Ok, so i had posted another thread last month about my 2012 porsche panamera S , the air suspension compressor had failed, so i got another one installed it and the car was working fine so about 20 days after the fix the suspension compressor sounded loud and i got the red chasis failure message again so it seems like my second air suspension compressor burned out , im lost as to whats the problem i didnt hear the compressor staying on prior to the damage and i didnt see any sides of the car leaning like if there was a leak so im here to ask for any thoughts on what made another compressor burn out in such a short period of time i didnt change the relay 373 in the back luggage fuse area is that something that can cause it ? please any ideas feel free to comment

 

Anyone on here have ideas why his compressor failed twice?
Replacing relay is cheap and wont hurt. To me, looks like compressor either runs all the time and gets burned out (major leak in system, likely in bellows of shocks), or compressor fails due to internal components of itself (pistons/seals, etc).

My first thought would be to check for leaks in all places where suspension system it connected (tank, compressor, valve block, at each shock). Use soapy water to see if it bubbles.
Then, after relay replaced, would be good to see if system holds pressure (would need nitro bottle, or if you dont care to use nitro in system, an evac motor to pull vacuum on system to see if it holds for an hour or so). Would need the adapter 9825 for this to connect to car, with vacuum system (probably can rent from autozone).
If vacuum cannot be pulled, there is a leak. bellows first suspect. Then connections. If no leaks, then compressor burned out internally for some reason.


Dealer would charge maybe half or one hour for checking level nitro pressure. For some $ they could also analyze to give list of issues, so you can take and DIY or let them.

Hope others can chime in to help.

 

Your idea of looking for leaks while under pressure seems OK. I would be hesitant to pull a vacuum on the system. Not sure what it would do to the shape of the bellows in the air springs - might cause some issues.

I had a fuse blow on the system this past winter. Car went into a interesting fault mode - it used the pressure in the accumulator tank to slowly raise the car up to about "high" setting and just leave it there. Once I replaced the fuse, compressor ran and car went back to normal height. Not sure what response from car will be if you pull the relay.

From your description of the compressor not running excessively, sounds like the system is OK and you got a bad compressor.

 

Idea of pulling vacuum came when I spoke to dealer techs about suspension. Apparently they do it too. You can pull 25 psi and see if it holds.
systen pressure is 17bar (just under 250psi), so 25psi is a very safe pressure. This is done with car suspended since there is no pressure in system.
But easiest way is to spray soapy water, then look at all places that can leak.

 

 

My guess, either dies the job. If bellows withstand firces of 250psi, doing neg.25 psi vacuum wont break anything. Plus once you disassemble components, you have to put it all tigether to have pressurw again.
regardless, moral if story is make sure you figure out if your system is leaking. 8 like soap method.

 

If the air leak is exposed, under these pressures, definitely think soapy water would find it. But I've had both air struts leak (one obviously) but the location of the leak was not easily accessible to soap water.



Are you sure its the compressor? Did the suspension warning come on and stay on? Any chance you've got the Durmetric or similar to pull codes? There are a lot of things that can cause the red suspension warning light to come on. When it's on, the system wont' allow you to nor will it try to auto adjust the suspension. Definitely check the relay, may also be worth checking the value block, and pulling codes.

 

Figured it out , the front right strut was the problem this whole time got bubbles to come up at the top rubber /looks like a screw where the strut sensor plugs into. so going to get it taken care of now

 

Block


I have the same problem… changed Air Compressor and car worked fine for three weeks and then one morning notice front was lower and rear was normal height. I immediately called RMT to tell them my compressor was not working. I took that one off and sent it back. They sent me a newly rebuilt one. I decided while I was changing it I would also replace valve block. Checked all fittings and connections to make sure they were seated properly. Now suspension won’t say anything! Doesn’t come on at all when you open the door also I purchased a Por 2.0 icar scanner and it says it’s in Jack mode on… but it won’t let me turn it off because of the suspension fault. How can I manipulate the system to turn off jack mode? I believe that’s why it won’t at least kick on. Vehicle is so low I can’t get it on a rollback to take it to dealership. System is not that complicated, also changed relay 373 and checked 40 amp orange fuse. So it should at least attempt to come on which is why I think if the alarm was cleared it would come on. Any ideas how to get around this problem?

