dunnman99

Hello All,
Well I ended up replacing the front Airmatic due to chaffing and wear on the shocks..GOOD move, turned out one of the bladders was nearly cracked through and cracked badly..Not bad for 120K miles.

I also replaced upper control arms and lower ball joints while I was at it.

Driver's side rear was sagging with normal ride height setting and would leak all the way down within 40 minutes. Held air in the HI ride setting..diagnosed to faulty internal selenoid on normal ride height. No codes in the STAR except "To Low Do Not Drive"

I ordered 2 OEM Bilstien airbags and rear dampers to go ahead and get the complete system replaced.

Worked great for 1000 miles and 60 days...the car rode a bit hard for the last mile to work, but ride height was normal, came out from work and it was flat in the back.

Hooked up my STAR diag computer and manually pumped it up, drivers side pumped up, nothing on the pass rear...then because of the extreme angle the drivers side buckled sideways...oh crap!

Next test the pump runs fine but all I hear is internal clicking on the selenoids and air flow out of the airbag within the upper housing. Both sides failed within 20 minutes of each other.

I flat bed the car to the shop.

So I order a set of Arnotts (the same as the front..now they have rears). Next day air to Guam..3 days later they Install easy, drivers side and pass side both pump up, BUT, a leak is heard under the housing just behind the wiring connector on the pass rear side. I switch the shocks to the opposing sides..same shock leaks...OK bad shock..but am I THAT unlucky?

I start the pump up test on my STAR diag system again, both sides pump up, and I disconnect the electrical connector on the pass side to see if it defaults closed and holds air...NO DICE.

By the way I am looking for codes to pop up...yup codes show a missing shock pass side rear, open circuit..blah blah. But no codes when it is connected and leaking.

So I have now proven the control unit and wiring is good, and I have a bad shock..

How prevalent are defective parts like this? An OEM Bilstien going bad one side followed by the other side within 20 minutes of each other sounds ridiculous...But an Arnott (I love their stuff), going bad out of the box???

Is Karma catching up with me?

Last item. Installing the OEM Bilstiens, the original hose clamp was removed from the remote resevior for ease of installation...Bilstien now states the warranty is now void regardless of the defect or fault The selenoids are completely unreaalted, but they refuse to refund or replace (under warranty) the defective units because
1. the hose clamp was removed,
2. The airshock was completely compressed therefore damaging the air bag's integrity???.

Really?, completely compressed causes damage..that is what happens when it fails completely and utterly.

This is the main reason I went with Arnott again.

Any tips on getting Bilstein to pony up even 50% for the $1500 I just spent on BAD airbags??

I should hear in a couple hours if Arnott will next day air a replacement to me.

Keep you all updated on my progress.

vettdvr

If you remove the line so as to not pull the diff that is their reason. From the engineering perspective many pieces of equipment have designs for lines to be disconnected and not leak. So the new rear air bag system should also be designed that way. This shows the poor design by not having this connection. You are right that there should be no reason that your disconnecting caused the bags to fail but this won't make them warranty because you did remove the line. I would have also. It is also possible the parts were several years old on the shelf and had aged to allow them to crack. IF deflated on installation the bags were pinched due to weight of the car this might also cause them to fail. After reading this now I would support the chassy, let the axle down and make sure new bags dont' get the weight of the car on them and allow the air inflation to raise them enough to remove the jacking system.

dunnman99

Yes you are correct I have installed other systems on other vehicles that have the ability to remove and replace cables to ease installation. Bilstein is not one of them.

The airbag was not compressed or had the weight of the vehicle on it during installation. The vehicle was on a lift suspended to allow for easier installation. The only time that the suspension was completely resting on the airbags was after failure.

The entire installation and all testing was carried out with a STAR diag computer and following the installation instructions minus the dropping of the enitre rear subframe assembly.

UPDATE: Arnott responded with an apology and a replacement airbag sent out immediately via UPS next day service.

