Hi all:

A few days ago i got in the car (09 flying spur, base), started it up and began to back out of the garage, when i heard loud scraping sound from the front.

I stopped, got out, and noticed that the front bumper was dragging on the ground!! Both the left and right side suspension "appeared" to have collapsed, FAR BEYOND it's normal limits; the top of the wheels were well above the fender line. The left side of the front bumper had also "popped" out. Thankfully my wheels were straight; otherwise, it would have bent the fenders!

Within seconds however, i noticed the suspension rising to normal level. I toggled with the "raise/lower" **** and everything worked/appeared normal.

That was a few days ago, and it hasn't happened since. I should note that the car hadn't been driven in a few days when it happened.

I have some questions for y'all:

(1) Could it have been a simple "electronic" glitch, some type of uncommanded lowering? Or is this a definite sign that failure is imminent?

(2) If the latter, what's the cause? How much to repair?

(3) Could this happen during driving, at high speed? I'm hoping that it is a slow failure that couldn't happen while driving.

(4) Can i determine if the failure is to both sides or just one side?

Thanks for ANY additional input, also!!

 

That's a new one, never seen that posted before. Might have just been a 'hiccup'. Keep us posted if it happens again.

 

I'd suggest you keep your car on a battery charger/ maintainer if you are not already doing so. Strange happening though.

 

Hello Chris,
I would start by putting the vehicle in lift mode and spraying the airline connections at each front strut, next spray the strut itself most likely at the bottom of the boot to look for bubbles, I will post a somewhat quick layout of the system and what can cause your situation, if you go onto AudiWorld (AW) under the A8/S8 D3 section and search front suspension lowered you will find a slew of threads and post to the point that some on AW get annoyed when a new member asks questions without searching, Okay to your possible cause, the main reason to check for any leaks now without putting this on the back burner is because if you ignore it and you have a leak, you will burn out your suspension compressor, here are the items to check, as I already stated check the airline connections at each strut, then the struts, next check all of the airline connections at the valve block, and here is why, if you have any leak at these locations the front will drop, at first for a very short moment it will just be the strut with the leak or the line or valve section feeding said dropping strut, next the vehicle will try to level itself, and when it can not bring it to proper height due to the compressor going into lockout via the temperature sensor located on said compressor from overheating due to leak and trying to keep the vehicle level while parked for days, it basically gives up and drops to the stops until you start the engine and it starts the process over again, now as I am not familiar with the Flying Spur, I am not sure where the compressor/valve block are located, on my A8 the valve block is to the rear of the drivers side front wheel well under the liner, and the compressor is accessible from the front of the same wheel liner, but that's the A8, I do know on my GT the combo comp/vb is mounted upside down under the rear of the vehicle in the spare tire housing, I attached a video showing the compressor valve unit.




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Well I pretended like this was just a fluke, and it wasn't apparently.

I was driving a few hours ago at about 60mph with the windows down, when I heard a definitive pneumatic "swoosh" followed by a sudden bottoming out of the front end. I didn't make it more than a mile before the front bumper was on the ground, but I limped the 20mph 5 mile backroad trip home. It will not not raise, and when the car is running, I can hear a "rushing of air" from the front left tire area. NO sound from the right, although the right tire is just as low.

There are NO warning dash lights, however the "raising car" button adjacent to the shifter is blinking.

I HATE this car. Most unreliable piece of **** I could have ever imagined. This is downright DANGEROUS.

If i was going any faster, this would have been REALLY bad.






Any ideas to it's cause now with this new evidence?

 

Hello Chris,
I just received your email and came here, did you read over my prior post, this is the same as the Audi A8L have, you most likely had a leaking left front strut or airline to it, the way most of the struts leak is up inside the rubber bag, where you can't see where it rides on the body of the strut itself, those get dry rotted and cracked, at first slowly losing air, and then blow out, that's why I said in my prior post do not put on the back-burner and to check immediately so you did not have this problem, hopefully you have no damage to your bumper...
You have my number, call me tomorrow if you want, or pm yours as your old RI number is NG.
Who knows maybe you blew an airline, hopefully, but I am thinking strut, and RMT is in Florida.
RMT= Rebuild Master Tech

 

Holy **** that's dangerous!!! Johnny is right either lines or the actual bag. Looks like a flatbed job to mechanic for fixing. Sorry to hear of your troubles, yet yes the Bentley cars pre-2013 or so seem to not be reliable.

