Audi Allroad mechanic

Lenkair

Hi guys,
we have Audi Allroad 2003 and the air suspension is gone. The car is sitting low and wont go up. We can hear the motor going trying to pump it up, but nothing happens. Few times we banged the car from behind and it went up, but that doesnt work anymore. We had the car in Audi garage, but they were puzzled, they couldnt find what the problem is. They said, it will cost us lots of money to actually identify the problem, nothing came up on their computer. Basically, im looking for a mechanic that has a good expirience with air suspensions and will be willing to have a go. Who want the challenge?:)
Cheers
Lenka

George Dalton

Where are you located?

Nissan doctor

Lenkair wrote: »

Hi guys,
we have Audi Allroad 2003 and the air suspension is gone. The car is sitting low and wont go up. We can hear the motor going trying to pump it up, but nothing happens. Few times we banged the car from behind and it went up, but that doesnt work anymore. We had the car in Audi garage, but they were puzzled, they couldnt find what the problem is. They said, it will cost us lots of money to actually identify the problem, nothing came up on their computer. Basically, im looking for a mechanic that has a good expirience with air suspensions and will be willing to have a go. Who want the challenge?:)
Cheers
Lenka

As above, where are you based? They are reasonably simple to work on once you understand how the system works, as with the rear suspension on the BMW 5 series tourers.

The dealer you where with were most likely going to go the usual dealer route and just keep changing parts until the problem goes away.

Lenkair

We are in Skerries. We had the car in local garage as well, same thing, they just dont want to spend the time. On the other hand, they were straight with us, if they spend few hours on it, they would charge us a fortune which we are trying to avoid.

Tropheus

I have an 2003 Allroad myself. It's most likely an air spring that's leaking. Usually you notice the car sagging when it's left sitting over night. It then gradually gets worse. You need to be careful not to have a leak in the system for too long as it can shorten the life of the air compressor.

The prices of parts from Audi are a killer. You're looking at around €500 a corner. You can get non OEM air springs from the US - www.arnottindustries.com. I have two of these on the front of my car and they are fine after 5k miles. They're very well rated by Allroad drivers in the US. I fitted them myself. Not a big job if you're handy with a spanner.

It's usually the fronts that go first. There's 185k miles on my car and I've replaced the fronts twice. I've yet to do the rears, but one of the them is leaking and will be done soon. It's nearly worth replacing them in pairs. In my experience if one goes, the other side is not far behind it.

Most mechanics should be able to work on the allroad. The suspension is different, but as was said above similar systems are on Range Rovers and S class Mercedes.

Lenkair

Hi K,
thanks for that, but we cant order them without someone telling us for sure what the hell is wrong with the car. They were second guessing that its the compressor itself, then it wasnt and so on. Are you mechanic youself? I see you are in Donabate!! We are in Skerries.

Tropheus

Hi Lenkair,

No, I’m not a mechanic, just an enthusiastic amateur that owns an allroad.

Is the suspension rising at all? If it isn’t, it’s possibly the compressor or an air spring has completely failed.

If the suspension is rising, have you tried turning off the compressor and self-levelling for the suspension? To do this, hold the up and down buttons together. After a few seconds, the LEDs on the buttons will stay lit and the suspension light on the dash will be on permanently. This is a good way of locating a leaking air spring. With the self-levelling on, the car will settle to the level of the lowest air spring. With it off, when the car is sitting for a few hours, the corner with the leak should have sagged. Once you start driving, the compressor and self-levelling will turn on again automatically.

Has anyone done a scan with VAG-COM or VCDS? There should be error codes showing for the suspension that may give you a clue. These are the diagnostic tools used by the Audi dealers.

What mileage is on the car? Has there been any work on the suspension previously?

Lenkair

At the moment, the car doesnt even start, the battery is dead, becouse we couldnt drive it. The car had life on its own, sometimes it went up no problem. sometimes we had to drive it on level 1 for a while and than it would go up. It always sank over night. We had it diagnosed with Audi dealer, but nothing came up. They gave us the car back with - we dont what is it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who is looking after your Audi? Do you have someone local that can deal with air suspension?
The last time we drove the car, we defo burned something, the car was low and smoke was coming out (that was in July)
It is a lovely car, it would be a shame to sell for scrap

George Dalton

If it sinks overnight it must have a leak. Does it sink on one corner more than the others?

Lenkair

the front goes first, both sides

Tropheus

The burning was possibly a tyre rubbing off a wheel arch if the suspension was too low. Was the yellow suspension light on the dash flashing when this happened?

If the front sags, then it sounds like a front air spring is gone. Try raising it again and then turn off the compressor and self levelling and see if it goes in one corner.

Do you hear air escaping anywhere? If it's a bad leak, you'll hear it.

I do have a local guy in Donabate that looks after my car, but I haven't had him work on the suspension. That's not to say he couldn't do it.

Eric Cartman

not to get at you or anything op, but it sounds like your hoping for a really cheap fix to this, I honestly dont think thats going to happen and getting out of this for under 6-700 euro is going to be a miracle. Changing the front air springs sounds like the first step to me, even if its not the whole problem theyre going to go anyway and even if your selling the car new front air springs would help shift it.

Tropheus

Eric Cartman wrote: »

not to get at you or anything op, but it sounds like your hoping for a really cheap fix to this, I honestly dont think thats going to happen and getting out of this for under 6-700 euro is going to be a miracle. Changing the front air springs sounds like the first step to me, even if its not the whole problem theyre going to go anyway and even if your selling the car new front air springs would help shift it.

I agree. I've had suspension problems a couple of times and my wallet took a hammering each time. The Arnott parts are about half the price of OEM so well worth a look. You save even more if you can do the work yourself. I did both my fronts (Arnott parts) for the price of one corner from a dealer.

Between fuel consumption, parts prices and tax, the allroad isn't a car that can be run on a budget.

George Dalton

The air springs from Audi are €720 ex VAT each just for the part!

You can get an Arnott part supplied and fitted for about €500-550.

I agree with the other posters in this thread so far. The advice has been good.