Good afternoon colleagues,
I'm very happy to greet you. I've read a lot on the forum about the shock absorbers of our cars and the truth is that I've seen everything from "small valve breakdowns" that caused leaks to total replacements. My situation is this: When the car spends a week standing up little by little you notice that it is falling, at the open it is true that it returns to its original position but there is no warning from the car that something is wrong. What does this mean? Is it a leak? Or do I really have to change the two front shock absorbers completely? Would it cause problems for the compressor by making it work more than is really necessary? I would need a little light on this subject since in the workshop the easiest thing is to replace the whole piece, but many times it is not necessary. What do you think? I have to say that the car is 2008-9 and has 120,000 kms. Thank you very much in advance.


Buenas tardes compañeros, me da mucho gusto saludarles. He leído mucho en el foro sobre los amortiguadores de nuestros coches y la verdad es que he visto desde "pequeñas averías" de la válvula que producían fugas hasta reemplazos totales.

Mi situación es la siguiente: Cuando el coche pasa una semana parado poco a poco notas que se va cayendo, al open es cierto que vuelve a su posición original pero no hay ningún aviso por parte del coche de que algo va mal. ¿Qué significa esto? ¿Es una fuga? ¿O realmente tengo que cambiar los dos amortiguadores delanteros por completo? ¿Causaría problemas para el compresor haciéndolo trabajar más de lo realmente necesario? Necesitaría un poco de luz sobre este tema ya que en el taller lo más fácil es reemplazar la pieza entera, pero muchas veces no es necesario. ¿Qué opinan?

Tengo que decir que el coche es del 2008-9 y tiene 120.000 kms.

Muchas gracias de antemano.

 

You can look for leaks with soap water that bubbles up easily to try and find where it’s coming from. As I understand where the air line goes into the strut is a common place.

 

Hello@Pablen84,
As Sam08861 stated, use a soapy water spray bottle to look for leaks, but, not only at the air line connection at each strut, but at the top and bottom of each front strut, see pictures below for bubbles shown at the top of the strut under the bonnet.

At the bottom of each front strut, spray the accordion cover at the bottom to check for leaks, if the top of the strut is leaking under the bonnet, then the small o-ring at the top of the strut shaft has failed, just as if the bottom of the accordion cover show bubbles, then the large o-ring has failed, either way, if either of these two areas show to leak, then removal and disassembly of the strut is required to replace said o-rings, I will find and post those pictures.

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Under the bonnet





Top of front strut blowing bubbles

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The brass air line connections each have an o-ring to seal to the residual valve, and the residual valves have an o-ring to seal to brass inlet plate on each strut, this plate also has a flat rubber gasket/seal.

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Brass inlet assembly

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O-ring on air line.

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O-ring on residual valve.

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Inlet plate assembly/gasket.

Same.


Here are some screenshots I took from a video that Louis over on Audiworld made for his A8L, same premise as the Bentley, here you can see that he had bubbles at the top of the strut on one side, and bubbles at the bottom of the accordion cover on the other side, you can also see the large and small o-rings on the shaft and strut housing, if you ever decide to do the inner o-rings, please do not cut the wires as he did, just remove the pins from the plug sockets.

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Top of strut. .

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Top of strut. .

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Bottom of strut. .


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Bottom of strut. .


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Large o-ring. .

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Small shaft o-ring. .


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O-rings. .


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Large o-ring location. .


Johnny

 

Good morning, thank you very much for so much information and so detailed to the millimeter. It will surely help the mechanic to inspect it. On a previous occasion I already used the documentation that I got from the forum to be able to fix the rear spoiler. After all, in my area you see few cars like ours and they are not known like others.

Two days ago I took the car out and it drove fine but when I got home and put it in the garage, it rubbed me from underneath. Apparently the distance from the wheel to the arch was clear but I had never touched it before, so something is happening down there.

If the struts had to be changed, I have seen that there is a lot of controversy in the forum. Original or Arnott? In any case, where can you find cheaper ones on the internet? Because I have seen prices of all types. And the million dollar question: is there any correspondence with the Volkswagen Phaeton/Toureg or Audi A8?

 

Hi Johnny,
I have a pair of struts disassembled ready for rebuild, those seals were the problem.
Do you know a good company that can supply a seal set for the gt struts?
Frank.