Finding a Leak in Your Airmatic Suspension
Diagnose Your Airmatic Leaks and Learn How to Treat Them Before the Problem Gets Worse
Airmatic suspension has been available on Mercedes-Benz models for a few decades now. The technology has proliferated throughout their lineup. A car fitted with air suspension can ride really nicely, but it is important to keep everything in proper working order, and free of leaks.
A Mercedes with a leaky suspension will lay down on the job. It could leave you stranded when you least expect it. Rubber airbags fatigue (especially in cold climates). Pneumatic lines and fittings corrode over time. And punctures from road debris happen occasionally. This can all cause your car’s suspension to not hold air any longer. When that happens, you need to know how to avoid further damage.
In the video above, this S-Class Benz has a very clear and obvious leak. All four corners of the car are sitting as low as a Houston SLAB-style lowrider. Our friend at MercedesSource indicates that many Mercedes owners will automatically think the problem is in the pump. But he explains that this is faulty thinking.
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Even if your suspension’s pump fails, assuming the system is not leaking, the car’s air springs should stay inflated. However, if you do have a substantial leak in your air suspension, continuing to drive the car can overtax the pump and cause a future failure of that part as well, further exacerbating costs.
The video shows what you should do if your car has this problem (the process can also be extrapolated to any other car with air suspension too). You start by turning on the car and letting the pump run for a couple of minutes. If the car inflates and stays up, you can rule out the pump as any sort of issue. Once inflated, you can turn the car off again and see where the car begins to leak first.
In the video, the rear of the car is back down to the floor just 20 minutes after being fully inflated, while the front remains inflated for the time being. Because of this test, he’s now armed with the knowledge that the leak is most likely in the rear suspension, giving him a place to start. There will be more installments of this video series, so stay tuned for the next step.
Via [MercedesSource]
