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Welcome Ewan - nice looking car. Kind regards, Gareth.

It's inevitable that the more complex one makes a machine, and modern cars are extremely complex, the more prone it is to failure unless built and maintained with levels of quality assurance that are unaffordable to individuals. That is why airliners cost many millions of pounds to buy and to maintain. There's a lot to be said for simplicity when it comes to reliability. Like Richard, I stopped going to Audi dealers for maintenance and repairs years ago because they were too expensive and too incompetant. Their electronic diagnoses are all very well when they work, but the technicians do not seem to have the practical experience and rational thought processes to fall back on when the computers don't work. Independant VAG specialists were my choice. They combined the intimate knowledge of a specialist with a level of service long lost by the large corporate dealers. If you can find one make him your best friend.

I thought I'd reply to this as apart from being hopefully amusing it might help someone with a similar air suspension problem. Although it's about my 'forever car' I think one Audi air suspension strut and compressor system is much the same as another. A few years ago my 2005 D3 SWB W12 at 70,000miles started to sag at the front when left overnight. The compressor would restore the height and the orange and green lights would go off. But the tiny leak got worse and the compressor sometimes needed two goes at it, presumably because the thermal protection switch would cut in after much noisy pumping. Lots of air was lost from the system when the clever car tried to keep itself level by transferring air from the high pressured accumulator to the lower pressure leaky strut (see Audi SSP 292, P31). If overworked, the compressor or its relay will eventually fail. To locate the leaky strut, I put it in ‘jack mode’ to prevent level equalisation. Next day only the front driver’s side had bottomed out. I removed the under bonnet trim to expose the strut's upper mounting, slid the large dust cap back along the black wire, and did the same with the smaller dust cap underneath it. With jack mode off to restore pressure in the strut, I sprayed soapy water around the strut and poured about 15mls into the top of the mounting, not filling it above where the black wire goes in. No sign of leak from the strut air bag behind the wheel but foam appeared on top of the strut mounting. Diagnosis – the tiny top ‘O’ ring has failed, impossible to replace without major work and the garage rejoicing in a big bill for a new strut. I suspect this is the most common failure rather than the larger bottom ‘O’ ring or the tough air bag itself. I replaced the foam with about 20 mls of clear water. With a magnifying glass I saw a tiny stream of bubbles appearing from below the 18mm locking nut. So I put jack mode back on and waited a couple of days till the bubbles stopped when the pressureless strut had bottomed out. Then I sucked out the water and left it to dry thoroughly. Then I injected a layer of some tough ‘CT1’ sealant. After a day to harden, I added another layer….then another. Then, jack mode off to restore pressure in the strut. Sadly, it didn’t completely cure the leak, but it took around three days to sink rather than just overnight. But a little later the WABCO compressor finally failed, rattling away uselessly. Although access is via the wheel arch for most A8 cars, it is impossible for the W12. The front bumper has to expensively come off. So I bounced it along to my capable indy to do this and the compressor, reconditioned with my repair kit from ‘bagpiping andy’, is now silent. I could live with the leaky strut, remembering to put a bespoke 30cm x 12 x 6 wooden block under the jacking point with ‘jack mode’ on if unused for a few days. It’s important to leave the car in ‘jack mode’ so the compressor doesn’t have to replenish the whole system every time the car is used. Amazingly, a few weeks ago (at 76000 miles) I noticed the car no longer sank onto the block, even after well over a week. Somehow the amazing CT1 sealant (incidentally good for repairing trainer soles!) seems to have almost sealed this top end leak! I hope this story helps someone with a similar problem as I don’t believe I’m the only one with O ring failure which a garage would probably resolve with a new strut and a hefty four figure bill.

Added a genuine S3 Lip Spoiler to the boot lid. I love it. Such a small, subtle mod but makes so much difference. Next will be rear window tints. Just to smoke them out a little.

Nice! Subtle mods for the win 😎

Shattered sunroofs are heard of on the q7. Not heard about it in the q5 now.

Just bought an A4 35TFSI after getting fed up with replacing sensors on my Gen10 Civic. Brilliant car, love it. Certainly a bit firmer than my Civic and its my first Automatic car. Love the fact that the Handbrake comes off automatically, compared to having to do it every time with the Civic, and the brake hold doesn't reset to "Off" too. Anyone know what is the Colour name/code? Think i'm going to go down the remap route. Anyone have suggestions for this in Scotland? Anyway nice to see an active forum, as those facebook pages are terrible.

Welcome to the forum you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch 🙂 lovely colour.

