Hi,

Sometimes I randomly get "Level-Fault - See workshop" error. It goes away when I restart the car.

What could this be? Problem with Air suspension?

 

you may have a small leak in one of the struts or an airline,next time you leave car over night just have a look at car to see if it has dropped in height before starting it.

 

Thanks BentleyTech. Is this a serious problem or I can still drive the car w/o any catastrophic failure?

 

well hard to say at the moment,lets see what you see in the morning when you have left the car to settle. if it is down in one corner then you may have a strut leaking or it could be just because a change in temperature outside.

 

HI Bentleytech,

Since the weather has been icy and snowy for the past weeks, I have not driven the car. One side does look to be lower than the other side.

It took few tries to start the car due to low battery. Now, I'm getting the level fault constantly. I guess I should take it to the shop when the weather clears?

 

Hi,

I read on the Phaeton forum that 2004 strut can no longer be purchased: http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4703645

It says VW will cover the 3 other strut. Does this apply to CGT as well?

 

Bentley made me buy them in pairs. They did not give any assistance. Bentley should be better about this because they will cover 3 shocks if you pay for one on the phaeton.
Vw will also pay for sagging headlinerfor vw,but not for bentley. my car did exactly what yours is doing. you have a bad strut usually the front right one goes first. you can buy just one shock but they will tell you if more than 30,000 mile you should do both. I did one first then the other failed a year later so this time i replaced both at dealer. 3 year warranty unlimited miles. im mad because they would not give me my good shock back(it was only a year old)

 

Thanks BentleyF. Do you know how likely will the rear struts fail?

 

The rear should be ok. I have not heard of rear failure.

 

There is at least one shop out there rebuilding the 04+ VW/Bentley suspension components with a core submission in the 1100$ range on pair. They normally list rebuilt units on eBay if you are looking.

 

Thanks BentleyF.

How safe is it to use rebuilt strut? My concern is the structural integrity of the car and overall handling safety.

 

I imagine slightly safe on then what you have now.
Currently your ridding around in a 10 year old, 5000lb car on failing airbags right now. Rebuilt parts an be just as good or better then new. Got to read the reviews on the re-builder though.

I used to road race on fully rebuilt set of KONI ACR shocks in my viper and I was putting a crud ton more stress then street driving.