04 A8L Suspension Question....
 

Hello everyone. I just picked up an 04 A8L, I notice when I park the vehicle over the course of a couple hours I will come back and the car will look as though it is sitting lower than when it was initially parked. When I open the drivers door I can hear and see the car raising back up again. Is this normal or should I be looking for a leak somewhere?

This happens to my car if there is a significant temperature drop, but never when I just let it sit for a couple of hours with stable temps. Your air suspension may have a leak. Does the entire car sag, or just a particular corner?

l8r)

not normal. the suspension should hold its last setting while stopped.

Definately not normal, if the entire car is sagging its going to be a problem at the valve block, if its lower at one particular corner you have a leak in the air spring.

Damn... I fugured as such.

I may have to get the measuring stick out, I think the drivers front may be the culprit. I'll take a closer look and report what I found out.

Thanks for the replies folks!!

Yea... the front drivers side corner is lower than the rest. I won a pair of used shocks/struts/air springs... whatever you call them... on ebay. I should have them by the weekend. Kinda sux you can't just take the shock out by itself as the upper control arm housing has to come out with it which means I have to do an allignment once I'm done.

Dont know if you have installed your suspension yet but if it makes you feel any better, my car, once I shut the last door and lock the doors a few moments after, will release a little air and appear to be lowering a bit, but not as low as it is if it were in sport mode. My front two phneumatics suspension is only 5 months old (new) and functions normally, but if your wheel is almost covered by the fender well, it must be bad. Also another thing to point out, if there is a leak in the suspension it may make a squealing/ whining noise when being inflated

80k on mine and it is still running perfect. Every once in a while you hear a charging noise and the noise of the parking brake or something releasing then going back into place. Happens maybe every 1-40 rides, always after I shut off the car. Seems to re-stabilize the car and put some good air back into it if it was a rough ride or something.

I love the car, although I wish it didn't have air suspension, only one more expensive thing to repair if it ever goes bad.

I used to think so too, until I started adding up how much it would cost to properly maintain a standard suspension - i.e., new shocks every 50-60K. I think in the long run the air suspension is actually cheaper, not to mention the cool factor. :D

l8r)

New shocks every 50-60K?? ...on a D2?? Where did that come from? On D2's, I only know of people changing to high performance shocks/springs by choice.
A shock "needing" changing, though? ...103K and perfect on mine....countless others I know of up to 160-210K and still fine...no bounce, etc.

I personally don't know of any failed on a D2 at any mileage. In fact on 10 plus VW's and 3 Porsche's up to 185K miles, never a failed or weakened shock...with the exception of a 65 Beetle that the previous owner put J C Whitney's on.

Example: At the time, I had more $$ than time, so I once had a dealer replace shocks on a P-928 with 115K with exact replacement OEM's (same brand and rating) I had purchased seperately....assuming that the originals had softened over time and I had just not noticed the slow change. WRONG...even they agreed that the old shocks had the same dampening rate as the new ones. The car's ride and handling were unchanged...a waste of money and a lesson learned.

P.S. Not just me. Please read this thread, if you haven't before:

https://www.audiforums.com/forum/sho...t=lexus+struts