asking the odd question.

    The compressors are pretty robust, apart from piston rings wearing out, so I wouldn’t personally jump to the conclusion that it should be changed due to mileage. You may well need some to use vcds software to monitor the system as you open the door, to get to the bottom of what’s going on.
    2007 A6 Allroad 3.2 FSI Tiptronic (C6 pre-facelift) - left hand drive
     
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  5. Re: A6 Allroad - Air Suspension fault 
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    Quote Originally Posted by martinfrench View Post
    Thanks for the help 54A4Avant. Very useful.

    Suspension stays up overnight. When I open a door in the morning it collapses and as you say the air noise is coming from the area where the compressor is, so that's where my next effort lies. Given the mileage and the fact that its the original compressor (it's a bit noisy) should I just get it changed rather than fit a new seal kit?

    With Jacking mode on the behaviour is the same i.e. no corners collapse.

    The garage says that they calibrated the suspension.

    Good afternoon,
    I have an Audi A6 C6 Allroad 3.0Tdi wich had more less the same problem as yours.
    I had 2 spring back bags completely worned so it was difficult to the compressor to maintain the level required. However, when I replaced them and was sure that I had no leaks at all, I got yellow warning, specially when requested lift and allroad mode, except dynamic mode. So, it means a problem and the car automatically put it on jack mode (it blocks the valves). The VCDS readings showed me that when the pressure reaches 10 bar, the fault comes on (maximum is 16 bar, because Allroad has the same cubic volume accumulator as A8, 5,8liter instead A6 Avant which has 4,8). So, the problem is inside of valve block solenoid, which we don’t have any access. Inside of that you have the 4 valves for each car corner, the 5th for tank accumulator and the faulty one: pressure sender G291. I didn’t replaced yet but for the moment i don’t have the yellow warning for now. But, as it happens to you, when I unlock/lock the doors, close or open them, I can hear the leak for 1 to 3 seconds it depends, but it stops correctly. So I presume the “leak” occurs on that situation is normal. Try to see the relay and valve block solenoid which is 100-200€ (the good ones not the 40€ chinese). Another thing I noticed, maybe, when I replaced the air spring, the suspension got a bit more stiffness, probably placebo effect I don’t know, or perhaps since the system has more pressure on the circuit but less than the enough to get warning fault.
     
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  6. Re: A6 Allroad - Air Suspension fault 
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jose Teixeira View Post
    Good afternoon,
    I have an Audi A6 C6 Allroad 3.0Tdi wich had more less the same problem as yours.
    I had 2 spring back bags completely worned so it was difficult to the compressor to maintain the level required. However, when I replaced them and was sure that I had no leaks at all, I got yellow warning, specially when requested lift and allroad mode, except dynamic mode. So, it means a problem and the car automatically put it on jack mode (it blocks the valves). The VCDS readings showed me that when the pressure reaches 10 bar, the fault comes on (maximum is 16 bar, because Allroad has the same cubic volume accumulator as A8, 5,8liter instead A6 Avant which has 4,8). So, the problem is inside of valve block solenoid, which we don’t have any access. Inside of that you have the 4 valves for each car corner, the 5th for tank accumulator and the faulty one: pressure sender G291. I didn’t replaced yet but for the moment i don’t have the yellow warning for now. But, as it happens to you, when I unlock/lock the doors, close or open them, I can hear the leak for 1 to 3 seconds it depends, but it stops correctly. So I presume the “leak” occurs on that situation is normal. Try to see the relay and valve block solenoid which is 100-200€ (the good ones not the 40€ chinese). Another thing I noticed, maybe, when I replaced the air spring, the suspension got a bit more stiffness, probably placebo effect I don’t know, or perhaps since the system has more pressure on the circuit but less than the enough to get warning fault.
    Worn compressor piston rings will often only show up as an issue after air spring leaks are fixed, as without leaks in the system the compressor no longer has to work nearly continuously and so the piston isn’t as warm and a worn piston seal will no longer seal against the cylinder. This could, presumably, cause the warning light to come on.

    Unless you know for sure the compressor piston ring is ok, I would start by replacing that. Repair kits are available cheaply via eBay (search “bagpipingandy”) and it’s not a tricky job.
    2007 A6 Allroad 3.2 FSI Tiptronic (C6 pre-facelift) - left hand drive
     
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  7. Re: A6 Allroad - Air Suspension fault 
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    The worn compressor ring is only fault when the compressor takes too much time to fill, and does not have anything a play part when you decrease level. Only 2 thing are used when it “leaks” or decrease level: Electrical exhaust solenoid valve which receives the air from all 5 valves and next the pneumatic exhaust valve, next additional silencer and then air filter (to dry the silicon balls). The electrical exhaust solenoid receives information from pressure sender G291.
     
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  8. Re: A6 Allroad - Air Suspension fault 
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  9. Re: A6 Allroad - Air Suspension fault 
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    What you mentioned is valid only when the compressor piston ring is worned and takes too much to fill, but there is another thing, the compressor has an NTC which is constantly monitoring the compressor temperature, even when the compressor is new and if you insist too much on it, and if the NTC sees the temperature is too high, you get the green and yellow warning. It happened to me before replaced the bags and my compressor is almost new (2years).
     
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  10. Re: A6 Allroad - Air Suspension fault 
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    Perhaps this is better to understand:
    DA54A3D1-4AEE-4009-B0DE-ACA9C142E45A.jpg
     
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