dougpark714

Our Airmatic system on our GL seems like a weak point on the car. We first got occasional airmatic malfunction messages which the dealer could not reproduce. To their credit, it went away for a few weeks.

Today, I noticed the front suspension is completely lowered to with 1 finger gap between the fender and tire. Few drops of black fluid on the garage floor which I'm assuming is from airmatic compressor. See picture from my last post.

Car is 2011, 14K miles. I'm not impressed with the airmatic so far. It's a good thing we got the 7/100 extended warranty.

BlownV8

It certainly is the weak spot in our cars much like the weak spot in my CL600 was the ABC suspension. I've had to replace two struts on the GL. One was in the front and one in the rear but both were on the drivers side.

blittle

I agree that it is a weak point.... however.... I owned a 2007 GL and now a 2011 Gl and never had an issue with the suspension. The very nature of the system ( air pressure and rubber bladders ) lends itself to reliability issues.... but like everything else in this world ( regardless of price ) you can get flawless examples or be the one who gets the mistakes. Guess I better go "knock on wood!"

r1_2fast4u

Well said, debris and weather adversly affects the life of the arimatic as well driving conditions.

dougpark714

I did a search and the issues has been around for a while. You would think MB would have fixed it by now. Our car is in california and lightly driven by my wife (no towing, rough terrain, climate, etc).

It's kind of funny to see the GL with the front suspension bottomed out. There's barely a finger gap.

troymir350

I don't know much about the tech details of the components, but I know if something isn't used enough it can erode and not work when called upon. I push the "raise" and "lower" buttons while driving every so often to keep the mechanical components used and lubricated. Might help might not ...... But, it can't hurt.

dougpark714

When the airmatic was working normally, the car would rise and lower during driving.

Car is scheduled to go into the shop tomorrow so let's see what they find.

Jeanreau

Boy... I don't like hearing about this problem... I just bought a GL just for the Airmatic system... wasn't on any ML's... MB better get their act together on this one... This is my 2nd MB and I'm glad that I have never had any problems... But I believe the true character of a company comes out when you have a problem...

GL dougpark714...

BlownV8

Airmatic is available on the ML.

aggst1

According to my SA and the owners manual (I believe) it is not recommended to drive the car raised. You raise it when you need to go through something where clearance is an issue at low speeds, and lower it again.

dougpark714

Car rises and lowers automatically depending on conditions. But honestly, I'm not sure if it's really necessary. Once, our rear door got stuck in our garage since the car lowered after opening the door against the wall. I had to manually raise it to close the door.

Car is in the shop today. The only upside is I got a brand new E class as the loaner with the new nav and active driver seat. The new nav is similar to the C class but seems nicer. The active driver seat is very cool.

Will keep you guys posted.

troymir350

It's not an issue to drive with the airmatic raised, but be mindful of the center of gravity issue. At a certain speed (30 MPH?), the vehicle automatically lowers itself to the correct level depending on the load of the vehicle.

jcbutta

i actually think it is just above 40 mph.

dougpark714

Dealer replaced the airmatic compressor. The airmatic compressor fuse was also blown.

The leak was not related. It came from an engine mount. SA was surprised to see an engine mount leak after only 1 year / 14K miles.

They are keeping the car overnight and will double check the work tomorrow.

r1_2fast4u

Damn not good, luckily i got my two front bags replaced and a front tire for free. The two bags had tears in them which caused the erratic lowering of the vehicle. If the GL has ADS it will automatically lower and higher itself for fuel economy on the high way. If im not mistaken its 55mph when the vehicle will lower a couple of inches. Ive gone 120mph and it goes even lower to reduce drag.

dougpark714

Got the car back. Everything is back to normal.

Replaced airmatic compressor, replaced burnt fuse, pump relay, leaking engine mount, and steering wheel wiring connector (came loose and was causing noise when turning wheel), replaced both batteries on keyless go fobs.

Yikes! On the plus side, the dealer was very detailed and addressed all issues and kept the car an extra day to confirm. Plus, I really enjoyed the active, massage seats on the new E. The seat applies negative, lateral pressure to help support you during hard turns. It's hard to explain but it's nice. The full massage feature (back and neck) is very nice during longer drives. I would get this feature if it becomes available in the future.

I'm only a year into the car but I'm glad I got the 7/100 extended warranty. The airmatic and engine mount issues would have been very, very costly to diagnose and fix out of pocket.