Aye, way too rich for my blood. But I wonder how those clones/imitations work, if they'd be enough...

 

I ordered new front air struts from Rhonda over at FVD-Brombacher for my PTT which has a major leak on the driver front strut and a slow leak on the passenger side. These are brand new struts and barely cost me anymore then rebuilt ones from other vendors. They are made and ship from Germany so soon as I get them I plan to follow Ciaka's process to replace them. I also bought a Launch x431 v pro OBD2 diagnostic computer which has a service feature that prepares the car when replacing the air struts. I'll post an update with pictures during and after replacing the parts and I also plan to replace the air valve block and relay since I'm already doing this much.

If anyone is thinking to replace theirs and wants to talk to Rhonda below is her contact info for her Florida office. She's incredibly knowledgeable on Porsche and so easy to work with. There is also a 10% off code for members from 6speedonline.com so ask her about that. Wish me luck lol...

Ciaka thank you so much for the detailed instructions! If everything goes to plan I'm sending you a $50 gift card to Starbucks or wherever as a thank you!

E-Mail: rhonda.roxburgh@fvd.net

http://www.fvd.net

 

Rhonda is the person who responded to my inquiry about availability, noting 10 - 14 days. Please update with how long they take to come in.

With all the labor involved I kind of regret not paying more for a more reputable replacement strut.

And for the amount of labor involved I guess I'm being obsessive compulsive and would like the system properly filled with nitrogen gas. I have a feeling most shops would not do this step. Strangely the dealer I called has not responded with an estimate of the cost to replace one of these. I got the retail price from the parts person, who also noted he'd give me a little discount, but the SA never called nor text messaged me back...

 

I called a few shops and not one of them said they would fill with nitrogen. All of them said the compressor would pull air in and that only the dealers typically will use nitrogen. I live in Michigan and not concerned that it I'm not using nitrogen as this strut has been leaking for over a year so I'm sure most of it is already out of the system.

BTW Rhonda has a distributor in Germany with inventory so if you order them tomorrow for example it would ship leave Germany next Friday and be delivered to you 5-6 days later. I'll let you know how long it takes as I just ordered them last night...

 

I must confess I wasn't clear what 10-14 days meant. Would that mean to their local distribution or to my door?...

Does shop air go up to 16 to 17 bar, 246.6 PSI? System should be filled to min 16 bar and max 17 bar, regular air is 78 % Nitrogen so I guess the concern, like in tires, is due to moisture which changes the pressure with heat, kind of like why they use it in tires, BUT still need to fill the system I believe. Here's the tool I'm most interested in:

http://www.vxdiagshop.com/wholesale/...ull-serie.html

Wife said no on it so I'm going to try to bring the car to a local shop that I can literally walk to.

 

Yeah for me it's going to be 14 days from ordering to my house.....based on what I've read isn't the system going to fill itself automatically from the compressor? The compressor will fill the tank and will then fill the struts?

 

At that pressure I believe the system is closed. To build up that pressure may burn out the compressor. I suspect it's job is to shunt around the pressure, not to build it up from scratch, ie in our case with a leak or leaks. I mean the compressor only runs a minute or couple minutes in a properly operating system...

 

The WM 4301IN document I printed from PIWIS TSI or whatever it's called, is the Bleeding and filling instructions. I payed $15 for an hour. The first page has my user name, email, and date printed as a big fat water mark so it's obvious they do not want me distributing/sharing the information. All documents are actually branded the same on the first page...

WM 433019 is the Removing and installing instructions for the front struts. The instructions note to use PIWIS to bleed the strut you are going to replace, that it will transfer air to the accumulator. But in our case/most cases there is a leak so I'm not sure this is necessary...


The site is not user friendly for me. Some links do not work which I do not understand why. You have to go back and then around to get to the document. But at least I got a good amount of the instructions this time around...

I have a bad feeling the Launch tool may only turn off the level control, similar to pressing the raise front button for 10+ seconds. But I'm crossing my fingers for you!!!

 

The compressor is not used to put pressure in the system. It is only used to maintain proper pressure inside an air tank that panamera has.
When needed, the panamera ecu will direct correct valves to open and inject compressed air from air tank into shocks.
When needed, the panamera ecu will direct correct valves to open and cause air to flow from air shocks to the outside of car if air tank already has air in it at high pressure.
When air tank has lower pressure, the air from shocks will flow back into the air tank.
Yes, system closed because it does not leak out all on its own, but the design has a vent out line where under some conditions, air from shocks goes to outside. Over time you will have little nitro left.
Then, you pay $170 at dealer to have system purged and recharged with nitro.

OR
you can buy nitro tank, adapter for air line, study wiring, set up valve block and shock valves with wires that you can energize and force air through to proper place. Then nitro from tank would go into system.

I was wondering if it would be beneficial to install a nipple in the air tank (of course so it does not leak under pressure), so if needed, you can connect something to it to drain moisture, and inflate with nitro. Then, it would be much easier to refill the system. Just thinking out loud I guess.

 

FWIW-. The bleeding and filling document specifies Nitrogen 5.0. At first when I read that I was like what the heck is that?! Then I researched buying a tank and it's pretty pure stuff. I think the highest is 6.0.

EDIT- Found this Porsche filling equipment package before. Please note that it's pre-set to maximum 17 bar, specifically for filling the air suspension:

https://porsche.snapon.com/special-t...temId=46070108

I should still have the text message I sent my son and wife the morning I got the "Chassis System Failure". I'm curious how many weeks now I've been driving my tiny Scion iQ around....

 

Hi: I would like the panamera factory service manual PDF - please send it to srom@pathcom.com

Thanks!

 

Are you looking for the 970 or 971 manual? I have the 970 and it's about 500MB so I could send you the link to my google drive to download...

 

Hi: I am looking for the 970 manual ( I am the original owner of a 2010 Panamera 4S )

Thanks for your help

 

Hi Srom55, I sent you a link to my google drive for the full service manual. Thx

 

Car just rose after clearing low system air warning...
Local shop installed the strut. Still have two errors as I brought the car home. They said strut is bad...