air ride fault (but stil makes air)

[Brandon Whittaker]

ok ill start by saying that I've looked through the other posts and im not sure im having the same issue or not.

2006 cayenne s 155k, recently started showing the air ride faulty workshop code. now the thing I don't get is, its still making air. I can hear it purge when i: put the key in and put it in the on position, go to park, and after I've driven and parked I can hear it at least try to level itself out. I've read posts about the compressors going out so at the moment im sort of ruling that one out. Now, it will do all of that but the level selector switch no longer lights the arrows or does anything for that matter, and the passenger rear seems to be sagging a little bit and its showing on tire wear. ive tried pulling fuses and unhooked the battery for a few hours to see if it could reset anything and still nothing. any thoughts on what this could be? mabey bad sensor or the switch panel itself shorted? I just don't know.

thanks for your time

[lewisweller]

Hello, I've also got a 2006 and once had the same warning on dash. It was because I was playing with ride heights and depleted the reservoir of pressurised air in the tank before it could pump more in. Now I never get any fault in normal operation except the sagging front end after parking for a while which quickly pumps up when you return to the vehicle. 

So my prognosis is the possible piston for the pump may be a little worn and height adjustment is not being done as per the time spec and or the calibration for the ride height isn't correct possibly due to another fault like height sensor, hence rear is sagging. 

If you had a scan fault code for guidance that would be good and software to calibrate it may be all that was needed. 

Piston and Oring kit for the pump is chump change from bmwvanos. 

Good luck. 

[Brandon Whittaker]

ok I guess that sounds about right, cause I was always playing with the height adjustment, lower every time I park and lift when I drive.  I ran it a little bit ago and It said something about a switch malfunction, wasn't sure if that meant the switch for the wheel sensors, compressor, or if it was the actual switch on the console. cause the diff selector thing lights up but the height adjustment switch wont light up: lift, normal, low, as well as the little arrows on the side of the switch

 

[Brandon Whittaker]

my next question was seeing if I could just use the factory struts and just run aftermarket compressor and tank and have a different set of switches for it. that way I have manual control over everything. I bagged my squareback wagon and its soo much easier to deal with manual valves and all that crap then dealing with computer systems

[lewisweller]

Retro fitting and adapting the struts with a new system sounds like more work than fixing this relatively small issue. 

How you will fit everything and effectively delete the old system and stop it throwing warnings all the time Im not sure. 

 

For me fix the issue and enjoy. 

[hahnmgh63]

The compressor usually doesn't just fail suddenly, it usually gets weaker over time and will show a fault while still working somewhat. The Fiber rings on the compressor piston gets worn and hard and doesn't seal/pump as well. Usually worse when it's cooler first thing in the morning. Sound like your fault?

[Brandon Whittaker]

Yea i mean that definately could be the issue being its now 10 yeara old and i was constantly playing with it.  But would say the pump itself have an issue cause the ride height selector and ride comfort settings ro not work at all?

[Brandon Whittaker]

I put my other rims back on and it does seem to sit level now so it was probably mostly the tires being low but when i pulled the stocks off the inner treads of both rears were dam near bald. Im not even sure what setting its stuck at. Could be at normal ride height setting but i dont see it causing wear like that. All the way down yea

[bigbuzuki]

Firstly confirm if right dash fuse panel control fuses, Fuse f27 and f48 are ok.

 

Have you plugged in the air hose that pumps up your tires. It should start the compressor when you attempt to pump air.

 

40 amp Fuse f13 which lives under the left front seat over the battery supplies power to the compressor.

[Brandon Whittaker]

ok I will try that today

 

[lewisweller]

If the rear is stuck low then it would possible increase camber enough to scrub the inner tyre, also possible is worn bushings or badly out of spec alignment? 

Measure from centre of wheel hub to wheel arc top centre on each corner. This will straight away tell you where it is sat now and how far out or calibration it's gotten. Note if you jack or lift the vehicle the air strut does hyper extend and after dropping back down it will either adjust itself or you will need to hit the selector switch so it sorts itself out. 

I'm confused now by the posts if your pump runs at all right now? 

If the controls are not illuminating then must be a power failure.

Check fuses as Bigbuzuki said must be something amiss.