 

I wish i saw these posts before I kept driving it. I was afraid it would fail during driving.

Since it's on the floor, I can't see up under there to identify where the issue could be. I'm having it towed this afternoon.

 

Hello Chris,
As far as not seeing the post, I would check your subscription to threads settings here on 6SPEED, you should be getting notified instantly by email for any thread that you start, comment in, or subscribe to, I am not 100% on this, but IIRC there are 3 settings, no notification, instant notification, and weekly notification, check this so in the future you will get instant notice by email right to your phone, that is if your cell phone gets email which I am sure at your age you have the most up to date gizmo

NOW to the most important part, yes the vehicle will now be to low to even get a floor jack under the body to lift, SO, what to do is to get some 2"X4" OR 2"X6" blocks of wood say 8 to 10" long, you will need 3 pieces for each side, on each side you will place one piece of the wood behind or in front (depending on distance of travel where your working if in confined area) of each front tire, next, gently drive the vehicle onto the first set of blocks, now stack the 2 remaining blocks of wood just as you did the first and drive up onto those, now you have lifted the vehicle high enough to get the floor jack under the body to properly lift the vehicle, AND I believe by past things you have done, that you are mechanically inclined, SO it will not be a tough job for you, or anyone for that matter, it is just nuts and bolts, and an airline, once you have the vehicle jacked up and supported on stands and remove the wheel, you could have the strut out in under an hour, maybe less, maybe more if your first time, and being that you are in Florida and so is RMT, I would be on the phone checking with them to rebuild your strut, their price is $650 for each front strut, whereas the dealer is $$$$$$.

Remember, you can do it , we can help !


http://www.rebuildmastertech.com/ben...l-flying-spur/


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....you apparently experienced a suspension "blow out"... your frustration certainly understandable...how did you resolve issue...do you still have car...JimB

 

For anyone interested, I recently had a remanufactured RMT strut on my Flying Spur ‘15 blowout while driving (luckily I was going 25mph drove approx. 250ft until I got on my driveway). This was after 11 months of use and incident came without any warnings or suspicious behavior in the vehicle’s operation. Looks like this is becoming a normal occurrence. I would categorize this as highly dangerous!

 

AFAIK there's no anecdotal data of anyone ever getting into an accident or being injured by an air suspension failure.

 

Johnny JJ, I see you alot on the forums and have a question for you. My 05 continental GT both front struts would lose air and go to the floor. I have replace both struts, but now only the passenger side will go up not driver. After about 3 days both sides with be equal and touching the floor. Only thing I can think of is resetting the codes, maybe the level sensor broke, bad strut, or it could magically be the Valve Block, please give me advice, thanks!

 

Hello @blakecameron1! ,
Please give us some more details, such as, which brand struts you installed, along with the connection type, as some use a different line connection fitting at the strut air inlet connection, is yours a threaded connection with the o-ring as stock design, or is it a push in to lock type, like a sharkBite plumbing fitting, I recall another member here who had the same issue with the strut not taking air, there was some kind of plug (iirc) inside the connection that he forgot to remove prior to sticking the air line in, but I also recall another member with the same issue that turned out to be that he inserted the line too far into the sharkbite connection, and therefore blocked the airflow somehow.

I would verify that you have air at the drivers airline to rule out the valve block, you can do this by removing the air line from the strut in question, and removing the rod from the same strut level sensor, best to have the wheel off, a floor jack under the lower control arms in question, have the vehicle at a normal height, then move the disconnected level sensor arm to simulate a lowered corner, that will activate the valve block (and maybe the compressor depending on the air pressure / volume stored in the accumulator tank) which will feed air to the disconnected line, if you have air at the strut end of the line, then you either have a blockage at the strut connection, or a strut that is leaking so badly that it won't fill up.

Johnny

 

Here is the link to the ones I bought.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/165978817078

It was a brass fitting that screws in to a 0 ring.

Can I remove the line from the block valve and see if air is coming out? If I do this, this will tell me its not a level sensor or a valve block. Right now its in the position of wanting to left up the passenger front but not driver. This will allow me to narrow down its the strut or the line itself right? Also to be clear, if one side falls to the ground, the level sensor makes the other side fall so it will be level correct? Doesn't mean both have a leak. Only reason I'm asking to it this way, I wont have to Jack the car up/remove tire to see if air is coming out.