joetarin

My 2007 E550 is in the garage and hasn't been driven much at all this winter due to the weather. After it sits idle for about a week I notice the driver rear side lower, and after a few weeks it completely falls below the top of the tire line. This is the only corner it happens on. When I noticed it the last time I went ahead and started the car and it leveled itself off. I took it for a drive and everything seemed normal and I did not get any failure messages on the dash.

I figured I'd let it sit again and see what happens and it seems to have fallen again, but not all the day down. My question: is this normal due to the cold or is that one corner shock failed? should I take it into the shop or just let it go? I have an aftermarket extended warranty so I'm not too worried about it. Just thought I'd ask.

Thanks

WEBSRFR

I think you have an Airmatic leak on that corner. Do you have a warranty? You should have it checked out before it gets worse as it can potentially leave you stranded away from home if it completely fails.

Wow lately we are seeing a new thread about Airmatic failures almost one a day! This seems to be a common failure and with it being such an expensive repair I am growing concerned about keeping my car beyond the warranty period.

joetarin

I have an aftermarket warranty that I bought when I purchased the car. I will have that strut checked out soon.

WEBSRFR

Let us know what you find out!

tashakes

If it is under warranty, they should fix it. My 03 did it through the 4 years I owned it and it never got worse, so I left it alone. I was waiting for the corner to drop in closer time intervals, but it never did. I sold the car to a friend 6 months ago, and it has not gotten any worse. So if you do not have a warranty, just keep an eye on it. I doubt that it can fail from one day to the next, but maybe other members have had different experiences.

Cheers

vettdvr

Interesting you sold the MB and photo shows Audi? Wondering why you didn't buy another MB?

bigben320e

I think you know.

I usually don't like to bet against my cars, but I really am hoping the airmatic stuff happens BEFORE my MB Extended warranty is out on the CLS. My R500 already had it's pump replaced at 20K miles...yep you heard it right. The CLS, nothing yet. I have 18 more months or 30K miles, I think the 18 months will happen first.

What bothers me about MB's are that they have points of failure that disables the use of the car or make them very dangerous (SBC outage). I understand all parts go bad, but there should be safeguards against total failure. JMO.

tashakes

Had an Audi before and absolutely love the interior. I always wanted the A8 and compared it to the S Class and my dough went to Audi. It is truly an amazing car.

vettdvr

I agree, my wife was driving our E500 when the SBC failed. Fortunately she missed the car in front while in traffic. We flat bed the car to the dealer. We refused to drive it.

This was my first MB and I was very disappointed in overall reliability. Always waiting for the next 6000 component failure.

Granted some things appear bullet proof and the engineering on everything I see is excellent. But resolution MUST be made on cronic failure parts as SBC's , Ball Joints, Air springs,shocks, pumps. My last Lincoln TC had air suspension with one failure in 185,000 miles and only $220 for repair to the air suspension system. MB runs into the thousands for same type of failures.

WEBSRFR

I agree. I am really afraid of Airmatic completely failing when I am hundreds of mile away enjoying a trip away from home and completely ruining my trip, and generally making a mess of figuring out where to tow the car ad how to get it fixed. Based on what I have heard this is likely to happen between around 50K - 100K miles. They should have designed a failsafe for this component so you don't have complete failure that can strand you someplace where you might not want to be.

Imagine this happening on a secluded backroad when you have gone camping and on the way back home in a region out of cell-phone range. I can just read the headlines... Mercedes driver dies of starvation and dehydration on backroad due to Airmatic failure On the plus side he apparently died happy enjoying the Harmon Kardon audio system. He left notes to his loved ones and one particular note addressed to MB to please make their cars more reliable.

Of course I am making this more dramatic but you get the point... There's nothing more important to me than safety and reliability.

KEY08

^ For a minute there I thought you said Camping....

WEBSRFR

I did mean to say camping

I sometimes drive to the camp-site so I don't have to carry evertything I need to spend a night or two outdoors...

vettdvr

It may be drama but very real. Consider evacuating 12 hrs before Katrina in stop and go traffic on the evac route with the family and then it fails. Remember failure is only when/where,, not IF. How about on the 25 mile bridge in a rainstorm leaving New Orleans. Reliability is a major safety issue.

MB was sold on safety and on a nice sunny day in populated area airmatic failure isn't a big issue. However............. you write in the rest.

This is why my next car won't have SBC brakes OR Air suspension without some failsafe.

WEBSRFR

I agree.

You probably don't have to worry about SBC as they figured out it was not a good idea to have the breaks of the car dependent upon a ridiculously complicated and error prone breaking system.

With everything I have been reading on the forums I am already dreading the day my Airmatic suspension decides to die. Why can't they design a hybrid suspension system with a backup regular spring/shock for some basic level of suspension if the airmatic fails completely? I hope they figure out something better than what we have now.

kickinitin703

I have a 2007 E550 4matic Sport with 85K. About every night the driver side rear hits the ground. Dealer said the bag needs replacement. Car drives fine and lifts to normal height when turned on. From what you guys have said, I should expect a bag failure while driving? Doesn't sound fun.

vettdvr

You have an Airspring (airbag) failure. About the same mileage mine failed.

joetarin

Mechanic said there is probably a small leak in the airspring on the rear drivers side. This seems VERY common for these airsprings to fail. My car has 85k on it now. Dealer quoted over 2k to fix since they are required to drop the rear subframe to replace. I believe a replacement airspring can be obtained from Arnott and there is a writeup on this board on replacing the airspring without dropping the subframe. I'm not going to do anything on mine yet since it only happens when the car sits idle for over a week. I'll let it completely fail before I replace.

vettdvr

Arnott only has front air struts not the rear air spring. The spring does not have a shock assembly. $2000 sounds cheap for both sides. My guess would be closer to $4000 for both sides. You are right it is very common and Too D!@#$ expensive to repair every 85,000 or so miles.

joetarin

$2000 was just for the one side....

vettdvr

I would caution against doing just one side repair. They are just rubber air bags similar to those used on trucks. Both have the same age/wear. I would suggest replace both. It is possible to make this repair and not pull the differential but you must cut and splice an airline which is not an approved MB method. Doesn't mean it won't work or save you some $$ with an independant doing the work. It just isn't approved. What would be important is that whoever did a splice did a good job to prevent the lines from failing.

jcat

I'd also like to point out that he, too, owned a 2003 E500

vettdvr

I too have a "different" replacement option.

Everyone has been saying I bought first yr out. My response is so what. The 2003-2006 have the same issues.


Fool me once shame on you.. Fool me twice......

WEBSRFR

I have the same issue with my 2007 E550. Isn't it interesting when when you are out of warranty and it is your money the dealer knows exactly what the problem is and the cost to fix it. My car is under warranty and they are refusing to fix this problem under warranty saying they can't replicate it when I have photos documenting this happening. Since it is their money they are saying nothing to see here.. Keep driving until Airmatic completely craps out and you are stranded some place and then we'll fix it if it is not out of warranty by then.

Though it is nice feature, the operation and diagnosis of this Airmatic system is BS as far as I'm concerned. They really should have engineered a better system.

WEBSRFR

PS: My Airmatic fiasco that MB is refusing to fix under warranty...

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...ce-needed.html

vettdvr

What I did was photograph the FSS window saying car too low. Then photographed the car sagging. When I brought the car in for service the alarm was off and car at normal height. But the dated picture of FSS is hard to discount. When I showed the picture I got a different response.