Adaptive air suspension - should the car always be level ? + unrelated strange beep.

[jammie]

I'm so glad I've found this site and had helpful responses to my first question already and hope someone can help me with these 2 issues

I've noticed on my newly acquired 2005 A6 Quattro Avant 3.0 TDI that first thing in the morning the rear body is lower than the front. Once in use it levels and I have no problems with it during the day. Is this something I should be concerned about ?

Additionally and unrelated, there is an intermittent but regular faint "beep". I haven't timed it exactly but reckon about every 3 minutes or so. The sound is nowhere near as loud as a warning beep from the dashboard and there are no warning lamps lit. It seems to be coming from the centre somewhere, aircon maybe ? and it is defintely cyclical. Although it's faint, once noticed I'm beginning to find it annoying, does anyone know what it could be ?

[careless_adi]

I have the adaptive air suspension all round and mine doesn't drop at all over night. I had an air leak in the valve block preventing any more air going into the system. The air block is located just next to the compressor (located just behind the drivers side fog light, but accessible from the wheel arch - just remove the wheel lining and maybe even the plastic mud guard from under the bumper).

First thing to do is to get a scan done with VCDS for errors.

Low suspension levels usually indicate punctured air bags which are the suspension struts themselves.

If you don't get it looked at you might knacker your air compressor as it'll be running overtime to compensate for the air leak.

[jammie]

The beep is every 2 minutes, pretty much on the dot.

Thanks for your reply. When I first start the car in the morning I do get the amber and green lights showing that air is being pumped for some seconds then the amber light disappears followed shortly by the green. They don't reappear at all whilst driving which I would expect them to do if there was a leak, wouldn't you ?.

[careless_adi]

The beep is every 2 minutes, pretty much on the dot.

Thanks for your reply. When I first start the car in the morning I do get the amber and green lights showing that air is being pumped for some seconds then the amber light disappears followed shortly by the green. They don't reappear at all whilst driving which I would expect them to do if there was a leak, wouldn't you ?.

Not if the leak was very minute. Just enough for the air compressor to top up as it's on, but when off over night the air escapes from the system.

[jammie]

I understand what you're getting at but if the compressor was regularily topping up surely I would have the green car light on the dashboard now and again during the day.

[careless_adi]

The beep is every 2 minutes, pretty much on the dot.

Thanks for your reply. When I first start the car in the morning I do get the amber and green lights showing that air is being pumped for some seconds then the amber light disappears followed shortly by the green. They don't reappear at all whilst driving which I would expect them to do if there was a leak, wouldn't you ?.

Only if it can't reach a certain height I would guess.

On mine, when I had the leak from the air valve block, I kept getting the orange light coming on and then the MMI screen would go grey as the system gave up trying to reach a certain level. After a few stop/start cycles it would reach the required level. It would also come up with the orange light on the dash after, maybe an hour of driving as the system would lose air.

However, now I've replaced the faulty valve block, the car still struggles to get to a higher position once warmed up as the compressor is on its way out, but I don't get an orange light when driving at all - only when I try to go from 'Comfort' to 'Lift' for example when the car is warm.

[Bamse307]

Hey

I was looking with interest your posts , I have the same problem, almost it hanging with one wheel, but only when it is extremly cold , around -8 to -15 degree do you have any idea what it could be

[jammie]

If I leave it in "lift" mode overnight, it doesn't sink. Does this mean the bags are still airtight ?