bdzb721

The air line to my driver's side front Airmatic strut cracked apart about 3 inches from where it attaches to the strut. Can I repair this with a high pressure line coupling and if so what is the diameter of the air tubing and where can I buy a coupling?

Does the dealer have a repair kit?

Any other ideas?

Quadcammer

dealer does have repair kit. some good thick vacuum line may work in a pinch.

bdzb721

I'm on a road trip (moving across country) and now I'm stranded

First, let's talk about the "repair kit" from the dealer. The repair kit is just a piece of airmatic line. That's it. Plus, the amount of line they give you is too short to reach anything except MAYBE the passenger front strut...and that's a big MAYBE.

So the only option is a patch job. My first attempt was using some epoxy with a piece of aquarium hose as a connector. Bad ides since 4 hours down the road the aquarium line blew out from the pressure.

Luckily it blew out near a truck stop so I pulled in and bought some compression tape. This helped get me 30 minutes down the road to the next truck stop.

I ended up checking in to a hotel and am researching my options. I will try the vacuum line next IF there is an auto parts store within walking distance. Otherwise it's a Penske truck and a car carrier.

Quadcammer

repair kit should come with a compression fitting to patch the line.

Truck stop may have some line that you can use. For air horns and such.

bdzb721

It did NOT come with a compression fitting.

There is a NAPA on this town that had a fitting. I put it on and now the pump has blown out. The air line popped off the pump and when I unscrewed the nut, a metal tube popped out.

tusabes

Sorry to hear

Why don't you just take it to a mb dealer and get a new pump and line fitted? Pribably gonna cost the same as getting a rental truck and car carrier , plus your car will be fixed

bdzb721

Because I'm moving cross country and don't have time to come back to the west coast to pick up the car. It has high mileage and isn't worth all the money I'm putting into it.

Maybe the dealer will buy it from me?

Fried Chicken

Go to O'Reilly and use some JB Weld + some generic hose.

bdzb721

I ended up checking into a hotel with the intention of waiting until I can rent a Uhaul and car carrier on Monday. When I was putting my luggage in my room, I was telling the housekeeping lady about my car trouble and she tells me there is a NAPA right across the parking lot

So I run over there with some Airmatic line and tell the NAPA guy what happened and ended up using the connector pictured below (cost $8). He didn't have a two way connector, so he melted a piece of the line to form a plug for the third hole.

I drove the rest of the way from Oregon to Texas and made it just fine.

ibeforreal

Outstanding. That is a very long drive.