Audi Air Suspension MALFUNCTION? ('14 Q7 TDI) 

HI Ivan , great information as normal ,in short "yes" the residual valves are a real common problem on these cars easy cheap fix and you, will need to change them or the fault will come back I can assure you . A modified socket is required which you can buy or alter one you have. One little note you stated its safe to jack the car in lift mode which can cause all sorts of issues if you do and may have to re-calibrate the levels after jacking. The correct way is to enter the car menu and in there you will find a car jack selection which you need to toggle on for these cars to be safely jacked and lifted. Just another note as am sure you are aware the doors need to be closed for any suspension movement and the compressor overheat code is always stored on these cars as they overheat just moving the car from low to high a couple of times. if the compressor is tired you can obtain a new piston ring and cylinder head which works really well and you can keep the OEM motor ect ,or an after market compressor and valve block which lasts almost as long as the OEM and are a fraction of the main dealer price. Keep up the good work :)

After having 1 'top of the line with ALL the bells and whistles' vehicle, I have, personally, reverted to 'only one bell and NO whistles' on whatever new vehicle I purchase. I just get the required maintenance done as required. I admire YOUR techniques for getting to the 'real' cause of the customers problems!

Very nice diagnosis, you just saved the customer thousands if they had replaced all the shocks etc.

Lock all 4 corners at max lift so it looks like the owner installed an aftermarket lift kit and put some 35’s on her! Awesome work Ivan! 🇺🇸

Worked on a lot of these systems with customers when I worked for a NAPA and AC Delco diagnostic hotline. There is a known problem with moisture in system and can cause sticking valves and also crack solenoids in cold climates. Replacing the dryer in the system is recommended if you see sticking valves. I think there is also a reflash of the system to raise the fault temp of the compressor so it wouldn’t flag codes so much. We would recommend flushing the valves and installing a new dryer and it would fix most of these problems.

That Audi has a nice clean undercarriage. No parts required, excellent!

As Scottie once famously said ... "the more they overthink the plumbing... the easier it is to stop up the drain"....

Shocking diagnosis leading to a NPR fix! Sometimes a little venting goes a long way. I wonder if the compressor has a trap to keep debris out of the system?

YOUR INTELLIGENCES IS ENTERTAINING.

I have owned 2 cars with air suspension: a Lincoln Mark VII and the ol' Marquis. The Lincoln had air suspension at all 4 corners; the Marquis just in the rear. I must say the system on the Marquis is quite a simple system. (I recently had to replace the air bags and solenoid valves and all is well. I don't think that is too bad after almost 500,000 miles.) It had a Hall effect switch that senses height and it works quite well. I like the idea of trapped pressure to maintain height if there is a system malfunction. The ol' Mercury doesn't have that and it will ride on the bump stops if there is a malfunction. (One of the bags got a hole in it and the compressor couldn't keep up.) GREAT VIDEO!

For the pump- it's a good idea to just give it a visual inspection. Sometimes the pump will be near the wheel and can get covered with a layer of mud and dirt and if you just spray it clean, it helps to stop that overheating issue.

Awesome diagnosis. I think the sequences of rear up first and front down first for inflate and deflate is for safety. Otherwise, the front of the car would be temporarily angled upward, which might hinder visibility.

How appropriate. As he by directionally/manually attempts to lower the rear left, and nothing happens, you can hear, crickets in the background.

GM tried air suspension on their 1958 models and most were later upgraded with springs.

great diag, on an infiniti qx80 with bad air suspension problems the less expensive permanent fix is new aftermarket replacement springs bypassing the faulty airbags and compressor

GOOD video IVAN,tough one to diag.I've done a lot of design and making tabletop equipment with air solenoids and can tell you they NEED clean air.the compressor MUST have a clean air intake filter on the head.those valves are a micro sliding fit,so don't have rings as seals on the sliding shuttle piston.The reason?o rings brake down without lube and shred jamming them up.Also they have exhaust filters and those get clogged NOT ALLOWING the air to exhaust.You can clean those out,there bronze balls smashed into a small filter.TECO numatics sells all that stuff.Just something i learned at my job,it may help.

I condemned the shock early on but I assumed it was actually seized which is a thing I have learned that modern shocks do. I'm not sure if that valve is part of a new strut or not.