 

You should still be able to turn the suspension on and off even if you are getting the fault message in the display. If you hold the suspension raise button for approximately 10 seconds it cycles between on and off. You can tell if it is on or off by turning the car off opening the door then closing the door starting the car again and immediately press the suspension raise button and it will either tell you that it is turned off or give you an error message such as not possible which means it is still on in my experience. At least on my car you have about 1 to 2 seconds before the suspension failure message comes up. That is your window to see if your suspension is turned on or off. It will turn on and off with the suspension failure messages on the display. You just can’t tell if it’s on or off until you cycled the ignition.

 

Before you change relay, compressor, valve block, make sure to disconnect battery terminal in trunk.
Active electrical connection can mess up ECUs and other controllers in all parts (yes, valve block has controller that activates valves inside).
Bad electrical connection at the valve block is another culprit (the connector attaching to the block.
Bad/loose height sensors are culprits too (attached to shocks), check those.
I would not bother with remanufactured compressors. Often they do **** poor job remanufacturing, and as soon as you put it in, they will blame you for not installing correctly.
Get new one. German make if you cannot get OEM.
Air line connections must be spotless (clean and straight).
All valve block connections must be nice and snug, too loose and air leaks, causing compressor to work all the time (and guess what, yep, it wears out much quicker).
Another tip: if you use regular air, there will be more moisture in the system. That will also contribute to quicker wear.
Dealer charges about 180-200 for nitro fill. You can get a setup from welding store (tank with gauges), plus the adapter mentioned above). But then you will need to have PIWIS2, so you can activate the fill/purge routine with it.
There is a guy on here who added a valve to the tank (drilled, added valve with quick connect), so he can attach to tank directly and fill with nitro. But we have not heard from him again since he said he will do it. This to me means he has nothing to brag about.

Too long to fill/raise car, or not allowed to raise suspension, means one thing...not enough pressure in the tank. This means leaks (usually in shocks/valve block/compressor), or compressor worn out and does not generate pressure quick enough to raise.
Panamera, when good, should raise suspension up within 4 seconds (FSM spec). If it does not, valves are not reacting quick enough and/or pressure in tank is not high enough to raise this quick.

Spend some time sitting by the panamera, while its idling. See if compressor turns on often.
Compressor should run for about a minute or so, then should shut off to cool down. Few minutes. Mine? About 5 minutes.
Then will kick on, run for another 45 seconds or maybe 1 minute. Then shuts off again.
In between it should raise suspension. Suspension raise should be under 4seconds in duration. If takes more, means valve block valves are lazy, indicator of future problems. If raises nice and quick under 4s, all is good.
Compressor should not be kicking on all the time. If you hear it come on often, means there is a leak somewhere. Some leaks you cannot see (especially front shocks, internal leaks).
For those of you who do not have PIWIS2, you will be unable to to repair/diagnostics routine, and wont be able to test individual components.
For you, if you have the yellow chassis fault on cluster, your only choice is swapping parts til you get the right ones. Start with cheapest parts.
Car that does not raise quick is almost always due to dirty valve block. About 150 bucks. Swap that first.
To swap, I use 2 low profile lifts for rear (to lift the back and swap valve block), while at same time I stack up 3 2x4 squares plus the jack point rubber pad, to place under the front jack pad locations, so when I disconnect the lines from valve block, car will rest on these.
I jack up rear end with 2 jacks, slowly, not too high only enough so I can get under and change. I make all valve block connections snug at the block (and clean). Then put all parts back, slowly lower rear making sure that front wood squares fit into the jack pads (this way front wont slam and will be supported by the 2x4 squares + rubber jack point pad.
I dont lower the jacks all the way, only enough to be visibly low, but not all the way down. This allows car to be low, and still be supported. I turn the card on, let idle, I lay down next to rear passenger muffler side and I listen for compressor to kick in.
When it kicks in, it should run no more than a minute or so. Should shut off for about 5 minutes. After initial run, I get up, open/close each door. Make sure no errors are on cluster (any errors will disable suspension so you have to clear them, no other choice - get a tool that can clear errors on panamera).
You turn off car to clear. Ignition on, (not engine), clear all errors in all modules, turn off ignition, remove cables, turn car on (engine). let idle, lay down next to compressor. It should kick in, you should see suspension raise.
If suspension raises slow still, compressor now generating good pressure. Means you need to get a new compressor WITH RELAY. do not do any work with battery connected. DISCONNECT BATT before any component swap.

Hope this helps.