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2011 Cayenne Turbo front air suspension dropping overnight

Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2024 9:17 pm
by fpena944
Recently the front struts on our 2011 turbo Cayenne started making noise so we replaced them and filled up the accumulator with regular compressed air. 

The vehicle would lower and raise but overnight would end up with the new struts pretty much bottomed out. However once I would start driving it would go back up to normal level and stay that way until stopped for several hours. 

Now what is unusual is that the old struts would never exhibit this condition yet the whole front end is low with the new struts. 

So I took it to our indy mechanic and he discovered the rears are also leaking. They did fill up the accumulator with nitrogen but we decided to take the car home and install the rears ourselves. So those were replaced today and everything appeared to be fine. 

This was earlier today so now about 8 hours later my fronts are once again dropping. The rears are fine and again if I tell the car to raise or lower I get no errors and it works just fine. But somewhere within this system there is something letting the air escape from just the front struts. 

Note this is not just one side drooping, it is both front struts. So this gives me the impression that it's not a leak at the individual unit but something affecting that whole front half. 

Any ideas? It all works perfectly but just doesn't maintain height overnight. This is confusing considering all four corners are now brand new units. 

​​​​​​​Thanks in advance!

Re: 2011 Cayenne Turbo front air suspension dropping overnight

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2024 12:05 am
by XR4Tim
I'd suspect a leak at the valve block and/or a faulty valve (could be internally leaking back to the accumulator).
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Re: 2011 Cayenne Turbo front air suspension dropping overnight

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2024 5:03 am
by fpena944
XR4Tim wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2024 12:05 am I'd suspect a leak at the valve block and/or a faulty valve (could be internally leaking back to the accumulator).
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But this would appear then after replacement of the front? Because before then this is something that never happened. Also doesn't the valve block control each strut independently? Would two end up being faulty at the same time?

Thankfully when you open the door the car does lift itself back up.

Re: 2011 Cayenne Turbo front air suspension dropping overnight

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2024 9:34 am
by XR4Tim
Sorry Fernando, I missed that the struts weren't leaking before they were replaced. I would check the air line connections at the struts. Check that the plastic lines are in all the way, and spray the connections with soapy water and see if bubbles form after you let it sit for a while.
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Re: 2011 Cayenne Turbo front air suspension dropping overnight

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2024 11:09 am
by N_Jay
Find the leak and fix it before you have to buy a new pump.

(From experience)

Re: 2011 Cayenne Turbo front air suspension dropping overnight

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2024 6:36 am
by fpena944
N_Jay wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2024 11:09 am Find the leak and fix it before you have to buy a new pump.

(From experience)
Whatever leak it is, it's not in danger of burning out the air compressor quite yet. But you're right, I know we need to diagnose it sooner rather than later!

Re: 2011 Cayenne Turbo front air suspension dropping overnight

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2024 12:32 pm
by N_Jay
fpena944 wrote: Fri Sep 20, 2024 6:36 am
N_Jay wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2024 11:09 am Find the leak and fix it before you have to buy a new pump.

(From experience)
Whatever leak it is, it's not in danger of burning out the air compressor quite yet. But you're right, I know we need to diagnose it sooner rather than later!
How do you know?