Unfortunately, I have heard nothing from Bilstein since I notified them of the testing results and conclusive results that their item failed.

novae500

go over to the w211 amg forum and look for the post from GTR. He just replaced his rears and found out the arnott rear had some quality control issues. He opened up the strut and an o ring was not put together correctly.

dunnman99

I am now running Arnott fronts and rears.

Yes, one of the Arnott rears did have a leak upon arrival, and they sent out a replacement overnight without question.

I do feel that I will get better support from Arnott than Bilstein, and this is all the difference in the world.

Bilstein rears last 1000 miles and 30 days, now they now deny warranty coverage because of the hose clamps on the remote resevoir. They have stopped answering my emails and refered me to the retail shop I bought them from (who will not return my calls or emails).

If the Arnott fails, I feel they will provide better service and replacement service, and the ease of replacement is huge over the Bilsteins...Airline access, side to side interchangeability, and easy of installation and removal is great.

I do have a slight high pitched chirp from my fronts, but they are new and I replaced the upper control arms and lower ball joints when I replaced the shocks, so after 1500 miles the sound should subside...heck my entire suspension minus the rear arms is less than 3 months old and 2000 miles.

Lefix

Glad to hear that the arnotts are working out or you. How much did you pay for the front arnotts?

dunnman99

I bought them back in Feb, and I paid the 100.00 cores. I got them for ~1K for the pair, and I just shipped back the cores for the 200 back. I also paid $220 for the overnight shipping to Guam.... I

I highly recomend the Arnott units, they are definitely worth it.

I got very positive comments from the indie here in Guam as the M/B dealer pullued up stakes back in 2002 so there are a handful of post 2002 M/B's on the island (mine being the only E500 - after 2002).

He said he used to see problems all the time when he had a service center in CA, and the Arnotts build quality and warranty impressed him.

He had the chance to inspect my rears after installation to verify operation and run the STAR diag (as mine is on the fritz and being replaced), and he said the reseviorless design is awesome.

AAlfarah

Hi, I had the front right strut replaced to an arnott (airmatic suspension), after the replacement, we waited a couple of minutes so the pump fills the new strut with air and lowered it, the car looked fine, but as soon as I left the shop, I had the red stop car on dash and both right and left wheels touching the fenders. Please help!!!!

dunnman99

Sounds like an install issue...did you have the shop complete a test drive of the car? An Xentry function test of pump and shocks? Raise and lower the car several times with the button in the center console?

If both sides went down it sounds to be a related issue..While I did get a failed and leaky rear Arnott right out of the box, the likelihood of 2 failed units are low.

Go back and have them diagnose the problem. You have 3 issues to look at:

1. Your pump finally failed, aggravated from the past stress of a leaky shocks.
2. You got 2 failed shocks out of the box.
3. The installer did something wrong..possible airline issue on both shocks.

AAlfarah

how can you tell if the pump is out, the mechanic said he thinks the pump is out, but I can still hear it trying to pump air, I also want to note that I only replaced the right strut only.

dunnman99

You can't tell if the pump is going out by listening to it, you need to run through the Xentry test to test it. My pump ran fine, but did not create enough pressure to inflate a rubber balloon (joke)....

If you replaced one side (sorry for the misread) and both sides went down, then you need to look at whatever is relate between the two. Was the rear lowered for service? The rear may not have been affected because it was not touched.

If the reservoir was vented to complete service this is why it took a little while to lower the front after service. The pump may have inflated the front without the stress of driving, but once you drove it couldn't produce the pressure required.

A leaky strut for too long and a pump older than 50K miles or 8 years old is a good candidate for replacement anyway.

AAlfarah

Thanks dunnman99, I think I will go a head and replace the pump, do you know where can i find instructions on how to replace, I think I'm going to do it mt self since I did something similar on my friend's Audi, but I want to know the instructions like should the battery be unplugged etc...

dunnman99

check this forum or the sister forum benzworld.....you will find a step by step pictorial on replacing it.