Hey everyone,

I recently left the car sitting for 3-4 days for the first time since I bought it.

When I went to drive again... the rear of the car was much lower than i've ever seen it. As soon as I started it up I got the message "vehicle rising" as if I had pressed the "extra height" button but it was not enabled... and the car rose to it's regular height.

Is this normal? Or is this a sign I may start seeing more issues with the airmatic? It's under warranty so i'm not hugely concerned I just wanted to know.

I'll add a few pictures of it shortly.

You have a leak issue and it probably is a leak at the air spring(s). I had this problem and it was fixed under warranty.


There should be a TSB for this as it seems the seal design or something is bad and MB re-designed it and this is what the replacement part has.


My car is a 2010 model but I think 2011 still has the same parts from the factory. Have it fixed before the warranty runs out. It will only get worse.

That's what I figured. I have about two and a half years left on my warranty so i'm not in a rush about it but next time it happens i'll bring it in.

Thanks!

I wouldn't freak out about it and sounds like that is your attitude as well. If it took several days to lower it could be caused by several things. Maybe just put your dealer on notice and they can schedule a time to run some tests and check for a leak if necessary.

IIRC the TSB says the car must drop by a certain distance overnight, perhaps 20mm (almost 1 inch) but I am not sure. I've read on here that dealers have kept the cars to check in the morning. Mine has dropped like that after 3-4 days a couple of times. But other times it did not drop by a noticeable amount. I keep a tape measure near the car in the garage in case I notice a drop. It normally drops .5 inch over 48 hours with is within the threshold of the TSB I think. I figured I would have to wait until it gets worse or my warranty gets close to expiring.

I hope it's nothing for your case. I've yet to let my car sit any longer than 24 hours. So I will keep an eye out especially with cold coming which I read can make it drop as well.

Well I live in Miami so don't know how cold it's going to get ... lol

I have a feeling there's something wrong because I usually let the car sit for at least 2 days at a time every week and i've never seen any drop at all. This time I left it from Sunday-Thursday and it dropped this much.

I have over two years left on my warranty so i'm not that upset about it other than having to drive a loaner for however long it takes them to fix it.

You're definitely going to be alright due to your warranty. Me on the other hand not so much, no warranty and no CPO means trying to make it outta this car by next summer and I'll upgrade and make sure I have a warranty.

Did you buy your car used with the CPO warranty or new? If CPO I would have it fixed while the CPO is still in effect.

I bought it used with a CPO warranty for 3 years... I got the car back in June so I have about two and a half years left on CPO.

I may be wrong but the CPO warranty is only one year extra when buying a CPO car. If they gave you three years the other two years are ELW. This is how it used to be but I don't know if the changed it.


Anyway, If I was you I would have it fixed under that first year CPO warranty. They treat CPO and ELW little bit differently.

Like I said earlier, just put your dealer on notice and maybe schedule a time to have it looked at and run some diagnostics. They will check for leaks if need be as well. Air is obviously pumped into the system, but air is also expelled from the system as you hear every day when you exit the car and it gives you the razzberries.

And if the system works correctly neither end of the car falls down no matter how long it sits.


This is a known problem and in my opinion the OP should have it fixed under the one year CPO warranty. It will have to be fixed in any case so why not do it under the "better" warranty?


Under ELW they bring in all sorts of "normal wear and tear". Under CPO they don't even ask pretty much.


It should be covered under ELW too but again, if I had the car I would have it fixed before the CPO runs out.

I purchased an extension to the CPO warranty so I have a 3 year CPO warranty on the car... but I've already notified my dealer and they're looking at the car in a couple weeks.

this happened to my E63, ended up replacing the air baffles

In my car the problem was with the rear air springs. Both were replaced with the new design.

How many miles round about was your car at when this happened? Did you notice while driving as well or just when it was sitting?

I can't remember exactly what miles. Probably around 30 - 35000 miles.


Only noticed it when the car was sitting over night. First it was apparent when car was sitting 3 - 4 days at the airport during my trips. Then it got worse and only took one night at home to drop.


The problem was, like I said earlier, with the rear air springs and after they were changed the car does not drop at all, at least not after sitting 3 weeks at the airport that some of my trips has been.


Did not notice anything while driving.

Thx for the response.

Did you take it in yet?

Yeah, it dropped again this time over night and the car was only sitting about 10-12 hours.

I took it in on Thursday and i'm waiting to hear tomorrow if they found anything yet.

Good luck and keep us in the loop if you don't mind sharing.

I got the car back yesterday. I won't know for sure if it's fixed right away because it took some time to drop the last two times it happened (once 4 days once over night).

The papers I received from them state the following:

VALVE UNIT TEST

ON-BOARD POWER SUPPLY VOLTAGE MAINTAIN

AIR SUSPENSION SYSTEM FOR LEAKS CHECK

VALVE UNIT OF AIR SUSPENSION REMOVE/INSTALL

I'll update the thread in a week or two to confirm if it's fixed!

So, they must have determined the issue was in the valve and not the rear air springs themselves.