Touareg :: 2004 - Front Left Air Suspension Sitting Lower Than Normal

By way of brief background, I have a 2004 Touareg with 180,000 miles. I recently noticed that the front left air suspension was sitting lower than normal after the truck had been sitting. I discovered that the shock was leaking air and in the subsequent days began getting "Running Gear Workshop" warnings on the MFI. I got both the orange ones and a red one that instructs you to stop immediately. It reset after parking, and restarting. In summary, I knew I had a problem.

Today, I stopped at the dealer and they confirmed that the fitting at the top of the air shock was in deed leaking. Attached is a photograph showing the fitting. It is important that you inspect these fittings ASAP if you have air suspension. There is a TSB that references corrosion and possible failure. See TSB 43 07 01

Initially I was told that the entire air shock would have to be replaced but after doing research and with the assistance of Spockcat, I discovered that the fitting can be replaced assuming the female portion of the connection is not corroded. Replacing the entire air shock assembly is expensive. Apparently, there have been some instances where the fitting has failed during driving and bad things happen.