Air suspension amber light on the dashboard stays on

[ATC@LWSK]

Hi everybody,

I am a new member on this forum, I’ve been browsing these pages for the last couple of weeks, ever since I decided to purchase an Audi vehicle for my family and me.

I recently purchased a 2008 Audi Q7 3.0TDI, 171kw, with 61000km, full service history for every 10000km serviced at an official Audi Service centre, black color, with lots of extras, adaptive air suspension, leather seats, off-road styling package, DVD-based Navigation with 7’’ color display, 19’’ wheels and much more.

Immediately I fell in love with the car, ever since a test-drove it, and I think we can all agree that it is one of the best vehicles on the market.

However, as expected from a used vehicle, there are a few things that are in need of my immediate attention.
The first thing I noticed when I test-drove the car was that the ESP amber light on the dashboard and the ABS amber light were constantly on, even after turning the ignition. Also, the center display on the dashboard beeps rather loudly every time I start the car and gives two warnings: First, it says AUDI HILL HOLD ASSIST MALFUNCTION, and after that ESP/ABS FAULT! PLEASE SEE USER MANUAL.

I took the vehicle before purchasing to the Audi official service centre, where the car had been serviced, and was quoted a price of 2300EUR to repair the ESP/ABS fault, saying that they need to replace the hydraulic pump, and I was told that at the moment the car’s ABS and ESP are not working, and I should get this fixed as it’s very important safety feature, which I of course concur with. I was told that this has happened to several Q7’s from that year, and although the car is not under warranty, the service centre will request from the Audi factory to cover some of the costs for replacing the faulty pump. The next day, they received a positive answer from the Audi factory, saying that the factory will cover 50% of the costs, and gave me a new quote of 1150EUR for the repair. Kudos to them! The seller agreed to reduce the price of the car to include this repair, and I am now waiting for the part to arrive, so I can take the car to the service centre and have it fixed.

Another thing I have noticed is related to the air suspension, and here I would seek for your valuable advice.

I don’t know if this is related, but before I purchased this car, I was told that the car hasn’t been driven for the last 18 months. Namely, the owner of the car died in December 2011 (he was 79 years old, very prominent member of the society here), and the family didn’t drive the car ever since. I can confirm this is true because the last oil and filter change had been completed on March 15th, 2012, and the odometer was recorded at 60800km, and I bought the car with 61100km, so only 300km for 14 months. Luckily, the family did start the car from time to time, and drove it around the block in order to keep the battery alive, which they managed successfully.

About the air suspension: The air suspension is working, when I start the car I am able to select a ride height from all 5 available options on the MMI. I can lift the vehicle to the max, or I can select dynamic to lower the car, and everything in between. If I open the bootlid, and press the button to lower the boot, the rear part lowers as intended. When I press the button again, the car returns to normal height. However, when I start driving the car, and when I reach 35km/h, the amber light for the air suspension (it’s a symbol resembling a vehicle with an arrow pointing down, the one next to the green light on the upper part of the dashboard) turns on, all option for the air suspension on the MMI are greyed-out, and the suspension goes into AUTOMATIC mode, and adjusts to that position. When I stop the car, actually, I don’t even have to come to a complete stop, but when the speed reaches 3km/h (just a second or two before completely stopping), the amber lights turn off, the option on the MMI are back, and the car stays in AUTOMATIC mode. Again, when this happens, I can select any mode, and the suspension lowers or lifts accordingly.

When I presented this problem to the service center, they ran a diagnostics and told me that the compressor is showing that it somehow overheated, and that’s why it’s giving me the warning light. I ran a VAG-COM test and I received this fault:

1 Fault Found:
01577 - Turn-Off due to Over-Temp
001 - Upper Limit Exceeded - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00100001

The service centre folks said that this could be because the car had been sitting for a while without being driven, and that might be causing some problems, and that I can keep driving the car and see if it goes away. They tested the suspension by selecting different modes, and the car responds perfectly. If for some reason I want to replace the compressor, the price would be in the vicinity of 2000EUR.

Any idea how to approach this and what to do?

Jordan.

[kite]

Clear the code and see if it returns.
A member on here sells a kit to refurbish the compressor (bagpipingandy).


bloody interweb phone.

[ATC@LWSK]

Clear the code and see if it returns.
A member on here sells a kit to refurbish the compressor (bagpipingandy).


bloody interweb phone.

Thanks kite,

I got in touch with Andy but it appears that his kit is not the solution to my problem.

I ran a test today. When I started the car, the suspension was, as expected, on automatic mode (level 3 out of 5). I selected off-road mode from the MMI, and the car raised to the selected level (level 4 out of 5) without issues. The green light illuminated to indicate the car was raising. Total time it took the car to raise into off-road mode was about 5 seconds. Green light turned off. When I started moving and increased speed past the 35km/h mark, the suspension, as indicated on the MMI autonomously went to Automatic mode, the amber light turned on, and the car lowered to level 3 (from level 4 - off-road mode) while in motion. All other modes greyed out, only automatic was active.

Then I stopped the car, and all options returned, and I was able to select any one I pleased. So I selected dynamic mode, and the car lowered to the selected level (level 2 out of 5) without issues. The amber light turned on to indicate the car was lowering. First the front lowered, it took about 2-3 seconds, and then the rear end lowered, another 2-3 seconds. So in total, the car lowered in about 5 seconds. Amber light turned off.

However, when I moved past the 35km/h mark, the suspension, as indicated on the MMI autonomously went to Automatic mode, the amber light turned on, and the car raised to level 3 (from level 2 - dynamic mode) while in motion.

Also, when the car's suspension is in automatic mode (always in automatic when going above 35km/h) no matter what speed I am driving (tested it up to 200km/h) the suspension stays on level 3(out of 5). I was under the impression that after passing certain speed, it will lower automatically (since it's in automatic mode).

Does this appear normal?

Cheers,

Jordan

[ATC@LWSK]

Alright everyone, I am writing this for future reference in case someone else experience the same problem.

Apparently, the ABS/ESP hydraulic pump problem was causing the air suspension warning light to come on and stay on when driving at speeds over 35km/h. It seems it is some sort of "safe mode" (I presume) that if the abs/esp is not working, the car goes into automatic mode, because after fitting the new hydraulic pump, the problem and the amber light of the air suspension disappeared. The car drives perfectly, and the air suspension works flawlessly. All option are selectable, and the car adjusts itself according to the speed and the selection I've made.

Cheers,
Jordan