That's cool stuff Ivan. I've had something similar on a few Mercedies where it wouldn't drop on one corner. One of them was accident damage related and had a pinched line. Another had a leak at the manifold and the shock for some odd reason wouldn't deflate. I believe it was the same scenario here. Check valve got stuck. And another, the linkage for a ride height sensor got snapped in half and had a deep scratch in the side of the airbag. Could have been from a tire blowout or possibly road debris hit it? Who knows. Anyway, now that the air ride is working again, I'm looking forward to this coolant leak.

Very happy customer there !

I can visualize Ferdinand looking at one of these systems and letting out a WTF. 👍👍🇺🇸😄

Ivan. I looked up the word "Tenacity" in the dictionary and I found your picture there. :-)

Oh, the dealer would have had a field day replacing parts and charging the customer thousands! I had a 95 Mark VIII Lincoln for ten years that had air suspension on all 4 corners. In 113k miles I never had problems with it but many others did and they usually bought coil springs and replaced the air system.

Good God Ivan... You make everything look so simple man. Seeing this air suspension baloney makes me think the occasional electrical gremlin really aint so bad haha! As always, stellar diag and fix! I mean wholeheartedly that the vast amount of knowledge you have is out of this world, and I (enjoyably!) learn something from you every time I watch ya! Thanks for all the work you put into making all these videos, and letting us come along! I feel like hardly anyone truly understands how valuable information and knowledge really is anymore. I spent 2 years at ITT Tech and I swear I didn't learn half the things I've learned from your channel, dude. I hope life blesses you for all your effort, and I mean that!!! Thanks again, bud!

this video proves older is better when i wanted my car or truck raised i just added air from compressor when i wanted it lower le air out. no computer no scanner just simple and worked the auto people need to learn from the past. there were leveling devices before computers and the worked now with all this new tech don't work and hard to diag

Dear Ivan ,them valves do play up,in an ideal world replace them all,but in reality I change the problem 1,speak to your customer explain the price,and I have found non genuine does not last long,let the customer decide,if I have any 2nd hand ones I offer them,no guarantee but they all fail eventually,good video.

I was always impressed with the reliability of the newer VE, Audi, and Porsche air suspension Vs. the Audi Allroad which was a disaster and the Land Rover systems. I bought a high mileage Cayenne Turbo a number of years back and figured I would have to be dealing with suspension failures. Slowly purchased used low mileage compressor and struts. Had the car 5 years and the only issue I ever had was an intermittent pump temp sensor circuit fault. Car was remarkably reliable given the age and mileage over the 5 years I owned it.

Thanks Ivan!

Fancy suspension is expensive to fix. I had a Lexus ES300 with the adaptive adjustable suspension. Never broke but when someone hit the rear, it was so expensive to replace they wrote the car off. Loved that car.

Sometimes cycling the system up and down resets air struts. When pump reaches max temp will stop operation to avoid damage to pump

Great Diagnotics Ivan..

Can't wait to see you working in one of those new jumping Mercedes

Great job Ivan. Your persistence paid off and you saved that customer a lot of money. It's so insane that VW puts these complicated and frivolous systems on their cars that are so sensitive and expensive to repair. (By design?)

Compressor is going out likely due to having to run most of the time due to lines leaking. I’d replace every component that you mentioned. Good diagnosisb

Always the Restpressure Valves in A6,A8 and Q7....if it hangs, it will hang again, just replace them both sides...Most German Dealers have these in Stock all the time :-)

Makes sense. Good job Ivan

It's a Audi of course it pukes coolant from the top of the engine😂

I have one of these....Its the brass fitting at the air shock. Its a pressure control valve that leaves 1 bar in the shock always. If the bladder is gone it will be way lower, the same if you pull out this brass fitting between the end of the pneumatic line and the rear shock. Replace that thing and get a new pump. If it cant do 12 bar (or is it 16?) so it turns off on pressure after filling the accumulator and not turning off on temperature (it hits the same temp each time then turns off.......wait until its allowed to restart). It also only fills the accumulator at >30km/hr

Those rear bags will fault again. Rest assured. New bags in the near future. Great video btw

Just when you think Ivan has fixed all the dumb ass bells & whistles there is , he gets this one .

welcome to an Audi Nightmare...LOL....good luck Ivan

On Mercedes they make kits to put it back to shock absorbers. The parts are really expensive for these systems. 4 air struts air lines ,compressor, air tank , valve block.sensors.Just more things to go wrong .

