Adaptive air suspension system active warning light on.

[Lagos Boy]

Hi 

 

Need to pick your brains please......

 

A few days ago I noticed that the adaptive air suspension system active warning light was coming on quite frequently on my Q7

 

Upon investigating I noticed the following:

 

(1) The car seems to be stuck in one position - the back is raised while the front is not.

 

(2) When I start the car there is a grunting noise coming from the rear (almost as if the car is attempting to either raise or lower itself. 

 

(3) After the grunting noise the adaptive air suspension system active warning light comes on and then stays on throughout the drive

 

(4) I also noticed that some of the suspension options are greyed out on the MMI (Lift, Off-road & Dynamic)

 

Any ideas on what may be the problem?
How big a job this is?

Will my 3rd party warranty cover this?

 

Car is a 2006 Q7 3.0 TDi SLine 

 

Lagos Boy

 

 

[Audi Owners Club]

Sounds like it could be the compressor. This is a reasonably common fault I believe and apparently there is a rebuild kit available to buy.

[Lagos Boy]

RE: Adaptive air suspension system active warning light.
Managed to get a full diagnostic scan done and it seems that the Solenoid valve block has a possible blockage causing the rear suspension not to lower, in addition the air pump has been damaged from constant activation.

I am told that parts and labour cost for this is circa £850!!

PS: Only recently changed the Intake manifolds, EGR valve and Throttle valve which drilled a very large hole in my pocket as my warranty company insisted it was down to wear and tear attributable to a vehicle of that age. They bluntly refused to cover the cost.

My Q7 seems to be costing me a lot of money, beautiful drive, all mod cons but mechanical parts and electronics seem to be of poor quality compared to its BMW and Merc counterparts.

Quite disappointed

[averella]

Hi - I have exactly the same problem. Audi wanted 2400 to replace compressor and relay. But then said cant guarantee it will fix problem. Ive ordered bagpipe Andys kit but not sure wot to do if it doesnt work. 

Any thoughts?

[James]

If your compressor is still active but not working properly then bagpiping andys kit is definitely worth a go before you do down the route of taking it to Audi. They're only about £25 from eBay aren't they? If that does the job it could save you a fortune!

[polles]

Hi guys,

 

I had the exactly same problem in my Q7. After a lot of searching and googling I found out that the "Residual pressure maintaining valve" in both my rear springs were stuck. By changing the valves the problem was solved.

Valves 50€/each, special tool to open the valves ~20€.

[James]

Hi guys,

 

I had the exactly same problem in my Q7. After a lot of searching and googling I found out that the "Residual pressure maintaining valve" in both my rear springs were stuck. By changing the valves the problem was solved.

Valves 50€/each, special tool to open the valves ~20€.

 

Nice work - sounds like a bit of a bargain compared to what it could have cost you at an Audi dealership!

[Cole]

Hi my amber suspension warning light is on all the time and the car is locked in dynamic mode I have no other problems with it all drives fine vag com says it’s the sensor but it’s not help me plz 

[Magnet]

Hello Cole,

Since your post is tagged onto a 4 year old thread, can we first confirm your vehicle is running on air suspension? 

When you say ‘.....it’s a sensor but it’s not...’ can you confirm you could indentify which of (the possibly 4?) sensors it is, and you have actually replaced it. 

If it’s not a sensor or an air leakage issue, then common suspect is the compressor, and the offending component within that is usually the fibre type piston ring. 

If it turns out to be this then it’s worth talking to ‘BagpipingAndy’ who makes these and lists on eBay. 

