Following work on the front end chassis over the weekend I have the following collection of errors. On the way home of a half hour drive, about 5 minutes from home, these came up. They also come up every time the ignition goes on.

What’s the consensus:

1. Lee’s battery is on its way out - it’s coincidence

2. Lee’s ham-fisted approach has probably unalived a wheel speed sensor

3. Changing the rear drop links, front droplinks and lower arms (including loosening the subframe and now making the car pull left unless the steering is 30degrees right) probably means an ADAS recalibration is needed

Booked in for a few things end of the month (oil service, dsg service, ruddy top mounts, front arb) then straight for 4wa after. Question is, do I need to do anything else as well?

Also tested the battery and was pretty decent SOH and SOC so that doesn’t flag immediately but I could be being naive on that…

Thoughts…?

Edited 15 September15 Sep by travs

Crikey.....it's all broken.

Have u done a wheel alignment after mucking around with ur suspension?

That's rule #1.

As for the other errors - makes no sense, given u checked ur battery n it seems good.

4wa is booked - couldn’t schedule doing the work and getting the alignment done straight after. Minimal miles so I’m not overly worried about it as it’s a known.

But it’s whether there’s a healthy chance that the midalignment would also trigger any or all of these by throwing out ADAS is what I’m curious about. Or whether it’s perhaps a wheel speed sensor as well and it’s multiple causes.

ACC doesn’t work, nor does auto main beam (crystal matrix).

That with the lane assist and dynamic lighting I could believe is ADAS, but the tyre pressure indicator, ESP, Autohold and hill start assist definitely point to a wheel sensor.

Rear traffic alert doesn’t really fit into any of those categories though.

Edited 15 September15 Sep by travs

Did u check the leveling sensors on the front LCAs?

Usually when u remove or lower the LCA, u need to disconnect the leveling sensors so they don't snap or break.

If they do break, or the wrong way round, the suspension (DCC), headlights, ABS and steering will b upset.

There r two on each front LCA, and one on the rear left arm.

Looks like this......

Rear...

Yep, good shout. Had watched lots of YouTube vids and was sensitive to that. Rear didn’t need touching as we changed the droplinks in situ.

Front were unbolted and kept out the way then bolted back in, in the right holes. I can see the headlights self-level when I start the car so figure they’re working and happy too.

Hopefully it's all sorted soon and u can get back to enjoying the car again.

Cheers buddy - will update when I find out more.

Took some pics under the car to look at the rear springs/arb/droplinks:

Driver’s side (no donk sound)

Passenger side (donk sound occasionally):

Is it me or does that passenger side spring look wonky…?

Correct , there is a Problem

Update on this. Rear donk solved. Bottom droplink bolt on the passenger side wasn't tight (the one bottom right of the 2nd pic). Jacked up the hub so all under load and torqued it up properly. Checked the other side which was ok.

As I jacked the hub up and compressed the spring, there was the donk sound but I tried it a couple of times and couldn't see what was moving to make the sound. Did the same after the work was done and silent. Test drive was silent too.

Spring looked fine sat in the cup and looked fine under compression so not sure what was up. One thing sorted.

Work booked for end of next week - helicoil my dogbone mess, front arb switched to H&R, front topmounts, check the wheel speed sensors then 4wa and hopefully that's it...

I swear VAG just cannot leave anything alone.

Latest update. Car’s in to do the front ARB as I can’t be assed to do it given the feedback from the car. H&R one - you take the clamps off, replace the bushes with the H&R ones, then fit it all back.

Garage phones me up and shows me this:

The clamps are welded together. You can’t get the lower section off to replace the bushes in the clamps. It now all comes as one 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by travs

Stupid question but where's the weld as it doesn't appear visible from the photos?

2 hours ago, skomaz said:

Stupid question but where's the weld as it doesn't appear visible from the photos?

...but it does look as if the shells are clamped-together with some type of rivet nut.

2 hours ago, Warrior193 said:

...but it does look as if the shells are clamped-together with some type of rivet nut.

Yes its that but I think there's a spot weld in the mix too.

It may well be in response to the ARB bushes originally being a classic source of creaking in the pre-FL versions. I wonder if putting it all together stops any chance of moving causing noise. H&R just haven't caught up with the design change. I did note that some places like Hardrace or Whiteline include new clamps so I'll mull over the idea of buying replacement clamps and fitting it on an Alu subframe next year some time when finances have recovered a little...