Wow Ivan great job on this baby!! NPR!!

Q7 suspension reset👍

Audi Quartro. Supposedly a 4X4 with high lift air ride. I wonder how often this vehicle has been offroading? I'll bet if this vehicle had REAL AIR BAGS, it might see some real off roading. When I got my 06 Nissan I had an ARB air locker installed in the rear diff. IT STILL WORKS GREAT! Nissan's idea for a rear locking diff? The ABS was programmed to sense the slipping tire ( with an open diff of course) and turn on the ABS to the brake caliper at the slipping tire which was supposed to direct power flow to the non slipping wheel. So what happens if the non slipping tire starts to slip? HMMMMMM??!! Can you say maybe traction control? Oh wait! Traction control reduces throttle opening! I sure like my ARB unit! This is one reason I like Ivan's videos. I didn't see Service Info mentioning to "Open the hose at the bad shock to see if all the air comes out and clears out the shock." But Ivan did! Nor did Sevice Information say to cycle the system up all the way and down several times by stopping at the different levels on the way down. But Ivan did! And in both cases it works now! Very Good Job Ivan and thanks for the additional tests which looks like they cleared out and thoroughly exercised the system!

About the overheating compressor? ? ? I was thinking about the " accumulator" If the suspension runs in closed circuit , maybe, the compressor is not supposed to pump without cooling period ?

This reminds me of Lincoln Navigator air ride. I was the only one stupid enough to work on them. Now I know why I’m glad I quit.

Hey Ivan, I would like to point out that you should never be under the vehicle while pumped up on the airbag suspension. My brother-in-law, age 53, was killed a few years ago working under his vehicle when a line in the air suspension burst while he was underneath and he was crushed to death. Think The Wizard of Oz when the witch was trapped under the house, feet sticking out. He was working alone and there was nobody around. He was found 3 days later. I'm wondering if humidity in the air was introduced to the system and condensed in one of the valves hindering it's operation. Depressing the system a few times blew the moisture out. I'm also wondering if the temperature of the compressor is the motor temperature or the compressed air temperature. I have no experience with Audis. Just a little public service announcement to keep us automotive enthusiasts safe. R.I.P. Tenzen Pablo Ortega.

hello Ivan i really enjoyed your video really a good find on the air leak at the valve block that would have killed a very expensive air compressor fast from it short cycling all the time i also learned something new as i have not worked on an air suspension system in a very long time so i was no aware of the valve you mentioned at the end in case there’s a leak so you don’t come out with your car on its frame ripping out your hair and wondering what you’re going to do when did they come up with that valve very clever stuff the sad thing is that the air suspension systems today are not as simple as they were back in the days so even though they are some times a big a pain in the bum and definitely the wallet you really can’t beat an air suspension the ride its level of comfort as well as additional control you can get is truly amazing anyway i tend to ramble so sorry about that i can’t wait for the next video keep up the good work please forgive my lack of punctuation as proficient as i am as a mechanic it is truly amazing what a brain injury can take away an make completely impossible to understand im grateful i can actually write at least 😊

The cmpressors wear out on these VAG cars as the rings run unlubricated in the cylinder bore. The pump can hammer away with little effect as the rings are worn out and it overheats quickly. I believe someone does a repair kit for them as VAG will only supply a complete unit for big money.

My BMW has the same issue. I think the residual pressure valves corrode due to water in the system. Stupidly (at least for BMW) the desicciant cannot be replaced without replacing the pump valve unit.

Thanks for the video Ivan.

Remember back in 76’ I had a 65’ Buick Skylark. Had coils on rear that were so so, installed a set of Gabriel high jacker air shocks on rear. Had the air valve inside trunk that you manually aired up or let air out to control rear height. Very simple yet effective 👍

These fancy gizmos on expensive cars are great for folks with a lot of money that get a new car every year or two and probably don't drive all that much. They never keep them long enough to have issues and they're under warranty. Getting them as every day drivers for years will lead to misery. So many things to fail.

