It's my turn now. The front end (both sides) of my 2010 E550 (w/o 4matic) just sank after two days. But sometimes they can stay for 5 days without dropping at all. No red color message on the dashboard. When I started the car it just said "vehicle is rising" in normal white color font. Where should I start with diagnoistic? Is it because of the both leaking struts? Or the distribution valve block?
I looked up Arnott's website but they only carry the front struts for the 4matic version...are there any alternatives on the market? Thanks a lot!

 

Sounds like your compressor works overtime trying to compensate for leak.
Drive with it few days and you will need new compressor as well.
Scanning the car could give extra info.

 

Likely the valve body, especially if the fronts are at the same level, Arnott makes a great upgraded strut and rebuilds OEM struts, I have used both and like the upgraded strut better, it's less "sloppy" You can remove the valve body and clean it/rebuild it, this worked for me for a while but I eventually got a new one

 

It is hard to tell from the pictures if both sides went down exactly the same. Also it matters in what mode you left the springs when you parked. If the sides went down the same amount then it points to the valve block like pierrejoliat said, but there is a simple way to troubleshoot this and a scanner will not help a bit. I have one quite good one but all it found was trouble codes saying the suspension went below the limit, which you could see by just looking at the car and it did once also find a trouble code saying the system is not air tight...yeah...

I had the issue where the car seemingly leaked if I left it in Sports mode but the car stayed up if I left it in Comfort mode or in the raised position. The fact was that when I left it in Sports the whole front went down because there was not enough spring length to develop enough pressure in the good spring to keep the front up. In comfort mode the springs are long enough so that when one leaks the healthy one is able to keep the car from going all the way down and it looked like it was not leaking when I left it in Comfort.

The way to troubleshoot this is to park the car in Comfort mode or in the raised position and after an hour or so measure each fender distance to the ground. Then in the morning before touching the car or even bringing the key close to the car measure the fender distances again. My car sometimes gives a small hissing sound when I walk to the car not even touching it yet so it is better to leave the key far enough from the car so the car does not do anything for the springs before you measure it.

If you find one of the springs went down more than the other then that one is the leaking one. It will also make same side rear go down slightly with it.

Of course, you could have a valve block issue as your car is or is nearing 10 years old. I changed my valve block as it looked like leak was random but the valves were fine. I was just hoping it would not be the strut and invested to the valves as it is a mechanical part and has life for wear at some point. but there was nothing wrong with the valve block that cost $380 from the dealer. Now it is new in my car for another 10 years...

I tried to get Arnott air struts thru NAPA who sells them if available. They contacted Arnott and the part is in back order with no time estimates when it would be available.

I bought both front air struts from FCP EURO for about $2200. Installed myself. The job is very easy, a lot easier than you would first think. There is an excellent video in utube for this.

The first one took about two hours and in this time is included two trips to AutoZone 3 miles away to get tools that I needed. The second one took an hour.

 

Good advice! I got the new design of struts from Arnott, they were 350 each, I have used both the rebuilt Benz struts and the Arnott re-engineered ones, I like those better. I replaced air suspension parts on both my past S-Class cars, it's a pain to figure out what is going on but worth the ride quality, if you drove one with and without , you would immediately know which one you want. If you do need struts, remember to do both sides.
Also be careful measuring, if the car is not on level ground it will self-level and the measurements will be different at each corner. Usually when a strut or valve body goes bad it over-rus the compressor, so it's usually a good idea to plan on replacing that too.

 

I would have bought Arnott struts but they were not available and factory did not know when they would be.

I did not know about this FCP Euro before but thru them I got them struts and they look like they came from the factory in Spain. Labeling that is new on them says so and this makes me happy as for me it means it is a new or as good as new part. I have read somewhere that Arnott or someone else rebuilding these do not rebuild the shock part of it. Hope this is not true.

Anyway, the new struts are awesome. Made a big difference how the car handles and now I can really feel the difference between Sports and Comfort modes. And I did not replace my rear shocks yet, which is next on my list.

And that stupid soft clunking sound from the front is gone!!!

 

Great news, Arnott definitely replaces the gas shocks.

 

Gas? You sure they are gas? Normally shocks are hydraulic oil filled. There may be some gas component on this but for dampening you need media that does not compress and make another spring.

