A6 Allroad front suspension dropped, one side only
Hello,
My wife took the car out today, smooth roads, came home. parked and after about an hour I looked out and saw that the front R/H suspension had dropped down hard on the tyre. It is a 11/2006 4F C6 3.0 tdi, earlier this year I had the rear suspension unit changed and about 35,000km ago I had both front suspension units changed (at great cost). The issue with the front units when I had them changed was because the car was tramping on a straight road, as if you were in a car with no shock absorbers. This is very different and If it has to go to a garage it will be a breakdown job. When I start the engine all 5 blocks of the height gauge remain empty, normally at least one is orange. This does not change on any setting between dynamic and lift, the car does lift a bit but not enough to steer the car without the tyre fouling the wheel arch. I have tried to hear if there is an air leak by putting one end of a plastic tube in my ear and moving the other end around inside the wheel arch, cannot hear a leak at all. The computer will not allow me to select jacking mode. This fault was sudden with no warning up until today since the rar repair it was running perfectly.
I await your comments,
Regards,
Michael
Re: A6 Allroad front suspension dropped, one side only
Update:
I have left the car for a while, gone back turned on the ignition and two orange bars were illuminated, (set on dynamic), with engine started the car started rising and then there was a sudden short sharp air squeak from the front right and the car dropped back onto the tyre (pleased I didn't have my hand in there at the time), and the orange bars disappeared, no up or down arrow illuminated. I turned off the ignition and waited a while, when I turned the ignition on again the computer let me turn on the jacking mode, but with the engine running the white up and down arrows do not illuminate and the yellow and green car suspension warning lights are flashing. Cannot move the car because the wheel arch is resting on the tyre. It will be difficult to get a safe jack under there and see what we has, another problem is that it is parked on loose gravel which makes the car jack very unstable.
Re: A6 Allroad front suspension dropped, one side only
Leaky bag, have bag will leak...one day. Arnot replacements are not worth the box they come in.
Re: A6 Allroad front suspension dropped, one side only
I have no idea what Arnot replacements are. The struts which were replaced about 35,000 km ago came from Germany but that was not the suppliers name. The reason I changed the struts was very different to today. Tomorrow I hope to be able to jack up the car, remove the inner wing and try and locate an air leak.
Re: A6 Allroad front suspension dropped, one side only
Struts are one part, air springs are another, were the air springs replaced?
Re: A6 Allroad front suspension dropped, one side only
This has me very confused, I thought that the front suspension unit was one lump, which were changed only about 35,000 km ago. with an air line going in the top I did not know that the strut and air springs were separate. Where are the air springs located?
Re: A6 Allroad front suspension dropped, one side only
It's same unit. Spring is around the shock and it's not some separately. Rear is different story.
Re: A6 Allroad front suspension dropped, one side only
Have got the inner wheel arch out. Fault code 02646 on level control. When you turn the ignition on the compressor runs, the MMI shows the height with two bars orange, the car starts lifting and then there is a sudden pressure release near the compressor and the car drops, the MMI display changes immediately no orange blocks shown and if you look at the lifting mode it goes grey, you cannot change the settings and it shows lifting mode on, even when the lifting mode was off when the display was correctly illuminated. I have not been able to find any gradual leak yet.
Re: A6 Allroad front suspension dropped, one side only
Seems like the strut again, after removing the boot it is easy to hear a lot of air loss coming from inside the top when the compressor is running.
Re: A6 Allroad front suspension dropped, one side only
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mhobson
Hello,
My wife took the car out today, smooth roads, came home. parked and after about an hour I looked out and saw that the front R/H suspension had dropped down hard on the tyre. It is a 11/2006 4F C6 3.0 tdi, earlier this year I had the rear suspension unit changed and about 35,000km ago I had both front suspension units changed (at great cost). The issue with the front units when I had them changed was because the car was tramping on a straight road, as if you were in a car with no shock absorbers. This is very different and If it has to go to a garage it will be a breakdown job. When I start the engine all 5 blocks of the height gauge remain empty, normally at least one is orange. This does not change on any setting between dynamic and lift, the car does lift a bit but not enough to steer the car without the tyre fouling the wheel arch. I have tried to hear if there is an air leak by putting one end of a plastic tube in my ear and moving the other end around inside the wheel arch, cannot hear a leak at all. The computer will not allow me to select jacking mode. This fault was sudden with no warning up until today since the rar repair it was running perfectly.
I await your comments,
Regards,
Michael
hi Michael
leaking air bags don't usually collapse quite so readily and quickly, normally it's a more gradually overnight settling towards the bump stops. If the front air springs / shock units were worked on fairly recently (35k km isn't so much after all), is it more likely the air line to that one unit has become partly unscrewed and has a poor seal which lets go as the car rises?
how many km has the car done overall?
you might want to find the air line attachment point andput some soapy water around it, then try to observe with an inspection mirror and lamp to see if there's air exhausted from there when the car sinks. Likewise the air shock unit. The valve block for the air suspension is just below the passenger side headlamp (on a LHD car), right next to the compressor. That's another potential point for sudden leaking as the air lines are all plugged in there. You'll need the car on jack stands with undertray off to check it out.
Good luck.