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So far things are progressing well. I'll post an update shortly. Any specific leveling or suspension recalibration needed once struts are back on and system filled up?
So far things are progressing well. I'll post an update shortly. Any specific leveling or suspension recalibration needed once struts are back on and system filled up?
I think you will need to run the calibration procedure and input measurements for the heigh - it's somewhere in the PIWIS\iCarScan
Cool stuff.
Document says - compressor with "Air Dryer" - must be silica gel, since the system is closed, there is no way to regenerate it, except to pull it out and stick it into the oven.
So just got the car back and its back to working so far.
Upper strut mount replaced and Nitrogen refill and the system is working quickly again. Goes up and down as it should. There was hardly any Nitrogen in the system to lift it by the time i got it to them.
The strut was isolated and held air for about 24 hours after the replacement, and it was dropping before the replacement. So far I have not heard the same leaking psshhhh noise, however, i'll keep an eye on it.
I did notice that the car is still sitting a little less than .5" inch lower on the right. Same as it was before I took it in. Maybe the extra weight on that side caused the mount / seal to fail over time. They did not do any leveling calibrations and said it was not necessary for the repairs they did. Perhaps they do, or perhaps something mechanically has to be adjusted alignment-wise. I'll call them on Monday to find out.
Attached are the pictures of the mounts. As you can see some slight cracking on the inner seal on the underside. And not too much of a lip to seal around the edge. Cracks don't seem super significant, but perhaps this was the problem, time will tell. This is the same part that Garrett was referring to earlier 958 343 018 and #16, not #6 as stated earlier and perhaps #15 the O ring of sorts was needed as well underneath it.
So, car seems to be sitting a bit more level now. Ironically the FR is little higher at normal setting. Anyhow, i'm taking measurements each time after driving and then in the morning to watch for any inconsistencies or fluctuation. Have not experienced the escaping air noise yet, so i'll chalk this up as fixed at the moment. If anything i'll need to recalibrate the height.
Thank you all for your help and helping solve this issue and sticking with this LONG rambling thread. I would say this is a job someone could definitely do themselves and save a lot of money as its just labor and very little money in parts.
I was trying to look up the rubber part, found the replacement air strut for 340$ instead - https://www.carid.com/2014-volkswage...848535754.html just want to save the link in this tread if someone will need it later
Big shout out to Dean! Thank you for sharing your troubleshooting and findings!
As Dean knows, I had almost the exact same situation. I was almost ready to swap the Rt Front Air Strut, then I chose to pull the Air Spring Valve (958-358-720-00) installed on the outer portion of the strut and noticed the o'ring was flat. Well, without a lot of effort, I replaced the valve and just got it back from the dealership for a bleed and refill of nitrogen and ops cks. All good! You'll notice a few differences between the old and new vlaves like more threads on the new.
So this morning it was on loading level, which was odd because I did not set it on there last night. Same issues on startup. I drove it for awhile and then it decided to work. It works all the way up and down now. Seems like it takes awhile? longer than usual but it works.
perhaps tires are low and when they heated up on driving the car was able to level itself?
I have access to a PIWIS (sp), maybe it threw a fault code?
So far its working, but odd behaviour.
I have a similar problem -- Did your issues re-occur?
Last edited by mblumenberg; 03-31-2019 at 03:02 PM.
FWIW I have seen quite a few passenger front (not sure why its the passenger front but it always is) air springs leaking. I have disassembled these and never been able to see the leak with my own eyes but the issue is always corrected with a new air bellows. Just because it will air up doesn't mean there isn't a small leak. The leaks are very small and they seem only to leak at certain positions or pressures. Its not like you have a giant glaring hole that you would see from a mile away. The only thing that can cause a drop in height is a loss of air.
Just had my 958 front right bag replaced, they identified the leak and swapped the bag unit keeping the original strut.
there was a leak in the internal part of the bag and the compressor was running frequently, also the car was always low on all sides each morning.
i assume it is normal for the compressor to run short periods during use as I am noticing the compressor sounds which I never did recall before.
01-19-2018, 04:29 PM
I assume 1 hour at 300$ for labor?
