Yes, jack up both sides.

 

Yes, agreed, when the suspension is bottomed out, the sensors are out of range so to say, so the system fails to react.

@Shaqovic ,
Yes, use blocks of wood if the vehicle is so low that you can not get a floor jack under either side.

The blocks should be 2" high X 6 or 8" wide, and you may need 4 pieces, so that you may stack 2 for each side, I did mine this way, I had two pieces of wood at 2" X 8" X 2 feet long, and two more pieces at 2" X 8" X 1 foot long, I stacked each 1 foot piece on top of each 2 foot piece, that allowed me to drive the vehicle up on to the first level of the 2" X 8", and then continue to drive up onto the second piece of 2" X 8", therefore giving me plenty of room to slide my floor jacks under each side.

The only issue here is, you do not want to lift the vehicle that high at all, lifting the vehicle 12 - 16 inches may just about have the tires off of the ground (blocks), therefore the suspension will be hanging, and therefore the system will see the vehicle as way to high, and in turn, it will release all of the air in the front air bladders.

Unless I somehow misunderstood @1eapplebaum 's 12 - 16" comment.

You want to only jack the vehicle up to about an inch or so below the normal height, that will get the sensors in range.


Yes.

Agreed.

Johnny

 

Agree 12-16 is too much...maybe 6-8 inches. 🙂

 

if the car is down so much as @Shaqovic says, is it still "driveable" enough to move it on this 2 pieces of wood? Can start engine or drive in? Wheel is not blocked by the plastic covers or body elements?

 

indeed wheels are blocked and can’t turn the steering left or right because of fender.

was thinking what other model of Audi might be compatible with Bentley to replace coil springs.
audi D2 is a similar

 

​@Shaqovic ,
Please state the year of your Bentley, and the model.

As to the engine rpm fluctuations, a smoke test is in order, and the use of proper scan tools such as Ross-Tech VCDS or ODIS VAS 5054, the generic scanner such as thinkdiag, or as I believe you meant XTool do not give you the in-depth diagnostic levels or procedures that the RT or VAS do.

Again, the year and model will determine engine out or not to a degree of where the leak is, if one exists.

To raise the vehicle, see post number 17.

And to note, if you had the proper Ross-Tech scan tool, you could activate output test to put the suspension through it's motions, filling and emptying the accumulator tank, raising and lowering the front and rear axles individually, ect.

Exactly, proper scan tool is needed, along with a smoke test, plus the information previously requested above.

Agreed, engine fluctuations has nothing to do with the suspension.

The angle sensor for the steering wheel should have nothing to do with the suspension not running.

Please explain what you mean by using "sealer" to rebuild the strut, the o-rings, I understand.

The Audi A8 does not share the suspension (struts) with the Bentley, the struts are different, the compressor is also different, as the Bentley uses a package unit that has the compressor and valve block as one unit, whereas the A8 has the compressor mounted at the left front fender behind the bumper, and it's valve block mounted at the rear of the left front fender by the driver's door.

You won't find any "OEM coils sus" for the A8 D3, as the D3 never had any coil over suspension from day one.

I highly doubt that the D2 A8 front struts fit the D3 A8, or even the Bentley, in all my years of being on Audiworld, not once do I ever recall a conversation about using the D2 coil over struts on a D3, and there are many D3 suspension threads over there, and quite a few on the strutmasters for the D3.

Your comment that strutmasters is "very expensive" at $1500 for all 4 struts is confusing, as $1500 is less the the cost of one factory OEM Bentley front strut, the 1500 only comes out to $375 a corner, that's less than the rebuilt struts being sold online, but, I will say, I would never go coil over, I will fix my vehicle properly to maintain it's OEM design, but that a personal choice for anyone to make, your car, your decision, just be sure that if you go coil over, that you get all the proper items needed to bypass the system and kill the constant suspension failure warnings you will receive on the dash without required items, resistors and or special module.

See post 17.

If the vehicle has factory size wheels and tires, and the front is 100% down, there still should be no issue rolling or driving straight forward up onto the wooden blocks, my GT after Hurricane Sandy was dead for years, I pushed the vehicle up onto the blocks to gain access to the sides for jack clearance, even after I put the entire engine and transmission package in along with the suspension, I had to put blocks under the tires so I would have clearance to get the jacks out from each side when lowering the vehicle to the ground, as I forgot my laptop at home, so no vcds, but by then bringing the vehicle to a certain height below normal riding height with the same floor jacks, the suspension compressor kicked in, then after rolling/driving the GT out the garage door, the suspension came up even further.


