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I’m replacing my defective RMT air Struts due to a defective lower half of the strut. My struts now are currently good too half not leaking air, but I’m replacing the entire strut with FVD Brombacher air struts. Will I need to add air to the new ones?
Thanks
Originally Posted by ciaka
After doing some work on my PTT, i put this DIY together to help others replace their own shocks.
Ended up replacing both front shocks. Then, one of replaced shocks was not working.
Once I figured that out (info about how to diagnose is in the air suspension info thread),
company overnighted another replacement (I pre paid, and they refund money afterwards -takes about 2 weeks after they get shock back).
Doing first shock replacement took about 4 hours with pics, breaks, etc.
Doing subsequent shock replacements (other side and replace of defective shock), took about 1.5 hrs including wheel attach.
My advice, do not be intimidated. Not difficult. Keep your eyes on the prize - new car with new suspension working perfect.
Then do the job. You will enjoy lots of money saved.
People take their cars to dealer to have this done, have posted bills of $9000 plus tax for replacing front air shocks.
My price for doing this myself:
- $375 for driver shock (pre paid 525, got refund $150 on used core charge)
- $375 for passenger shock (again pre paid 525 and got 10 back after I sent old core back)
- $120 for valve block (decided to replace as Durametric does not have capability to test individual valves to see which is broken or not.
- About 12 hours of time spread over few days (you can do the whole thing in one weekend no problem - one day). Of course,
my time included taking pics, organizing things, doing troubleshooting so I can have proper write up about air suspension (separate thread - search for air suspension info), etc.
Your time will be likely about 8 to 10 hours max, since you already have this all laid out to follow.
Money wise, I spent $870. Compared to $9000 bill, that is $8,130 SAVINGS!!! - Before tax!
Think what you can do with that money!! Of course, if you feel you have too much after DIY, you can paypal me some - I will not complain.
REPLACEMENT PARTS I USED:
Rebuild Master Tech shocks. Look online, make sure you get the proper year and model and side you need.
Not sure if there are other vendors doing this. Cayennes used to have Arnott, but checking I did not see any Panamera air shocks.
OTHER INFO:
While you are doing this work, it is good to think ahead, if you need any other work that will save lots of time, if done at same time as air shock replacement.
- Upper control arms (see my DIY) - if you have clunking over bumps, these are likely culprits
- Lower control arms (see my DIY) - if you have clunking these can be reason too
- Sway bar bushings - if you have squeaking coming from car over bumps these are likely the reason. You can lube them to see if helps, but once all this stuff is being worked on, bushings are just a small addition
- Other brake jobs, etc in the area.
Do not rush, take time to do correctly. Hope this helps you fine folks. Follow each pic as it is numbered. Last pic has hardware torque info.
lol on the quote.
As to air, if you are replacing with air shocks, they all need air to function right. So assuming they fit the car and are connected ok, after you replace, do not put car all the way down (can damage internal of shock), and start car to let compressor work for a while, and let car fill shocks with air (do this by supporting car on lifts slightly, enough not to be slammed down, but enough to appear to be lower than regular height - that is why you measure how high chassis is before you begin).
After while, compressor will make air for the air tank and ecu will put air into shocks and you will see them lift the car off the jacks and you are done then.
Originally Posted by PanameraGuy
I’m replacing my defective RMT air Struts due to a defective lower half of the strut. My struts now are currently good too half not leaking air, but I’m replacing the entire strut with FVD Brombacher air struts. Will I need to add air to the new ones?
Thanks
I had the nightmare with RMT and it sounds like you may have issues with your control arms if knocking sound, but I did have multiple issues with RMT and would never recommend them
RMT shipped my independent shop a set of struts obviously from someone else’s vehicle in exchange once installed mine were shipped back to RMT ( core exchange) I apparently got someone’s struts that have issues with the lower half.
Well boys.... Fresh from Germany via FVD Brombacher and the lovely Rhonda. It "only" took a month haha, but I'm finally going to be able to replace everything; compressor, relay, upper control arms and lastly the air struts.
As you can see from the photos below, I double checked the areas others have reported having issues with. They look great and were packaged incredibly well, like nearly excessive but I'm not complaining because again others have reported damage from shipping.
Me and a friend will tear into it tomorrow afternoon around lunch using this very thread on how to do it, so I'm excited to say the least.
Lastly if any of you are still looking for struts; NEW not remanufactured, please please please do yourselves a favor a call Rhonda. She is everything everyone here has said she is, an absolute pleasure to work with, professional, and all around fantastic. That and she was able to work out a very good discounted price for me. I asked if she was OK with me sharing that price with you all, but she simply asked if I could instead refer any potential buyers to her and she would gladly work something out. What I can say is it was quite significant savings.
Originally got the System Chassis Failure, and compressor overheat code, then the next day the front airbags were flat.
Last night I replaced upper control arms, front bags, compressor AND the damn relay. Followed Ciaka's steps (minus putting some air in the struts themselves because we couldn't find the rubber nipple for the handheld compressor "gun"), used jacks to raise the body so the suspension wasn't bottomed out (extremely low warning) just like his instructions, cleared all codes and when I started it up..... nothing.
The new compressor never, not once kicked on and we've literally been under the rear end with our heads next to it and touching the damn thing to be sure.
