cpaz

Hi everyone, i am new to the MB world, so please forgive my ignorance. i recently purchased a 2006 e500 and i absolutely love the vehicle. the air suspension seems to work fine while driving and raises when i press the button for it to raise, but i have noticed that when i park it at night, in the morning the rear is almost bottomed out. upon starting the vehicle it lifts back up just fine, but i was wondering if that was normal? i was under the impression that it should retain its height a little longer than that without sagging but as i said earlier i am new to all this. any help would be greatly appreciated.

F1Fan

Not normal. Your rear air spring has a slow leak. It will eventually get worse. I recommend the Arnott replacement springs such as A-2724. You might want to check the condition of the rear strut at the same time. If original, there is no way it still works normally after 17 years. It is a common part that tends to fail after 5-7 years of use.

cetialpha5

Or you have a leak somewhere else, either in a line or a fitting. Get it fixed soon. The pump for the air lines isn't supposed to run that often. If you let it go too long, eventually you'll burn out the compressor and then it won't rise anymore and then you'll really be stuck because you can't drive a car that's sitting on the suspension. Arnott is cheaper than OEM and used often for replacement. Used to have a lifetime warranty but they just went to a 2 year warranty although some places like FCPeuro offer a lifetime warranty on them. It's going to be more expensive from them than rockauto though.

nd-photo.nl

Also the relay will burn out together with the pump

cpaz

it seems that both sides in the rear drop evenly. would you still think its the springs? it just seems weird that both sides leak at the same rate.

cetialpha5

It's one air line that airs up both sides. So a leak on any side or anywhere would cause both to go down. You need to have it diagnosed as to whether the leak is in the bladder or some other spot in the air lines.

Heguli

There's a valve for both airbags, Y53/1 and Y54/1. I had issue with the control unit, so I had to manually lift the rear, and with a multimeter I found that there are two valves at the rear, so I could adjust height individually.
My car sat for months because lack of motivation, and rear would sag randomly, seemed to be dependant of the ambient temperature. Last summer it hold height about two months, but as soon the weather got cold, rear would sag within a few days from last time it was driven. Now I've driven it daily, and even at -23°C it would hold just fine.

BlackML550

80% of all airmatic problems are leaking air bags. Soapy water test the only way to find a leak. Raise car to highest point, have the tyres on the ground so as to apply pressure to the bags and spray with soapy water over and over again. Do that for all the components. Leaks can hide and you may not notice them the first time. Until you have included or excluded the airbags as the problem, nothing else really matters.

cpaz

I’ve heard that Arnott air shocks are bad. If I’m not mistaken most of what I’ve read pertains to the front suspension. Do you know if the rear is better quality?

cetialpha5

I'm not sure where you heard that. Maybe it was some other brand. They've been recommended in this forum for years and in the past, they had a lifetime warranty from the manufacturer. But now you'd have to get that from a reseller as a few like FCPEuro are still offering lifetime warranties on all the parts they sell.