E500 Sport

Are anyone having the problem of the rear air-suspension bottoming out after parking for a few hours in cold weather? My E500 just totally sinks to the bottom after a few hours and raises up once I start up the car. Is this a malfunction?

bmms8

kind of sounds serious, have you had any messags on your mfd? also, how low does it go, sometimes the car will raise and lower after parking it, so thats normal. if it gets to low, i would immediately bring it to the dealer, GL man, hope everything is cool

E500 Sport

No there is no malfuntion signal in the ****pit. It drops to the bottom, so I think it's not just adjustments. But everything comes back to normal once I start back the car, it raises to it's normal level again.

patrick

MB says it may lower 1 mm per 1°C colder during one night standing still. This means if temperature drops from 20°C to 0°C, the car may have 2 centimeters during the night.

There are issues about Airmatic rear shocks that may leak.

mike_fern2001

just had it fixed- due to cold==the shocks crack amd the hydraulic leaks out-it will be ok for a month or so- thne wont work at all

not bashing- this car is a lemon and last MB I buy-
simply stated
rides great
handled great
too many problems "one right after another"
waste of $$$$$

e500 should have been 40k max

bmms8

sorry to hear all your problems, but just because you have problems, doesnt mean the price should drop 16,000.

E500 Sport

mike_fern2001 when you brought in your car to fix the suspension problem. Were there fault codes when they checked your car? My service advisor just called me and said that it's normal for the E class but nonetheless she's going to have someone run the codes on the car. I highly doubt it's normal since the rear of the car sinks all the way to the bottom, with the wheels well within the wheel wells.

Has anyone experience this?

cte430

Why must these service folks constantly say "oh, this is normal"? Do they think we are that stupid. I mean Jesus, the car is not supposed to sit with the wheels inside the wheel well! Or are they just lazy and don't want to look for the problem.

lennylam

I got the same problem as you get. Once you stop the engine, the rear will drop all the way to the bottom without any fault code. I just brought my car to service dept to fix this problem and my car is still in the shop now. Luckily, when I arrived to the dealer, the car was doing the old trick again which dropping all the way down so my service advisor can see it. Basically my service advisor called me and he said they need to replace the rear strut.

I think you need to question your dealer why it happens right now not the first day of your ownership if this is normal.

Lenny

gbrandon

Well, I for one would be HAPPY if the car stayed low after turning it off. I just lowered my E500 and it RAISES after I turn it off and get out of it. Kinda pisses me off. I want it to look the same turned off as it does when its running and in park.


-Geoff

inkm

I think it's normal. I had my car parked more than 3 weeks, and it sank to the bottom and raised up once i started the car. It was cool to see that.

lennylam

Update... I get my car back. They need to replace both rear air springs. They found the air springs were leaking. I don't think it is normal if the car drops to the bottom. The bottom means the tire is sitting in the tire well and you can barely see the top of the rim. Also I experienced the car was pulling to the left when the problem existed. The car goes straight again once they replaced the air springs.

Lenny

rusnakmb

Hi,

The E class airmatic is different system as S class's airmatic. Actually it was a semi-airmatic. Some people experience the airmatic problem, but which it could be fix under warranty.

I am having a little problem with my rear airmatic due the the leak, but I still like my E500 It is not a sport car, but it handles like one!!

E500 Sport

God, I can't believe this. My dealer called me again, trying to tell me that there is nothing wrong with my car. I have been driving this car for 6 months and the suspension never droped like this. In fact this is my second W211, I had a nav replacement car. I have gone through a winter with the old one and I never had this. And they are still trying to tell me that this is normal. Now I have to go in and show them pictures. Can't Mercedes train their techs?

patrick

lennylam

That's good idea to bring the picture to show. Actually I took some pic before I went to dealer. Luckily my car dropped right in front of my service advisor. So I don't need to show those pics. Actually if anyone experience this problem, they should bring the car to service dept as soon as possible. Like my case, the first few days, the car could raise up to normal level when I opened the door. But later on, the car only brought up to normal level when I press the raising car level button 3 to 4 times. So I need to spend at least 5-6 minutes to raise the car level before I can drive.

E500 Sport

I just hope after I show them the pictures they don't keep on insisting that it's normal. They even on a car in the showroom that is having the same problem, and the left front wheel is all bottomed out. Fingers crossed.

Adobe

Can I assume this problem doesn't occur on the S-Class? My wife wants to look at a 2002 S430 with 30K on the clock. Fantastic car but I'm not sure about the 40 foot turning circle.

cunnyfunt

My father's car (E500 Sport) has this exact problem except it is both the front and rear that has sagged. We live in Alberta, Canada, where it's been -30 degree celsius for the last week. This past Tuesday he found his car sagged to the ground when he went to leave for work.

After letting the car warm up, the suspension returned to normal ride height, but he swung by the dealership to double-check just to be safe. He was told not to worry and that it was just due to the extreme cold, and without even having the car looked at, he was sent on his way.

That evening when he went to his car, he found that it was sagged yet again - but this time ALL the way down. The wheels were tucked right up into the wheel-wells to the point where they appeared to have negative camber! After calling roadside assistance to have the car towed, a tow truck was dispatched but the driver refused to touch the car since he fears it will be damaged while being towed.

The car has sat in the parkade since Tuesday (my father has been given a C240 as a loaner in the meantime) and the folks at the dealership said they want to wait until the weather warms up before they attempt to get the car in (personally, I think they are just trying to figure out how the hell they're going to get the car out of a very tight parkade without damaging it).

I'm going to try and get down to the parkade tomorrow to take some pics and I'll post them up as soon as I can. I'll also follow up on what the actual cause of this was once it gets to the dealership.

Sorry for the long first post, but I thought I'd see if this has happened to anyone else.

Cheers!

mike_fern2001

regarding the s500? i would NEVER but a MB again
maybe for a 3 rd car but for my main?
forget it

based on 14 months experience- my god read the posts

E500 Sport

Got a call from my service advisor today, after showing her the pictures (and showing the Service Manager in person the problem) they finally "figured out" that their customer ME wasn't lying and there is "a problem" with my suspension. But they need another 2 weeks before they can get the parts in. Then I told her to fix the other problems that i have had for the past six months, she can only said our techs couldn't find the problem? Didn't she learn anything in the past few days? Your tech didn't find a problem with my shocks right, wtf happen now eh? If your tech couldn't find a problem doens't mean it's not there!!! It just means that you and your people are incompetent. I would rather they call and tell me we are too stupid to diagnose your car than implying that I"m lying and there is nothing wrong with it.

Be warned, if you can help it never bring your car to MB Manhattan, I have owned many cars in my life and never had I have such crappy service.

michael10128

i think someone posted earlier about a "sleep mode" for the car..are you sure that is not it?

lennylam

Update... The problem is coming back and this time is getting worst. The car was dropping to the bottom while I was driving. It feels like ride the little boat on the rough sea. I believe the car tries to bring back up to the level and then the suspension just drops right after getting to the normal level. This time I think not only the suspension getting bad - also the plastic cover inside the fender is knocked out.

Anyway, I don't think E500 Sport and my car are in the sleep mode. The car should not go sleep while I was driving. :p

E500 Sport

Please keep us posted on what the dealer says. They have just finished replacing my shocks and they will be replacing my Nav head unit tomorrow due to problems with the cd player. I hope my suspension will be normal after that.

Y2KE320

Wow, I thought about buying a preowned E500 Sport but after reading about the suspension problems, now I know why there are so many low mileage E500's out there. Gee, I should keep what I've got.