Sorry for the long note but I need help...

My 2001 Allroad started settling from the drivers side...the warning light started blinking and staying on...suggesting a problem per the repair manuals...after a couple of days it went off...Now, the light is always on and the car is always settling on the front...not the rear. Also, the compressor makes a super loud "body shop compressor" sound....

Any similar problems...solutions? The dealer can't give me a definite diagnostic and always suggest replacing everything.... incompetents....

One last thing, The repair shop manual uses the dealer diagnostic tool in procedures of diagnostic and repair of the ride heigth system...Can I do this with the palms using the shade tree software that emulates this former dealer diagnostic tool?

Any help is greatly appreciated....
Thanks to the members who helped me with my oil leaks problems.... fixed it and now is dry as a bone.
Thansk again in advanced,
-[&o]Carco

 

The most common cause of a low ride height is a leaking airbag. You can check for this by using a spray bottle filled with soapy water. You may need to jack up the front of the vehicle to acces the air suspension. As for the noisy compressor it sounds like it may be on the way out. However if this was the cause of the low ride height i would suspect the vehicle to be riding low at all four corners. Yours is only running low in the front so the system seems to sence there is a problem and has deflated the other front airbag to compensate. To check for a failed compresor you can try lowereng and raising the vehicle. If the rear failes to raise you may have a failed compressor. Other possiblitys for a leak incluede the lines and the diverter block but they are much less common than a leaking bag.
As for the scan tool im not sure on the capabilitys of your tool. There is a control module for the air suspension. It is under adress word 34. That is the suspension electronics. From there you can perfomr a fault scan and output tests of the systems various componants if you scan tool has the capabilty.

 

Just thought of another very remote posibility. Thats the failure of one or both of the level sensors. They are mounted to the front suspension and measure the ride height of the vehicle. The values of those sensors can be seen in the suspension electronics control module. When the vehicle is jacked up to level the numbers on all four corners should match.