I really wish that benz would do a major recall on the airmatic suspension, there are so many folks on this forum alone as well as the second benz forum that I am a member of that end up spending major bucks on the suspensions of these newer mercedes cars, my car is a 2003 with only 63k miles, and i had a front air spring go out, my car has been sitting for the last 3 weeks as i get the "Car to low to drive" error on the dashboard, my car is now out of warranty and the estimated repair is $1400.00 for one airspring (and of course it is a dealer only part), I have been waiting to scrape up the money for that front airspring repair, now the whole damn car is sitting dumped to the ground, it is so low I cannot look underneath the car, talk about frustration....Benz just aint what they used to be, i would have never expected such problems from a newer car with low miles to have such costly repairs...a huge disappointment i tell you....So any suggestions and or help would be greatly appreciated, suggestions on fixes, etc, etc, etc.,....

Rob C
510 472-9091

 

The "moral" might be for others contemplating a car with Airmatic to be sure they get an extended warranty. It will probably cost more than $1400.

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles. the airmatic is the sole reason i got the extended warranty. Not engine, not trans, nothing else, just the airmatic. VRP Tuning was talking about a coilover conversion for the airmatic but no luck yet...my only sugestion would be to keep an eye out on ebay or a mercedes salvage yard. There must be units like yours out there. Good luck.

 

or buying a car you can afford to repair? Prolly the better moral...

No offense Rob but that wouldnt be a gamble I would want to take myself, I would have either CPO'd it or gotten rid of it when it hit 50k miles in case I had to pay to repair something... while the car isnt worth a lot, its worth more in parts... IE upwards of 10k on JUST suspension

 

I was going to say that, but deferred.

Any 211 owner--airmatic or not--probably ought to be prepared for a $1500 repair at any moment.

 

Or more correctly, at least $1500.00 a year in repairs.

 

Rob, Sorry to hear about your strut. I'm not going to tell you all about the coulda, woulda or shoulda's. Your strut is out & you need advise on how to deal with it.

That being said. When my r/f air strut collapsed, I changed it my self. I spent $1000 on the new OEM replacement & an hour in the wheel-well. The job it's self was not too complicated basically plug & play. If you are interested, I can give you the step by step. Really…give it a look.

I realize some people may not have the DIY skills, so if it's not an option keep saving.

Good luck...

 

Thanks folks for the reply's the good and bad..... it is easy to say yea spend $4000.00 to have your warranty extended, and of course while the car was under warranty the warranty was unused for any major issues with the car, so it is like saying go buy an extended warranty on the T.V's, Sony playstations and essentially any and everything that you buy these days as companies have no need to build quality products as they make millions extra on counting on their product to fail and break down in order to sell extended warranties, I sold warranties in the past and most warranties go unused and means extra money for most companies, and heaven forbid you are stuck with that product without a warranty......

 

or buying a car you can afford to repair? Prolly the better moral...

No offense Rob but that wouldnt be a gamble I would want to take myself, I would have either CPO'd it or gotten rid of it when it hit 50k miles in case I had to pay to repair something... while the car isnt worth a lot, its worth more in parts... IE upwards of 10k on JUST suspension



affordability is not the issue here reliability of the airmatic system is the issue here, these cars are prone to Airmatic suspension problems from the C Class sport models to the E and S classes as well, I can afford the car and will fix the car, however that doesn't negate the fact that there will be most or all people that have the Airmatic suspensions will at some point have costly repairs, warranty or not, there is the inconvience of being at a repair facility with money in hand or the warranty covering the cost, this is still not acceptable to have so many of these cars to have these issues, it is not a consumers fault for buying a mercedes product....the fact is that the suspension systems are faulty when you have so many mass failures....

 

I keep emphasizing to have a "$2-$3K MB repair/maint" savings account. Keep it in a portfolio higher than today's bank rates. Earn interest on your money which is still yours, rather than pay up now for an extended warranty which you may not use. '03-'04 E-Class seemed to have glitches which should all be covered and repaired under warranty. (Airmatic is NOT a glitch according to MB). So keep a savings acct. for that and any other issue - which will prolly be electronic, cuz from my readings here, the engine, tranny (assuming the build date is after 9/03 OR has an updated radiator) are bulletproof. Just my .02

 

there is no issue with the airmatic system here... shocks are a WEAR item... it wore out... an airmatic suspension system isnt designed to live for ever... you see those lincoln continentals draggin ***? its cause the rear air ride parts have worn out. you ever see a RANGE ROVER sitting so low its dragging on the ground? Its air suspension system WORE OUT...

A benz is a car, cars get driven, parts fail because of being driven... did yours fail prematurely? maybe... but I dont know how you drive... you could have something as simple as a lose hose leaking air out of that shock...

Telling MB to recall because you blew a shock is absolutely ABSURD... I have airmatic in my E500, I have driven my car hard... IF it was going to fail because of design flaw, it would have happened already... SBC brakes failed because of design flaw... they were recalled. There was a recall for the AC system smelling funky because of stagnant water vapors... design flaw...your shock blowing at 60k miles was wear and tear, not design flaw

If you need to "scrape up" to make the repair, you cant afford your car... otherwise your car would be on the road right now... Is it inconvenient? yes, is it the life of owning an expensive luxury car with out warranty? You bet

A car is not a TV, or a playstation... the gamble you take there is maybe a couple thousand... the gamble on your e class is a lot higher... My family is in the repair business and Ive sold warranties in the past as well... for the few dollars they cost extra, I'll take the peace of mind, just read the fine print on them to understand what you are getting... on a car, especially on an expensive car, its a NO brainer

 

The term is "planned obsolescence" and it's not new at all.
I'll go back to lurking now...

FIRST POST!!
G.

 

No its a wear part. It has seals and seals break. You purchased a E320 with the optional air suspension and now you need to be ready to pay for it. I have a 2004 SL55 and I would not so much as EVER think of owning it out of warranty. I have my 7 year 100k miles of protection and I will sell that car with a year or more left on the warranty because its worthless after that point.

Saying the whole system is faulty is just false however. I have had an E320 with airmatic, an E500 and an E55. Never once had a shock fail at all. Nerver a bit of sagging or any failed pumps. I think if it were such a junk pile of a system one of my 3+ W211 cars would have had it. I also had a S500 2000 and a R350 with AirMatic and those two worked perfectly! The system is not flawed you just have a suspension leak. Look into a rebuild kit as that could fix the issue and save you money. MB does have a kit and if your seal is the problem that will likely resolve the issue.

Your comment about not needing a warranty is almost amusing since you are sitting here saying the car is broken and you needed to save up cash to fix it. I dont want to seem like I am making an insult I know 1400 is a ton of cash and the economy is really in the tank right now. But a warranty would have covered this. I guarantee you will have 4k in broken parts on the car in the next few years and that warranty will have paid for it self very quickly. Not only do warranties save you money they also make it such that you dont have unexpected out flows of money. That way you don't have to write a check for 2k on a day you might not be ready to do so. Pay more up front for the protection and ease of having the car working all the time. If you have a stash of cash sure a warranty is just a luxury at that point.