Anyone with Accuair please read!

[Audi403]

Im driving a 2012 S4 that I've had air on for about 6 months. Both my front left and front right sags down while being parked. Quite a noticeable amount over an 8 hour period or so. the leaks in the front suspension are coming from the fitting from the front bag to the air line. My system has pretty much been leaking since day one. My installer in calgary told me when it was installed that all air systems are not perfect. However, it was pretty bad so I kept bringing it back and they found a nicked line. That helped a lot when they fixed that but the front has still always sagged a bit. It has recently got worse so I brought it back and they diagnosed these leaks. They claim the plastic fittings and are not sufficient for this setup in our climate and the air fitting being on the moving end of the bag means a lot more of the road bumps are transferred into the fitting and line. They claim in this cold weather in Calgary there is less flex in the line it doesn’t seat against the o-ring in the fitting as it should. They recommended to upgrade to a compression type fitting to eliminate the chance of this leaking again. The shop claimed in order to install these it requires the shock/bag assembly to be removed from the car and have the bag removed from the plate on the shock.

I talked to Accuair and they told me this is just not true. They say the fittings that they use are the same ones used on the air brakes of every heavy duty vehicle on the road today. They don't fail like that unless the internal seal gets damaged during installation, or the air line is cut so short that it is constantly tugging on the fitting. They also tell me the compression type fittings that they are suggesting are in fact the worst fitting for reliability. Accuair told me the only change that some would opt for over the current style fitting would be to do a braided stainless steel leader line that flexes with the air spring and attaches to the side of the frame. They have done this in some cars where they didn't have enough space for the plastic line to flex properly. However they say they dont know of a single B8 kit that isn't using their fitting and plumbing package as designed. In either case - swapping a fitting or going to a stainless leader hose - there is absolutely no reason to remove the strut from the vehicle. The lower plate can be removed from the air spring once the wheel is off the car and you simply RR the fitting with the air bag still on the strut.

So what do you guys think? Do these fittings leak or did my install shop fuck up?

Thanks

[2me]

Find another shop. I'm not familiar with Accuair's products so I'm not sure what fittings are included. I assume they use brass/nickel plated push to lock fitting and not the cheap plastic push to locks. There is always a chance for failure and that fitting is most likely going to need to be replaced if it is leaking. It could also be that the air brake hose is not cut straight at the end. I've never seen a "nicked" line unless it was constantly rubbing on something or some road debris flung up and caught the line. If installed correctly, your system should be leak free. There may be some time needed to track down those slow leaks, but in the end it should be leak free. We always used soapy water solution on all the fittings to see if they were leaking.

I'd also recommend upgrading to the stainless steel leader hose coming off the front struts. Much more durable and forget about the compression fittings, those are a pain. You should be able to swap out the fitting without removing the strut, but sometimes removing the strut makes it easier to access the fitting. Again, I haven't installed a kit on a Audi, only trucks and mostly Magnums and Chargers, so I'm not positive that you don't have to remove the strut.

[John@Roc-Euro]

I would definitely re-seat the fittings, trimming the airline a hair to ensure its cut straight. Going to a compression fitting is the most reliable but most labor intense.

That being said, I've got the basic plastic PTC fittings on my Mk7 and it doesn't leak, and I'm driving it in the wonderful 10*F snowy salty shithole of a Rochester winter.
I redid a line after smooshing around in the snow, because the pressure on the underbody trays pushed my (casually mounted) lines out of alignment.
Since then, zero issues. No issues with the AccuAir management as well, but I've been running a fuse with a +10 higher rating. They're easier to find locally.

Got another shop someplace to check out?

Happy to further troubleshoot with ya!

[Audi403]

Thanks guys! Yes the push to connect fittings supplied from Accuair are a plastic material. The shop says all hose was cut using the proper tool and they are cut straight. I don't think I'll be going back to this shop anymore it's been a pain in the ass since day 1. I have another shop that did a coworkers Accuair on a Lexus and he hasn't had problems so I will give them a go. Maybe I should go to a braided stainless steel leader hose. I'll have to have a chat with this new shop and see what they recommend. If I had a garage to work on the car I'd be trying some of these things myself.

It gets quite a bit colder than that here John. -20 Celsius is pretty common (-5 F) but it's got as cold as -30 once or twice this winter (-22 F). Will be great when I move in my new place this summer and will finally have a garage to park in.

[John@Roc-Euro]

I had some intermittent issues with leaking when the temps hovered just above and just below freezing. Kinda wondered if the plastic has some thermal issues when it makes a drastic shrinking or expansion condition right around that temp.

All summer (not below freezing at all)- never needed to adjust or fill.
Edge of winter - had some leaking issues.
Deep winter (not ~above~ freezing at all)- no need to adjust or fill.

[up]

[Audi403]

I'm having a different shop fix the front fittings later this week, the guy said it was no problem he has spare fittings and will try to figure out why these were leaking.

On another more serious note, the other day when I started driving my compressors were running for probably 5 minutes or so and was having trouble getting the front up to height (I believe frozen condensation was making the valves stick as I hadn't added any airline antifreeze for about 4 weeks and the vehicle is parked outside). It ended up blowing the main 70A fuse. I replaced the fuse today, bled the air out by holding up/down at the same time from inside the car, took off the airline in the trunk and poured anti-freeze into both ends. I reconnected and turned the car on. The compressors kicked in but they aren't lifting up the car? How come I cant raise any of the springs? The controller has power to it inside the vehicle. Auto height settings or manual adjustments don't seem to work. The car has been sitting since Saturday night so maybe a valve or airline froze up? I just put an electric heater in the trunk hoping that makes a difference. Accuair recommended a blow dryer to heat up the valves and air lines. I've been using an electric space heater out there for over an hour. Got the tank warmed up and now I have it under the trunk board trying to warm up the compressors and solenoid/valves. Going to head back out in 20 minutes or so and hit it all with a hair dryer and start it up again and see what happens. If this doesn't work I'm done for the night but would be open to suggestions! Thanks guys

[2me]

If the compressors are staying on and you aren't building any tank pressure there is either a leak somewhere or the compressors are bad. Do you have any guages to tell you tank pressure or pressure in each corner? How many compressors and what type?

Where are you valves located? When you hit the switch for each corner can you hear the valves plunger opening?

[Audi403]

Fixed! The electric heater and hair dryer seemed to do the trick. Not at first, but then i gave the solenoid a couple palm slaps and everything started working. I ran the compressors a few cycles to get that antifreeze I put in all cycled through. Then I used the water trap valve on the tank and was able to get some moisture out. Going to try and get the leaking front fittings fixed this Thursday. Will update after!

[Audi403]

If the compressors are staying on and you aren't building any tank pressure there is either a leak somewhere or the compressors are bad. Do you have any guages to tell you tank pressure or pressure in each corner? How many compressors and what type?

Where are you valves located? When you hit the switch for each corner can you hear the valves plunger opening?

That wasn't the problem. I have two compressors. There is no pressure gauge. Not sure if I could hear the valves when I operated the button because it was from in the car and the solenoid/valves are in the trunk. It was either a frozen line or frozen valves. Using the heat and smacking the solenoid a couple times seemed to free it up. This freezing weather, not garage parking, and having a slight leak in my front fittings is not a good combination. Now that I have the antifreeze in the lines it should be good again. Once those small leaks are fixed the antifreeze should last longer and I wont have to keep adding it as frequently.

[Audi403]

Just an update as promised. Had the lines re-cut for the front two fittings. This held overnight in the shop but once I drove it home it was leaking again. Had the two front fittings replaced completely and no more leaks!