Hello! So I have a 2011 Mercedes E550 4MATIC. Her name is Angelica and she is beautiful. So Angelica isn’t as young as she once was, I got her August of 2020, and she’s taken me wherever I want with no issues. However, recently there have been a few hiccups. So the air suspension has been telling me “Malfunction” with the symbol of the air suspension on the instrument cluster. It doesn’t impact performance and the ride usually still feels smooth, but I notice sometimes when I go to start her, the back end is sagged down and it looks like a clapped out 350z. Starting the car makes the Airmatic system kick in and it rises. But more recently I can tell that the malfunction message pops up almost immediately and if I drive for too long, the back lowers all the way and I feel ALL of the bumps on the road. Basically I’m wondering what the heck I can do to tackle this problem. Thank you all for reading, have a blessed day.

 

Angelica shows how many miles? Any records of prior Airmatic service?
sounds like you either have a line leak or one of your rear air springs has failed. There are a ton of threads on this subject if you search.

 

Angelica has 148,337 on the dash (well passed her prime) and no records of prior service to airmatic. The only weird thing is that for the most part it works, it just decides not to only sometimes. Thank you for your insight!

 

On 11 th year with suspension bags you are on borrowed time.
You have some leaks and as the results you are killing the compressor by working it on overtime.
It is only matter of time, when compressor will not be able to keep up.
Do bags inspections, but if they are in fact original, buy new set. From what I remember you have choice of AE or Arnot.
For compressor - rebuild kits on ebay were about $30.and add air filter to the kit.
Drier granules can be recycled in the oven.

 

Okay, thank you very much! This has been very helpful, I haven’t thought about looking at or posting to forums before. But it’s been a good experience, thank you for the help again!

 

Angelica’s tail is sagging so you need to give her some Botox, i.e. new air springs in the rear and soon also the front struts that will be way more costly than rear.

I replaced mine with Arnott by myself at around 10 years and if you are diy person I recommend doing that.

You can also ask. Guinness Book of Records for a spot in their book as going this long with original air springs is a record!!

 

Arnot is cheaper aftermarket, but main issue is that their rear bags for sedans are deleting air reservoirs.
Members who install them claim there is no difference in handling, but that is defying laws of physics.
More cushion air has to make for softer ride.

 

That doesn't apply to the W212... different design, your thinking W211. The W212 air springs never had expansion reservoirs from the factory. Arnotts are a near identical copy of the factory springs.

 

+1.

Have done Arnotts to my car.

 

Do the ride height buttons in the car maintain functionality with arnotts? Im hearing yes and no.

 

Yes.

Car ride height comes from the level sensors. It does not matter who made the air spring.