if it was a leak on any air strut problem ... i think you must replace with a new one to be safe...

 

Hey Kumar- great work!

I just joined the PTT club last week....80k miles....and guess what exact same issue. Left front after 24hrs bottoms out. Rear left is down somewhat as well, but not completely.

1) Did you only have to replace your front left strut? What about the rear on yours?
2) Where did you buy the used strut?
3) did you need to go to Porsche to recalibrate, or use their computers?

Looking to take the dive myself, or my local non-Porsche trusted mechanic. Thanks!

 

My PTT had almost 80k miles, but I'm certain it was the cause of a large pot hole that did it. I found a used strut assembly on eBay from a low mileage wreck, actually got lucky on the price, really lucky. Works perfectly. I ended up replacing the front right, and it fixed it for me. I think the rear right lowering was a product of the front right binging busted...As it wasn't an issue once I replaced the front.

I've been working on vehicles, recreationally, for 20 years...The swap out wasn't too bad, and I didn't need to disconnect nearly all the pieces the service manual said to get it done...Again I have lots of suspension work history with vehicles in general. There are no computer adjustments required, with exception of turning off air control to lift the vehicle.

Please note, there are some special sequences/tools to drain and refill the tank and bags, I did not find it necessary...But your mileage will vary - flame on.

Works like a charm now.

I did notice you can trick the chassis failure messages by what seemed as random sequences of turning car on with door shut and pushing the suspension mode button to a different level...Sometimes if that didn't work I would turn off the car, open the door, close the door, and redo the sequence above. I've done this A LOT when troubleshooting. Seemed random, but eventually the bags and tank would fill back up and the chassis failure light would go away. Please note, this was not necessary once the new bag filled up the first time properly.

If you aren't mechanical , please send to a garage...These instructions are what worked for me, YMMV and I take no responsibility

K

 

Great to hear - yes the Porsche service manual says to tear down lots of other stuff.......
Particularly uncoupling the ball joints.....I was not too keen on doing that. And the 20 different greases they wanted to use to put it back together. Sounds like you were able to avoid that? What did you have to tear down to get access?

Sorry for all the q's- but the DIY online is invisible vs 911/Boxster land for the Pannameras still.

Great to hear you jut pop it into service mode / "control off" to work on, and then once installed you just keep on restarting it to bypass the chassis failure warnings, get it to inflate up.

(On my 4th Porsche working on- but is is the first with an air suspension, so time to learn about the dark side here....)

Cheers! Post some pics of your new ride (same here)

 

I didn't have to repack any joints. You do have to remove the ball joint (upper and lower) , only way to get the assembly shifted. Typical ball joint separators work, don't use pickle forks.

 

http://www.rebuildmastertech.com/porsche/panamera/

lifetime warentee 1500 for both

 

dont do it. They screwed me over big time and ended up buying oem after these failed on install

 

what do original equipment cost ? They failed meaning didnt fit or leaked ? They said they were rebuilt oem... Thats to bad

 

Rebuild master tech worked fine for me.

 

..... I have disconnected and drained all 4 air-spring struts at the same time, but before off course I've raised the car to 'high level' and turned off air control to lift the vehicle.
After all necessary repair work was done and everything connected back it took some time to get all air-spring struts filled up, as Kumar wrote 'random troubleshooting' Please note, all doors and both lids has to be closed !
But after all this was done in the Panamera_Service_Repair_Workshop_Manual
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...roduction.html
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8...TB5blVHQXlyTlk

I've found that air suspension system has to be filled with nitrogen !!

So what is this all about ?! Is it really needed ? Why my Panny with all 4 empty bags got back to normal ? Or it used content of pressure accumulator (No.7 in one of attached printscreens) ? But the same manual says that content of pressure accumulator enough only for one bag/air-spring strut ....
I'm attaching printscreens from the manual related to ir suspension.

 

...........

 

It might be that any "dry" inert gas can be used. If not dry, low ambient temperature in combination with the system pressure may cause condensation.

 

Yes, I do understand advantage of nitrogen (+- the same when inflating tires with it) but what I don't see in air (NITROGEN ?) suspension system is it really closed loop ? and that instruction for filling nitrogen.... when disconnecting from bottle you have to be quick fitting air(NITROGEN !) line back at the front right bag?
And the last one: as I've wrote before I had disconnected all 4 air struts at the same time and then got them back working but manual says that accumulator has capacity to inflate only one ! ... I'm totally confused

 

Hello all. Today i changed the passenger side upper control arm bushes.

I disconnected the airline to the shock absorber as it needed to be dropped.

I was nervous, listening to all the nitrogen escaping from the airbag, but once it was all back together, started the car etc, and the airbag inflated again back to normal within a matter of seconds.

 

I ended up doing this on my car as well. It was pretty easy for the most part and very similar to any other car with air suspension. One thing to note was these suspensions generally fail are the bushing at the very top. Sometimes it not as noticeable but i sprayed water on the bushing and it was very obvious. If you have any questions feel free to reach out!