I'm at a body shop now to pick up my 2004 V8 after fixing some scrapes from getting gently rear ended. When they pulled the car around, the front of the car was almost on the ground while the back looked very high. I'm concerned that the air ride is damaged. It's possible, if not likely, that they lifted the car without using jack mode. Can that be the cause of suspension damage?
View 7 RepliesI just bought my Phaeton on tuesday. It is a 2004 V8 and the suspension is normal in the back, but the front is way too high. I know the batteries need replaced and that is being dealt with right now, but is this the batteries or something else? Is there a way to put it down that doesn't involve a VAG COM
View 2 RepliesMy phaeton all of a sudden wouldn't rise up .I then took off the left battery terminal and let it sit for a while then put it back and then the car rose up and the back is on the normal level and the front is sitting higher its weird !.I have to mention that it seems my car has electrical issues because if it sits for about two days my key fob doesn't work sometimes I have use the actual key to open it.then once the car starts I have to reset the clock ,seats everything..Anyway is there a way to completely reset the whole system so at least my vehicle goes down.
View 6 RepliesToday when I went to start the car I noticed front suspension (Shocks) were low but when I started the car it went up by itself. Then I got the warning message while I was driving the car. I am posting 2 pictures that were displayed in the console. After that every time I switch off the car, the front suspension (shocks) goes down by itself and goes up when I start up the car. I am not sure about this behavior. Could this be the famous Air shocks failure or just simple fix.
View 24 RepliesI have an occasional thump in the front suspension that seems related to road irregularities and I presumed there might be a bushing or tie rod end or ball joint causing it. It's not metal to metal and is not a cornering thing, just going straight down the road it can happen.
My mechanic looked over the front end and nothing was obviously bad, and he concluded that it was the shock mount at the top of one of the shocks and that sounded right to me. So we looked into it and were surprised to find that there was no shock mount. The air shock seems to be an all-in-one design that just bolts to the top of the wheel well.
So, this thunk, if it is coming from the shock can only be fixed by the replacement of the shock, is that the case? Better yet, could it be something else?
Last night I was sitting in my living room when I heard what I thought was a tire blowing out in my driveway - loud pop/hiss. Went outside but didn't see any flat tires, so I went to bed. This morning I got in the car and started backing out of the driveway but got the alert "Vehicle Too Low" - got out and saw that my front tires were almost touching the inside of the wheel wells. Trying to change the ride height via the suspension button has no effect at all.
I'm super bummed - I've always said that because of the cost to repair, a strut failure in the amazing air suspension would probably be what did this car in. But I didn't expect it to happen so soon - I'm "only" at 129k miles. It happened in my driveway and not 60 minutes earlier while I was doing 75 MPH on the highway.
Pic here: [URL] ....
Just recently I've been hearing a slight creeking sound coming from the front end when going over bumps. I don't have a lot of suspension knowledge so I'm not sure where to start looking and wanted to see if others had the problem, and what the outcome was? The car is at 60k miles.
View 20 RepliesI just had new tires put on my rx330 and had an unbelievable combination of errors occur. The tire store put on 215/65 r17 tires on the front and 235/65 r17 tires on the rear. I know this sounds impossible but that's what happened. So I ended up with a substantial mismatch in tire sizes front to back.
Unfortunately I didn't discover this until 2 weeks later after driving around 225 miles half of which was high speed highway driving. Before the tires were changed the car ran straight without any pull to either side. Now it pulls to the right.
The tire store has offered to replace the tires with the correct ones and to compensate me for any damage to the transfer case, viscous coupling unit or transmission.
So how do I determine what level of damage occurred if any? Would all the damage be evident already simply driving the car. Alternatively, would the damage be a reduction in the operational lifespan of the drive train leading up to a "surprise" future failure?
The tire store has asked for an estimate of the repair costs which will be evaluated by an appraiser.
I don't want to identify the tire store until after a final settlement has been reached. However, it is a popular nation wide tire retailer.
my P has recently developed a knocking noise coming from the front right when I go over a pothole. My first guess was a worn anti-roll bar drop link, but I've just taken the drop link off and it looks absolutely perfect. (I noticed that they have updated this part since my last 2008 P which had aluminium inserts in the rubber bush and easily distorted - now they have a stainless steel insert.)
It sounds like the "clunk" comes from high up on the front right suspension. I have looked at all the bushes on the arms and they look fine. If this was a "traditional" car I would have guessed that the top suspension mount bearing had failed, but am I right in thinking that the P doesn't have one of these bearing mounts ?
My V8 had extensive suspension work done this week. All the front suspension bushings were replaced including the sway bar links. In addition, the air suspension- all four corners were replaced and the tie rods were also replaced.
The reason all the bushings were replaced was suspension noise and the fact that the car would wear the front tires unevenly even after new tires and alignment. The assumption was that the worn out bushings at 64k miles where the reason for the uneven wear of the front tires.
After all this work, I received the car yesterday and the car has more suspension noises than it had before all the work was done.....
When I drive over a speed bump, at slow speeds, I can hear loud squeak noises. Even driving the car out of my garage this morning, I could hear the groaning noises from the front suspension.
I will be taking the car back to the dealer after the holidays so they can check it out. Are these noises normal due to the new bushings settling or something..