AUDI= An Ultimate Dollar Inhaler

I did wonder if there should of been a regular spray of silicone lube in to each air line to keep the valves lubricated. Fancy systems create fancy hell lol :-D

yeap... the german bimmer and merc are proud with their complexity. audi be like :D

After reading some of the comments you would think that the engineers would have provided a drain valve on the compressor to aleviatemoisture (something similar to a home air compressor a button on the dash to do this periodacly & lubrication ) ?

Your compressor should be no lower than 10 bar, you can buy a ring kit for the piston which will fix that and mean it’s no longer over working

The left front seemed higher than the right front. Time to deflate was different.

just a little dirt and moisture in the air can easily cause mud and clog this air ride system

RMT sells rebuilt air suspension parts

Parts still required 😊

I got the air strut from a company called maX pending RODS Also known as maxspeeding rods.

Ivan, another great diagnosis and two videos. Told you, you will start to like the German stuff and your amazing skills are tested with their advanced systems and technology. Credit to you that you are able to use your logic and work these things out. Land Rovers are another matter though, poorly engineered and poorly executed. 😂 Avoid and only do them if you are prepared to push through the pain barrier and gamble you will come out on top. Great content for your channel though maybe…… just make sure you have stocked up on headache tablets. 😂

set a box on 4 shot glasses try to rase or lower one corner see what happens to other three corners

Phad morning to y’all

PVT is famous gas law

You got to pay to play🤪

10 years is right around the time you'd really want to be replacing your air shocks at the latest on any vehicle that has been driven.

I wonder if this same air lift as Mercedes and Mopar

Change the residual pressure valve at the shock and your’e sorted.

It's been 45 years..I've owned 1 Audi .never again nowadays there is just to much tech...it's like your driving your phone...😂😂😂😂

I wonder is there any other Volkswagen product that uses that system like a Skoda or something it would be cheaper probably

हॅल्लो सर औदी q7 2011 मॉडेल एअर saspention not warking and abs pomp watar dammeg sir foult kiska hai saspention in abs our air saspention control module pls help me

Regular shocks and springs would be my choice.

This goes to show you. If you're getting something with air suspension lease or sell it before 75,000 miles to be safe. That is American or any other car companies. If you live in the perfect area were there's no weather then you can strech out ownership to 90,000 miles.

180K+ on an Audi means that car is well past it's best before date, time to trade it is now.

"Car....I command you to heal thyself." Not fixed.

What happens when the car can't talk to the scanner or that thing you plug into the car.

I have the same problem we're I can find you

I read through the comments below but nobody mentions how the system purges the moisture from inside the lines.

It definitely needs a new compressor if the current one hits over 400F.

looks like it needs rubber too...

You don’t need adjustable suspension. You need an adjustable mindset.

Customer complaint I bought a Eurotrash Audi and it won't stay fixed after warranty runs out which happens all the time. The only difference is during warranty I don't have to pay but I don't have a car

The Audi is VAG's lease car. You get a new one with an all-in contract, use it until 50k or 3 years, and then have it replaced. If you want to own a car, choose something else.

Too many moving parts for a reliable daily driver. More parts = more possible failure points.

the crack let water in to corrode a valve???

Mr. Elon Musk, would you please build Ivan a shop commensurate with his abilities? Nobody deserves a well equipped shop more than he does. It would only be less than a few minutes of your profit and he deserves for sure. He wouldn't ask for himself but if I had Elon money I would do it for him.

Hey Ivan, do you know of any good mechanics in Las Vegas? I have had two mechanics throw the parts cannon at my Honda Accord.

“Too Many Bells & Whistles”. Why would you want that?

They are nice vehicles though lol

10 year old Audi with 180K. Not bad.

This video was a gas.

Das clunker Ya !

One of my neighbors owns a used luxury car lot. His driveway always has a "luxury" SUV squatted to one side or back to front. If would be funny if his driveway wasn't covered in oil stains.

I'd be afraid of working on this system. I might do something and then the car will start bouncing up and down like a '63 Chev on hydraulics.

Why are you not using your k10 yet? Is it because it doesn't have fca authorization or can fd protocol? Been waiting for you to bust it out!!

Check out Rebuilt Master Tech in Ft Lauderdale Fl

Great job Ivan!