I have joined, as I have owned a B7 Avant 2.0TDI S-Line Special Edition for about four years. I bought it as a mile muncher to commute to and from London and as a general work horse. It is now a hack for local and long distance journeys due to the wretched ULEZ. Confession - I have an illness where i do up all my cars to a standard that is not financially viable, but it means the cars look and drive fantastically. This car has had a massive amount of parts replaced to make it mechanically tip top. The only last thing it needs is a set of front arms, which I plan to replace in the next month or so. It's a 140 bhp with a stage 1 map, added cruise control and centre armrest. I sold the twin spoke Special Edition wheels and replaced them with the Ronals in the photo and they are wrapped in Cross Climate 2 rubber. I might pop in occasionally to ask a question and have a browse. Guy

Did you have the sensors changed on the rear when replacing the pads? I would imagine a diagnostic will be able to point you in the direction of which sensor is throwing the code.

had same issue with mine. I suspected top mounts. had top mounts, dampers and drop links replaced. been fine for 12 months but now getting the odd creak again. i used Febi Bilstein top mounts and drop links and OEM spec Sachs dampers.

Glad to hear a new thermostat resolved the problem. A shame you were talked into a new water pump before investigating the simplest solution.

Picked the car up yesterday and, touch wood, so far all is well. I gave it a good 30 minute high rev blast to force DPF regen and the heat didn't deviate from optimum at all. Previously it definitely would have overheated from such driving. The radiator fans are also having a far easier time of it which is always good and quieter. We went with a thermostat from the main dealer in the end. Time will tell if this works long term but so far so good.

Looks like Scuba Blue, however, check the build sticker in the boot recess, assuming this has a space saver, you’re looking for LX5Q or similar.

Also thanks very much for the link to parts catalog you don’t know how long I spent last night looking for exactly that.

Audi service desks don’t listen to hearsay or talk of forums however well intended. Minimum is they will scan car with VCDS, then perform repair. Their labour charges are horrific.

NOW SOLD

I agree Richard and Clifford. Unfortunately in today’s society so many people rely upon technology that they can’t think outside the box. Take for instance, buying shopping. The shop assistant puts through your shopping, tells you a price, for example £14.89 and you hand them £20. But then you find the 89p in the back of your purse and offer that. Many people can’t figure out the change without the machine telling them! However, this luxury SUV has every warning lights and sensor you could imagine so you think it would flag something on the dash. I’ve asked for a breakdown of the work and what’s been eliminated so far. I will not be authorising stripping out carpets, seats and pipes until I’m satisfied that they have checked the common leak points and the self levelling system first. The car 5 is years old and 28k miles. I don’t drive like a racer and it’s been serviced and maintained every year. So I don’t imagine there is anything major and it’s purely down to wear and tear. I just hope that I get to the bottom of it, without having to shell out more money for the incompetence of the franchises IMG_0080.mov

Could be anything, turbo, fuel pump, etc. Scan with VCDS, that will reveal the error, if it’s existed before plus any other anomalies.

The fact that there is a dashboard warning means an electronic problem. Get it scanned as a first step to diagnosis.

You’re in a bit of a predicament Nicola. The trouble with main franchise dealers, and this isn’t exclusive to Audi, is that their technicians aren’t experienced enough. As mentioned earlier, if anything like BMW, then they will log onto a computer terminal and follow as prescribed route to fix and don’t use old fashioned intuition. That’s fine if they actually fix it, but as a customer you take the hit with exorbitant labour and parts. Personally, I’d take the car back from Audi dealer and continue with your route to Audi UK to see if they can address it. This is a luxury SUV, 5 years old, and shouldn’t have something that’s unfixable. There must be some sort of monitoring system for air suspension that provides live data. The fact the car self levels on start up tells you the compressor is doing its job. I’d want all the self levelling height sensors checked. That should have been done as a matter of course, and with live feed to VCDS to see functionality. Airbags, as mentioned by John, inspected properly. Whether it’s the airbag, ‘o’ ring or line feed union. Audi won’t repair, I will tell you that now. If there’s a fault then they’ll opt to replace. The air lines traced to see if there’s a break along the length of the car from the compressor. That’s why they want the seats out. I think at that point, then this repair should be goodwill, as stripping out interiors is time intensive. I gave up on main dealers years ago and do my own work. VCDS is useful, but Audi will use systems such as ODIS with component security protection which is dealer level software that your average mechanic won’t have access to. On the latest Golf MK8, you can’t even change the rear pads without ODIS is my understanding. Anyway I hope you get a resolution to this.

Looks fantastic, sounds like you've got a good plan to get it recommissioned. Slow starting could be worn out glow plugs or injector issue. Any blue smoke on start up could be failed injector seals. Please keep us posted on how you get on

You'd have thought so from the point of view of a practical mechanic, but the "master technicians" that Audi employ can only plug in their computers and read the screens, and if the computer says "no" you are out of luck yet still face a large bill.