My P sits lower (about 2 inch) in the front after the car is parked for about an hour. No code on VAG-COM. No warning lights nor messages. What could this problem be? It started about a month ago. It actually occurs slowly just a few mins after I turn the engine off. It would go back to its normal height after I unlock the car with the remote or after I start the car.
View 5 RepliesSince we took ownership of our 2009 v6 there has been a rumble when going over bumps in the road. A certain amount of this I have put down to the big alloys and low profile tyres, but have always suspected that there was something else amiss.
Today I took her into our local Phaeton garage and asked them to investigate. They has hinted at worn drop links. However after checking everything out in the ramp they can find nothing wrong. They even replaced one if the drop links (whatever they are).
So they came up with nothing wrong but could still here the rumble when driving over un-even surfaces. When I change to sport mode I think the rumble gets less, where to look or what could be wrong.
I have an 04, one air spiring is leaking. Covered by real driver warranty. VW no longer makes the part so they have to replace the entire system, it costs about $10,000. Great car but if you are buying one, get the real driver warranty.
View 3 RepliesThis morning I was sadly involved in an accident. I was struck on the driver's door, with some damage to the surrounding areas. There is also damage to the inner door frame
I am worried the affected area is part of the frame and will prove difficult or impossible to repair. Is this the case? How would this sort of damage be repaired?
I got into an accident early Dec 15 with my 2014 Camry. Most of the damage was body mostly front hood but the radiator had to be replaced. For some reason ever since then my MPG has dropped quite a bit. I used to be able to drive 420 miles on 14 gallons but now I see myself filling up at the 300 mile mark. I recently got the 25k check up and everything was fine minus replacing my air cabin filter at the next checkup.
My driving route/style hasn't changed so I'm at loss.
Alright, so we had an unfortunate run-in with a parking space and I ripped the front under-tray off, not sure what it's actually called. I still have it, the eyes are just ripped out.
But that's not my main issue. The main issue is that the A/C only blows hot now. I know you can sometimes kill a condenser, because road debris will puncture it, but how do you know for sure what's wrong? I'm good with my hands and not afraid to take my car apart, I'm just wanting to be sure before I go ordering parts. I have the relevant sections of the repair manual, but if it's the ES18 compressor or something, how would I know? And is there any way to know without taking the bumper off?
I'll also need a source for ND OIL 11..
Can I do this without damage to anything?
'97 Expedition (but the F150 forum seems more mechanically incline, no offense to the Expedition forum).
I'm trying to find the cause of a vibration in what I think is the front drivetrain. I was almost positive that it was the front driveshaft universal joints. I jacked the truck up off all fours and took her for a spin. The noise seemed to be coming from the from u-joint.
I took the u-joints off and they were still nicely lubricated (after 230,000 miles). My heart sank since this probably not the root of my problem.
I'm surely going to put new u-joints in but think I'll get them from the dealer tomorrow (if the OEM stuff lasted this long, why buy aftermarket, even though it's the same stuff? I dunno, just my OCD kicking in.)
So, I thought I would take the truck for a drive without the front driveshaft today (in 2wd of course) to see if the vibration was gone. Can I do this?
Replace shocks in the front ????
View 5 RepliesI have a 2010 Toyota Prius. I have had it for a little over a year. A couple weeks ago I noticed that the paint on the front fender had "bubbled up" in a strip approximately 8 inches long. It felt like the fender was cracked underneath it. I took the car in to the dealership. Their service department took off the fender and said that it was warped, not broken. They said it was due to some kind of heat damage that it had been exposed to. Of course, they said it wasn't due to any malfunctioning of the car. They say the car must have been "exposed" to some kind of heat source. In other words, it is all my fault and they are not going to fix it under the warranty! I have not exposed it to any kind of heat, except sun light!
View 12 RepliesBy way of brief background, I have a 2004 Touareg with 180,000 miles. I recently noticed that the front left air suspension was sitting lower than normal after the truck had been sitting. I discovered that the shock was leaking air and in the subsequent days began getting "Running Gear Workshop" warnings on the MFI. I got both the orange ones and a red one that instructs you to stop immediately. It reset after parking, and restarting. In summary, I knew I had a problem.
Today, I stopped at the dealer and they confirmed that the fitting at the top of the air shock was in deed leaking. Attached is a photograph showing the fitting. It is important that you inspect these fittings ASAP if you have air suspension. There is a TSB that references corrosion and possible failure. See TSB 43 07 01
Initially I was told that the entire air shock would have to be replaced but after doing research and with the assistance of Spockcat, I discovered that the fitting can be replaced assuming the female portion of the connection is not corroded. Replacing the entire air shock assembly is expensive. Apparently, there have been some instances where the fitting has failed during driving and bad things happen.
I have a humming noise coming from the front end of my 2004 W12. I only notice the noise at highway speeds and it appears to only be audible when I turn the wheel to the right. For example, when traveling on the highway and the road bends slightly to the right or when I move into the right lane, I hear a faint hum coming from the wheel(s).
I started hearing the hum a few days ago but dismissed it as a symptom of my Phaeton Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (POCD). While driving to and from DC last night on a night out with my wife, she commented on the presence of the hum as well.
I just had the LF wheel bearing replaced 2 weeks ago. Here are some possibilities I'v thought of:
RF wheel bearing
Low Power Steering Fuild
Other Steering Problems (leaking rack)
On a related note, where do you check the power steering fluid level? I can't seem to find the reservoir.