usman.naeem12

Hey guys,

I'm new to the MB Forums, and a proud MB owner. I just purchased a GL550 2009, and I'm loving the car, ride is excellent, the power (ouuuf) etc. There's so much technology in the car your left puzzled at many points. I was driving the beast and I drive quite civilized, and its been only about 4 days of owning the car. I saw the message on the head speedometer saying 'Malfunction' with the airmatic sign. I'm going to be quite honest, I had a panic attack. The car seems to be perfectly fine when looking at the ride height visually. There's no slants of one side being lopped sided at all. I've owned a 2007 GL450 couple years back, and we needed to do a replacement on one of the sides due to the airmatic leak/fail, and it was visually noticeable on the front passenger side. But this GL550 I own now, isnt showing any signs of that. Keep in mind, I was covered with warranty back in the day with my 07'. This 09' I bought has no warranty any more, and I need some advice before I step into Mercedes before they charge me arm & leg. I remember two years ago, it was about $1G to repair it by the quote. Tell me what I should do guys, because the message comes and goes as it pleases, and the car seems to be running perfectly fine mechanically!

bselph

If there is a problem I would get Arnott units and either do it yourself or have and indy shop install them. Much cheaper than factory and just as good. Arnott has step by step instructions for a self install.

usman.naeem12

I hope Im not needed to do any replacements, I would want to figure out why the message is appearing first before making any committed decision on fixing the issue. Do you know what could be the problem? I havent played around with the airmatic while driving, nor do I mess with that button. I just keep the car lowered. But ive noticed even when I try raising the car in park, nothing happens... doesnt go up or down at all either.

mrchris

It's actually a very simple system. When that message goes off it pretty much comes down to bad relay, bad pump, bad air distribution block, leaking strut(s) or bad height sensors.

Bad pumps are commonplace as they have a very finite lifespan. If it will not go up when you press the button but otherwise ride height is good and not dropping that usually means the pump is bad. Bad struts or air block will cause a wheel or an axle to drop and the pump to run more frequently to compensate. Even with good struts eventually the pump needs to run or ride height will drop. With leaks that can happen within hours or days, with good struts it might take longer but will eventually happen.

Airmatic warnings will not affect the running portion of the car in the sense that you will not experience any engine or transmission problems and it will seemingly function until ride height drops enough to cause the suspension to bottom out.

With all that said do as bselph said and go to a good independent shop. The Arnott units are excellent and an indy shop can get things done a lot cheaper. The rear struts are super easy to do, fronts I haven't tried but I hear they are not that complicated for a decent weekend mechanic. It's only about an hour of shop time to do the pump so its probably not worth the knuckle scraping to try and do it yourself.

usman.naeem12

So basically your saying even with good struts, eventually its going to fail? Yeah I guess Ill look into this situation, im just hating on the fact that I'm needed to put more money to something I just spent loads of cash on. Thank you all for the very descriptive info and help. I have one more issue, and its not related to the airmatic. Maybe you can help me with this as well? I was cleaning my car one day, and after I finished and locked the car everything was fine. I come back 30 min later to unlock the car (as I have keyless go) and put my hand to the door handle of the driver door, a message came up saying (close door to lock) and the LCD was red. I opened each door, even the boot, and reclosed them. I locked the car, but when I did, I hear some weird but very faint sound. I believe when you have a keyless go the sensor makes a slight and very faint chirping sound (you have to listen very closely and carefully). It keeps going on and off as if something is triggering the sensor to think someone is trying to unlock the car but the key is not close to the vehicle or present. It happened to me only once, but when i locked the car it started repetitively locking the doors, and flashing the lights. Eventually it stopped. What the hell is going on with this GL!?

mrchris

The airmatics are one that gets a lot of people unexpectedly. But as my mechanic told me they are a wear item like brake pads, rotors or spark plugs and were not designed nor will they last the life of the car. It's a trade off of increased maintenance for a much improved ride for such a heavy beast.

As for the Keyless Go I don't have it so I haven't bothered to learn much about it. I've heard stories though of strange things happening by accident. Friends with a 550 had something similar going on and when they bought it, it came with 3 keys. They each took one and left the third in the console. Well guess what? Yep as soon as they took the third key out and put it in the house it was fine.

memphis c350

I've order (1) arnott bag for my left rear and plan on doing the install myself.
My question is. Should I replace both or just wait until the other starts to leak.
As the writer stated above I love the ride. Whem working a double I generally have to roll down the window to keep from falling asleep (with a ride this smooth). The dealer suggested I chamge both out at the same time. But with the install being so simple and arnott having an ample supply I didn't see the need to purchase 2.

N_Jay

Join the discussion over here and we can see if one bag is OK or a problem.


https://mbworld.org/forums/gl-class-...r-springs.html

memphis c350

Done