The sagging must be caused by either a leak or a problem with the control system. The history of the problem is important. You said that it 'only seems to be when sitting a long time'. If it was the control system, the sagging would be present immediately, I think. If the level is OK for several hours, and then gradually sags, that is suggestive of a small leak gradually reducing the pressure in the strut. Have a thorough read of my post above and ask your expensive mechanics specifically if they have sprayed the strut bags with Fairy Liquid water (makes lots of giveaway bubbles) and also done the same as I did at the top of the strut housing to check the top O ring. It only takes a few minutes to do, and should have been the first thing they did.

Just joined hoping someone would like to buy my wifes cherished dark blue A4 Cabriolet. 2 lady owners, 54000 miles, FSH and always garaged. She is looking for around £3000, having been offered £2400 by an unpleasant dealer who test drove it.thanks Bob

I'm signing out of this forum but I thought you might like to learn that Audi in America advocate a long-soak method of oil flushing before oil change to try to solve this very common problem. It sounds very severe to me - 45 minutes at 3000 rpm after adding the substance - so I'd have reservations. But you can't buy it retail anyway, only through Audi dealers.

Interesting John, and fix. Just been listening to someone on YouTube with a Q7. They had sagging suspension overnight and replaced airbag suspension up front and the fault continued. According to them this was traced to insufficient tyre inflation. Now this got me thinking, hold on, this is a Q7, TMPS has been in place since 2012, so surely a incorrectly inflated tyre would have flagged an issue? Apparently there was an update to the story and it was in fact one of the self levelling sensors that was corroded. Would be worth checking them out that there’s no corrosion or damage before condemning the airbag.

Thanks Steve. The Cabriolet has an integrated zip which should make the process a little more straightforward, although I’ve heard that lining up the teeth of the zip can be a nightmare! The replacement window comes with an adhesive strip, but I’m also doing to use a speedy stitche awl to use the original stitching holes to re sew it too. For extra measure I may also use a sealant on the zip teeth themselves too. Leave it with me and I’ll try and document the process.

I repeat "nothing you can do by way of additives or treatments will help". Sorry you find that unhelpful. Would you prefer me to have advised you to spend silly amounts of money on useless materials? It's your money to waste as you want, but don't expect me to condone it.

Welcome Sean, and thanks for joining. I think you need to be realistic in your requirements when buying a 26 year old car. If it has some service history you will be lucky, if it has anything like a comprehensive history that would be exceptional. How mechanically minded and experienced are you? Have you actually seen the car. Have you conducted an MOT history on the car? Are you buying from the current owner, and if so, how long have they owned it? I’f buying from a dealer or classic car specialist, are you expecting to have a guarantee on the car? Have you considered having the car inspected by a local-to-the-car Audi specialist? Perhaps you can come back to us Sean. Kind regards, Gareth.

Definitely could be a leaking airbag. I'd recommend a diagnostic check to see if any fault codes flag up

Quickest solution is to pop the tailgate trims off the inside, torx screw driver is only tool required and abit of gentle pulling of the trims. Ask a mate to use a hose on the rear roof/ tailgate while sitting inside with a torch, the leak usually becomes obvious very quickly but pin pointing the exact entry point can take abit of trial and error, we don’t use power washers for finding water ingress as the pressure forces water past seals that function perfectly good in the real world

Apologies for the gripe, but the forum has recently suffered from a spate of what can be termed ‘Post and Run’ new members, who seem to think it’s perfectly acceptable to post a plea for help, and simply not return to view the help given. In a more diluted form, help is offered, but is very rarely acknowledged even via. a simple press of the Like button, leave alone a posted Thank You. The last part of the gripe is that we frequently have to ask for additional information, and this extra detail often never materialises. Please remember, everyone who posts replies do so without payment, but it certainly does cost them in time - in terms of the Moderators and Admin back up - a lot of time. So a special plea to all on here who post needing help:- please be respectful enough to acknowledge any help given, rather than simply accept it as a no-cost, no time of yours, free advice service. It’s wearing thin folks, so if you want to retain this service, please respect and acknowledge its benefits. Thank you all for reading this, and above all, agreeing to adhere to the respect that is needed to be shown. Kind regards, On behalf of the Moderators. Please note:- This request is to all members, not just new ones.

This looks a great project, I'll be following this thread as I have a C5. Keep us posted on how you get on

Never found why this is the case. Replaced everything and still get hot as if they are dragging. New calipers,discs,pads and wheel bearings. Gave up to be honest