@Shaqovic ,
Did you read my responses to the 5 comments in post number 17 ?

There is no need to turn the wheel left or right, roll or drive the vehicle slowly up on to the two levels of wood as I described.

Here is my GT 100% bottomed out on the suspension, when I purchased her 10 months after Hurricane Sandy, I was still able to move the vehicle, I just didn't turn the steering wheel so much as to have the tire contact the fenders.

Johnny

.

 

I put blocks of wood under front tires started to car and drove on them waited 10 mins and nothing happened, I assume I might need more wood.
also I start to see white smoke out of the driver side tail pipe, the car gives smoke from one side only.
I hope to find an answer.

 

@Shaqovic ,
Are you reading and following my post and information ??

You dont just start the engine and drive onto the blocks, and the suspension magically comes to life, use the floor jacks as I explained previously...

Johnny

 

yes now I understood your information, sorry my bad English.
I will bring 2 jacks to lift the car a bit while on blocks of wood.
any suggestions about white smoke from driver side only.

 

Hello @Shaqovic ,
No problem on the English, I hope I didn't come across as harsh, that was not my intention.

As to the white smoke on only one side, I responded to your radiator cap thread, and I sincerely hope that it is not the issue, but it may be, and that issue may also be the reason of you engine rpm fluctuations as the cylinders on the offending side are misfiring...

As compression test is in order to test each cylinder.

I know I am repeating myself as to what I wrote in your other thread, but, do you have antifreeze/coolant in the system, does the exhaust on the white smoke side smell sweet ?

With the cap on, does the upper radiator hose get rock hard after a period of time with the engine running, say like 10- 15 minutes.

Johnny

 

thank you Johnny, I appreciate your replies always giving us from your knowledge.
yes I used Preston coolant to refill the car and burped air out.
the rpm fluctuation was only from passenger side, I put my hand and feel air blowing not normal but when I put my hand on driver side it’s very good smooth, and today no fluctuation is happening, only white smoke out from driver side only.

after 20 mins warm the car I touch the upper hose and it’s very hot and I believe the thermostats is working fine because upper hose is hot and fans on and off normal.

I hope I explained good

 

I jacked the car almost to normal height, car too low message now is off when I started the engine and run the car for 15 mins, compressor didn’t kick in and when I try to change height from inside it says level change not possible.
Car is lifted on jack and block of woods under front tires, no change at all.
I am sure compressor is working because before I rebuilt air suspension driver side I lifted the car with scanner and it worked, now I need to call again for scanner guy to try again to activate the compressor after warning msg car too low is off.

also wanted to ask you what does this cable supple, I tested all of them with voltmeter and this was giving 12v continuously, I must have battery leaking because it drops

first cable with black circle

 

these are power suppliers for the rest of the car - fuse box in the engine bay, fuse box inside the car, starter, etc.

this car is consuming power all the time - and this is normal if it is below 100mA in the sleep mode.

but when it is wake up it eats much more

what do you mean "it drops"

for the compressor start - if it does not - then check fuse and relay for the compressor and if it ok then try to start it by shorting the power to it to initiate pumping to make sure it is alive but you will end up anyway with vcds tests on the air suspension module

ps. you are sure the leveling sensors are in place connected - if not - the sensor may stay in a possition which is out of range or says to computer that is on highest level so the compressor wont be initiated.

 

yes I know they supply the front with power, but when I leave the car 10 days no start I test this battery and it’s either very low or dead, other battery is fine no drops, I changed batteries and it’s the same, so I used voltmeter, disconnected those 4 cables and chose DC and connected one side to positive terminal and tried each cable of those 4, 3 came 0.0v and this first shows 12,4v.
so this cable should supply something in the car which is consuming power when it shouldn’t.

level sensors are in place because I double checked them visually.

could you explain more “try to start it by shorting the power to it to initiate pumping to make sure it is alive but you will end up anyway with vcds tests on the air suspension module”
how to shorting the power and if it is alive after is it necessary to use vcds.

thanks for your reply

 

i am confused what you did to check voltage - you dont need to disconnect anything to check voltage - you need to do it in you check amperage.

anyway - this cable you are reffering to on the top is to the facial fuse box, so no surprise it gets power

shorting = make the power directly to your compressor omitting any electronic, controls etc to see if motor just runs

vcds = if your air suspension system detects anomalies and fires errors then the system wont start - you need to check these errors clear them check if they come back and if yes you need to fix the problem

you say about battery consumptions so you just have the battery depleted that the electronics gone crazy and you need to power up your battery first - this is super critical before starting any investigations