My neighbor asked me to look at her Audi A8 (2007). It has completely sat down on the suspension. I replaced the pump and jumped the battery and the pump came to life. It back of the car sits up normally and the front came up enough to be driveable, but not up very far. I have let the car sit for a few week now and everything is still the same. The front has not sat fully down and the rear is maintaining. My first thought was the front air struts, but I think that if they were leaking they would sit all the way down. I don't want to have her spend money for front air struts needlessly. I work on a lot of cars, but am unfamiliar with Audi's. Is my thinking wrong? What else should I be looking at? Could the air struts have a leak and still not leak all the way out? Any info would be welcome.

 

Did you ever resolve this?

I have the same car, an after having a dead battery for a long time (several weeks) it also went all the way down.
When the battery was renewed and the car started up, I had to re-set the suspension codes before it would lift up. Then, it only lifted up part of the way and stopped. I thought the pump overheated so it stopped. Later on, I cleared he codes again, and it started lifting again, and this time it went all the way up.

It took 2 tries.

 

Sorry for the delay. The A8 that I was working on belonged to my neighbor. The truth is that she doesn't have the money to replace the front air struts. I suggested removing the air ride and using a spring kit but she can't do that either, so now the car is up for sale. If it is still around this summer I might buy it for a project.