So my compressor rebuild kit came in so lets hope for the best tomorrow after work to be able to get it on the hoist and do the repair... my kidneys are hoping for good things to happen.

 

Everything went well systems never worked better for me before. just took a little touch of the blue wrench to help free the alumiunum oxidation off the bolts. Now that its all working I'm thinking about making a set of the arms to do the IPP mod to the system

 

good stuff

yes corroded bolts is the biggest issue

glad its all working as it should,

regards

andy

 

So, went out on New Years Eve and noticed my 2004 AR front end was very low. On the 3 mile drive she was pretty bouncy. The green light on ride level was blinking, the indicator light on the dash was solid amber. Shutting off and on did nothing. Took it to the local repair shop (of the 2 available) and he hooked it to a diagnostic tool and told me he "couldn't even get a reading", so he had no idea the problem. He clearly wants nothing to do with further assessment and told me to either get rid of it or take it to the dealer (60 miles away). But then told us to take car home, warm it up in garage, un-hook battery for awhile and perhaps the "module" would reset. This did not work. We jacked the front up and the amber light did go off and the level indicator was on level 2, but pushing up or down did nothing (used to hear a whirring sound when it would adjust height). It's very cold, -15 right now, but even keeping it at 60 degrees for 24 hours made no difference. Of note, the ABS light and the amber blinking suspension light have gone off and on once in awhile when driving but with no noticeable change in ride. So I guess this was an inevitable. I began researching because I refuse to junk this car. I love it and everything else appears to be working just fine.
So, my question; if I invest in the conversion kit (Arnott or Blau) what can I expect labor charges to be and should I be worried that the "diagnostic tool" couldn't even communicate with my car? The Audi dealer quoted me $1500 for the Arnott kit and 8 hours labor at $1000. But that was over the phone. I would need to have the car towed there.
There is no way I would even consider fixing myself (even though I am an avid DIY'er); but my husband is confident in doing routine car repairs ( he is just not available for 2 weeks). Should I wait? Is this conversion something a fairly mechanically inclined person can manage? Or should I just accept the dealer quote and get it done. How bad can a person screw up? Thanks; hope someone reads this since the original post is several years old.

 

I had my Arnott springs replaced (under Warranty) by my local Mechanic for $413 in Aug 2013. I live in the Bay Area, CA so its more expensive here than a lot of places. His hourly rate is >$100.

Also, there are some articles online (Arnotts site, AudiWorld) which detail the installation. THe Arnott one is very good with lots of photos. The one I have is the Gen II AirSprings install. Hope this helps.

 

I have a 2001 allroad and replaced the air bag system with Arnott's cup springs/shocks system. $945.00 plus six hours labor to install. Labor includes wiring an bypass module accessory kit that eliminates any self leveling error codes.
The cup kit was installed last July and the car rides firmer and corners better.
I highly recommend the replacement system.

 

my air ride suspension is doing weird things it will go up to level three but wont stay, it goes back down to level 2 and stays there, and it wont go up to level 4 at all what could be the problem