1) We (me and a friend) have checked the new 40A relay, by putting a finger on it when starting the car and it does click.
2) We've even swapped in the old relay with the new compressor, same result...nothing
3) I've plugged/unplugged the new compressor 3 times now to be sure it was actually secured.
4) We have reactivated the suspension by holding down the raise button for 10sec.
5) We went back and removed the both airlines going to each strut, and managed to shoot some air in them and reinserted the air line.
After numerous combinations of each, and starting/restarting the car, reclearing the codes, the compressor still won't turn on. Even more ridiculous is the Compressor Overheat code will come up every now and then, which is impossible as we've never once heard it turn on. The only thing the new compressor has done so far is make some faint whirring or clicking noises and I mean my head was right next to it to even hear that, so it's definitely not a case where it turned on and we're confused about if it had or not.
I'm completely at a stand still guys. I have no other ideas as to what it might be.... Actually I'm sitting at Zaxby's which is across the street from Autozone as a last ditch effort to check my battery just in case it somehow went bad while it sat waiting for the struts from Germany. To be fair I've had to put a trickle charger on it twice after it wouldn't start soooo fingers crossed a really wonky battery was the issue .
Darn man, feel for you. Lots of wor.
but look on good side, almost there.
is car by any chance raised too high to make car think suspension is appropriate height?
lower the car gently by an inch or so, maybe 2. Still supporting, press the vfc raise button to ask car to raise.
are there any other suspension errors like extremely low, low, etc? Was old compressor still operational to verify known ok compressor not turning on?
check each electrical connection to sho ks, and to the valve block.
definitely sounds like car not detecting some electrical connections.
Darn man, feel for you. Lots of wor.
but look on good side, almost there.
is car by any chance raised too high to make car think suspension is appropriate height?
lower the car gently by an inch or so, maybe 2. Still supporting, press the vfc raise button to ask car to raise.
are there any other suspension errors like extremely low, low, etc? Was old compressor still operational to verify known ok compressor not turning on?
check each electrical connection to sho ks, and to the valve block.
definitely sounds like car not detecting some electrical connections.
We raised the car just enough to clear any extremely low/low warnings on the dash. Don't know for sure if the old compressor was ever actually broken as the only indication I ever got for it was the Overhead code. But I did swap out the new compressor paired with the old relay and still same results. So neither compressor works. We've checked both strut connections and they seem to be fine, because removing any one of them creates the Chassis System Failure. Without that failure message it sends this connections are good. We haven't checked the block, so I'll do that once I get back with the brand new battery I had to buy because after testing it, it was legit bad.
Also we did check all control arm links to make sure they're good, and we never unplugged the harness from the actual sensor, but I guess I can check them as well. However, they seem to work when we lower the car and get the Extremely Low warning in the dash...
Apologies for the numerous posts but this one is so I can share the best possible news.....
THE CAR IS FIXED!!!
I can't tell you guys how relieved, happy, excited I am that me and my friend were able to fix this damn thing.
After my previous post, we started from scratch again. We checked connections, the valve block, compressor relay, and spent 15min checking every.single. fuse and relay. We found a 40A fuse in the trunk that was popped and to be honest we have no idea when it popped. It may have been popped from the start, no idea.
So long story short, after the fuse was replaced we checked/cleared codes and started the car repeating this process because we kept getting the Chassis System Failure fault still BUT we heard the damn compressor actually working for the first time since it was installed, even if it was for a few seconds until the damn Chassis System Failure fault popped up killing the compressor. A few more starts and the fault cleared, which allowed the compressor to run as it should and eventually supplied enough air to the tank to fill the bags. Eventually the car was at its normal ride height and we could finally take the car off the lift. We drove the car and per other instructions for recalibration, we were also able to use Sport, Sport Plus, and lastly the lift option.
I will eventually take the car to my local Porsche dealer for a full up calibration and nitrogen refill (for peace of mind), but I'm literally getting on a plane tomorrow morning for my PRK surgery scheduled on Wednesday. So when I get back it'll get dialed in.
Lastly I didn't realize the auto down/up feature of the windows... Resets with a new battery? So there's a few little things I need to reset, like memory seats.
Huge thanks to Ciaka, and Rhonda. Seriously anyone looking to tackle this, this is your resource.
Ciaka, did I read in another of your posts that you may have the instructions/pictures on how to replace the lower control arms? I’ve gotten pretty lucky these past months with 3rd party extended warranty and they just approved my repairs to replace the upper control arms and sway bar bushings (along w air compressor and front air shocks they paid 2-3 months ago)! However, they don’t think lower control arms require replacement. I may have to do these myself.
Great, excellent news.
After you come back you can enjoy your super eyes, to see your fully functional super car.
Thank you for all your help especially the lengthy private messages man seriously, and I can't wait to drive it again. God I missed it haha.
Originally Posted by panatela
ElShiz, congratulations on your successful fix. I feel your pain as I was dealing with this just a few months ago.
Thanks man, I've done plenty of maintenance on my cars, but I've never had to troubleshoot over and over like this before. Hell my friend could tell I was this || close to calling it quits a few times, but he would suggest something we could check. It all paid off.
Seriously guys, check all associated PSM fuses and relays. Had we had a list of them and their locations and checked them periodically, I'm certain we would've had it on the road sooner than the 20+ hrs it took.
