Onyxthecat

Hi everyone, I just bought a 2006 E500 wagon 4matic. I drove the car from Oklahoma to New York with no issues except the white logo on the gauges saying visit workshop with the up arrow. Today the front passenger side was slammed and the red alert of the car being to low appeared. From all the countless threads of this issue with the airmatic system, I'm doing the coilover swap. I have installed coilovers before so I have some experience. I'm thinking the BC set(which I don't fully know will work) and the strutmasters set but I can't find any others that will work on a 4matic wagon. If anyone knows what coilovers will work on an 06 E500 4matic wagon, please let me know.

Thanks

kajtek1

How do you plan to adjust wagon level with heavy load?

Onyxthecat

For that I'm not really sure.

Onyxthecat

After doing more research and counting in my free time( which is almost 0 with a 2 year old), I'm going to just replace the front right air shock with an Arnott unit and hope that's all I need. I also ordered an iCarsoft MBII for diagnostics. I did listen to the compressor run last night and I could hear what sounded like a lot of air escaping from the shock while watching it not even raise slightly. I sprayed soapy water on the valve on top of the shock and saw no bubbles so my guess the leak is somewhere else.

kajtek1

If you have original bags being 13 years old, yours hold better than average, what is about 10 years.
Arnott is hard to beat with its lifetime warranty, but I always ask "who's life we are talking about?"
Still your compressor works big overtime now, so have it rebuild at bags replacement. $15 kits on ebay.

Onyxthecat

I'm not sure what you mean about having the compressor rebuilt from ebay? Can you link me to a kit? I'm not driving the car until i fix the leak. Also, I have no idea how old the bags are but they look original, is there a manufacturing date on them?
Thanks!

kajtek1

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-S-...19.m1438.l2649
It is $23 now, but still cheap. I made compressor rebuild pictorial in this section, so check it for guidance.

Onyxthecat

link does not work

bbirdwell

Worked for me. Here's another link to the same page.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/151604325097?rmvSB=true

Onyxthecat

Great thanks, I found the kit that will fit my car. What is the advantage of this over just buying a new compressor?

kajtek1

About 450 bucks.

Strigoi

Do the Arnott replacement or go with coil overs. Don't **** around with some cheap Ebay rebuild kit.

Do you actually haul heavy stuff in your wagon or is it used the same as a sedan would be while looking much better?

My g/f and I went up to Mendocino this weekend for a friend's wedding. She didn't understand why I got all excited over seeing an E63 wagon going the other way on 128 (we were in my E63). They look better, that's why.

Hotsauce55

I'm converting to BC coilovers now but don't have many times per year where I am wickedly loaded up
If I had a wagon & using it to haul around things I'd keep the air & go with Arnott no questions asked
Don't be cheap with these cars, its impossible

If you go to the common maintenance thread in the E55 section, I think someone found a link to a new pump for $1xx.xx

Onyxthecat

I love wagons and I will haul stuff so Arnott air is the way to go. If I have to replace the pump and the rest of the bags with Arnott units I will just going to do the one for now. Thanks for the help guys.

Onyxthecat

UPDATE: I replaced the strut with a new Arnott unit and after I discovered the line was cracked which is why it was leaking. The crack was hiding under a bunch of wiring and I did a temp jb weld fix which is holding fine. I'm glad I did the replacement though and I plan on doing the other side as well. These seem to be original with the car and at 151K it should be done. Now that I know how to do the install and what is involved, the other side should go quickly.