 

Most high end shocks and struts are a combination of oil and nitrogen

 

Thanks for your detailed response. I normally leave my car in Sport mode, and I did find the driver side goes down a bit more than the passenger side. I will try to leave it at Comfort mode today after I get home. I plugged in the iCarSoft and the fault code is "The Left (& Right) front vehicle level is outside the tolerance. There is a signal below the permissible limit value/"
FCP has the valve body for $320, but I can find $100 ish ones on Amazon and 1AAuto...which vendor should I get it from?
Arnott only carries the front struts for the 4 matic mode, not the RWD...but I found the vendor who rebuilds them on ebay...should I give them a try? Thanks again.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-E-...sAAOSwvnddL2vj

 

You are getting the exact same trouble code with your iCarsoft as I did. You found the driver side front go down more than passenger side so you found the problem, same as mine was. You could change the valve block but I bet it really is the leaking air strut. For the valve I would buy it from the dealer or FCP Euro. Both of these I believe are the OEM parts. I would not go with cheap Amazon or other low cost seller as it probably is not a new part.

For the air struts get the FCP Euro parts. If you find a cheap re-built part for $300-$500 they only replaced the air spring part. The chock was not re-built and is toast.

 

Arrie, Arnott completely rebuilds the strut and shock, they rebuild OEM struts and make a re-engineered strut that is better than OEM. I have purchased 12 struts for 3 cars and never had a problem, Still have two of the three cars I put them on and they are working great, If you choose to pay 2 grand for two struts that's up to you. They are not cheap knock-offs ,but high quality replacements for 300-350 each

 

Like I said in an earlier post I tried to get Arnott struts but they are not available and I do think Arnott makes a good part. If I remember correctly the Arnott struts would have been about $800/piece so not that cheap either. Seems like there are much lower cost parts for other models than 2010-2011 E-class.

I just read someone else mention that there are some other companies re-building these but only replace the air spring part. Perhaps it was the guy in the u-tube film that did an excellent job filming the job for a 2011 E550 that is identical with my car.

 

Hi Arrie, are you referring to this video? Thanks.

 

[QUOTE=Arrie;7863010]Like I said in an earlier post I tried to get Arnott struts but they are not available and I do think Arnott makes a good part. If I remember correctly the Arnott struts would have been about $800/piece so not that cheap either. Seems like there are much lower cost parts for other models than 2010-2011 E-class.

I followed your advise and left the car in Comfort mode, the car hasn't sunk so far but as you mentioned, the driver side still sits lower than the passenger side, which should be the evidence that the strut on driver side is leaking. I called the rebuild master that I mentioned earlier, they admitted that they only rebuild the air bag part. They told me the hydraulic part can last a lot longer than the air bag part. I'm gonna give them a try and report back to you guys. Thank you all for all your help. I do appreciate it!

 

[QUOTE=apachecai;7863806]So,

if you only work on that one on left then then the right thing to do is not to fix the hydraulic part as that is the shock. If you fixed that on one side only it would put the car off balance that could present a problem in some driving situation.

Replacing the air spring is just that, i.e. replacing the spring without changing the dampening.

Perhaps your shocks are still ok. mine were quite gone, which I could test after removing the old ones. They were very easy to press down comparing to the new ones.

I also had the soft clunking in the front when driving over bumps, which comes from the worn out shock part. That is totally gone now.

Good of luck with the fix. Let us know how it works.

 

[QUOTE=Arrie;7863962]Can you share with me on how to disconnect the black air tube that was inserted into the fitting on top of the air strut (part 6 in picture)? In other words, separating part #6 from top of part #4. The guy in the video skipped that part. Thanks again.

 

Read attachments.

 

[QUOTE=apachecai;7864892]I left the white air supply line coming from the valve block connected and unscrew the connection on top of the strut. Then to install on the new strut I moved the nut on the coiled tube back and cut the tube behind the old compression ring with a box cutter and, of course, removed the old nut. I would not use pliers like he does on that video as pliers squeeze the line to off shape. You can make better straight cut with a sharp box cutter. Then inset the freshly cut line to the new fitting on the new strut and make sure the fitting holds the tube by pulling it out with some force.

 

Does your new strut have a new fitting design, I just finished removing my strut and only saw the threads inside the top of the strut (see pictures)...it doesn't look like I can insert the tube into that hole. After I get my rebuilt ones back, should I try your way (remove old nut then insert the tube)? or just screw everything back together like the way it was? If it's the later one, should I buy new fittings? Thanks.

 

Ok,

so you remove the strut and will send it out for a rebuild, right?

I bought the struts from FCP Euro and they came with the new brass fitting connection on them. I don’t know how your rebuilder does this. Do they send it back with a new brass fitting or not? If not then do not cut the line. Use the old fitting you unscrewed with the rebuild one when it comes back.

 

I received and installed the rebuilt struts from RMT yesterday. I think they have painted the struts so they look like new. The cover boots were also replaced. It's working fine so far. Will let the car sit for a week to observe if there's any leak. The instruction from RMT advised that I have to perform a air suspension calibration after the installation. Is it really necessary?

 

I don’t think you need calibration as you did not touch the level sensors. I did not need it. Everything works fine after just replacing the springs.