Perhaps you could come back to us.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Bigdave1230]

I had the same problem with mine. Rear suspension stuck higher than the front. Replaced the valves in the rear struts. Cost about £22 each from kuftech I think 🤔. You can get the special tool to remove them which looks like a socket with a slot on either side but I used a small pair of grips which worked fine. Used some thread sealer on the new ones and the car has been perfect since. If the suspension is stuck up at the back or the front then you will get an error code for the compressor shutting down due to over temperature as the car will constantly try and lower and raise the working corners of the car to level the ride height but this doesn’t mean the compressor is knackered. My last Q7 had a worn compressor which I tried the Andy repair kit but didn’t make a real difference so bought a  replacement off eBay for about £250 and worked perfectly. Only takes about 45 mins to swap and is located under the drivers side door area. You can use a trolley jack to take some weight off the car and see if the car starts to raise. If it does then the compressor ring is worn.

[Bigdave1230]

Cole can you post the error code you are getting to try and shed some light on what’s wrong with yours

[Sharron]

On 12/4/2019 at 6:09 PM, Cole said:

Hi my amber suspension warning light is on all the time and the car is locked in dynamic mode I have no other problems with it all drives fine vag com says it’s the sensor but it’s not help me plz 

Hi my light has been coming in for a while to which I’ve be able to get it lowered, today it’s stuck up high and when I select dynamic it won’t lower any ideas 

[Bigdave1230]

Probably a strut valve or a level sensor. Look at the front upper wishbone through the spokes  of the alloy to see if the level sensor has popped out of the arm and making the car think it’s set low on that side hence why it’s raised itself up and now can’t understand what level it’s at. If you park the car on a slope and leave it does the front or rear of the car try to level itself slightly? If it does it’s probably a sticking valve located on the strut with the air pipe going into it. Measure the car on each corner from the centre of the wheel to the wheel arch and see if one side is higher than the other. The higher side is probably where to investigate but code checking it with vcds is always a good way to go. ( when measuring the heights the front will always measure a little lower than the rear but really you are looking for a difference across the axel).

[BoyRT]

Hello, I have similar problem. I have Q7 4L. I`m was stuck in dynamic mode (in board was showing green and orange light in the same time). Then one day i was able to change height to Comfort and both lights switched off. Now after week or two the front of my car is low and back is high and both lights (green and orange is blinking).. Any help? 

[DarrenF]

Hi ,

my Audi Q7 which is 57 plate has the orange air adaptive light flashing and seems to feel every bump in the road which it didn’t do before the light come on. It also has a slight knocking sound front passenger side does anyone on here have an idea as to what the problem may be ?

Any help would be very much appreciated as I don’t mind taking to garage but where I don’t know anything about cars don’t want to get ripped off without a slight clue of the possible problem / cost beforehand  

thanks 

Darren

Edited July 17, 2020 by DarrenF
Spelling mistake

[Tubi]

Hi guys

My audi q7 also have problem air suspension fault light flashing when i turn on the engine. no option to lift the car only can lower it. so i tried when i put to dynamic mode i cannot lift again... 
only way when i turned off the engine and just put the ignition on then all the option available works fine, so i set for offroad then start the engine then same againg. 
other things i noticed when the weather was abow 22°-no problem, working well

[Tubi]

Hi guys

My audi q7 also have problem air suspension fault light flashing when i turn on the engine. no option to lift the car only can lower it. so i tried when i put to dynamic mode i cannot lift again... 
only way when i turned off the engine and just put the ignition on then all the option available works fine, so i set for offroad then start the engine then same againg. 
other things i noticed when the weather was abow 22°-no problem, working well.

[Magnet]

Hello Norbert,

I can’t claim that this is the answer to your issues, but air suspension problems are certainly influenced by the efficiency of the (normally small) air compressor. These compressors suffer from piston wear, but the good news is that replacement piston rings are being manufactured, at least for non Audi marques such as Jaguar Land Rover. Available for Audi’s?? Might be worth looking on eBay (or a Google search.) for ‘Bagpipingandy’ who is a well respected manufacturer of replacement piston rings. Fitment is normally quite straightforward - it’s removing the compressor can be the worse part, depending on where it lives on the vehicle! 

Not sure if any of this is going to help. 

Kind regards,

Gareth.