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A few month ago I replaced front struts and compressor due to a leak and a worn out comp on my 2012 GL450 with 139,000 miles. Yesterday I get a malfunction warning. When I get home I expect to find the car leaning again but all is good and level. This morning I go out exoecting it to be leaning but it is still level so I hook my icar soft up to it and get these codes. 5356, 5503, 5508 and 5507. So I put the car in high ride mode and listened for leaks and sprayed soapy water around fittings, still nothing. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
A few month ago I replaced front struts and compressor due to a leak and a worn out comp on my 2012 GL450 with 139,000 miles. Yesterday I get a malfunction warning. When I get home I expect to find the car leaning again but all is good and level. This morning I go out exoecting it to be leaning but it is still level so I hook my icar soft up to it and get these codes. 5356, 5503, 5508 and 5507. So I put the car in high ride mode and listened for leaks and sprayed soapy water around fittings, still nothing. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
I had Airtmatic malfunction due to the weak compressor ran over the time setting limit ( 25 or 35 sec???..forgot the code too).
Thanks for the reply's I found the air tank and may have found the problem. I wiggled the line going into it pretty hard and it started to leak due to a cracked o ring under the fitting. replaces o ring and put liquid Teflon sealer on the threads. I will keep you posted on what happens. I also found something interesting when I pulled the cover off of the air tank, a 100 dollar bill torn in half. What is it with me and the used cars I buy? I also bought a 2000 Astro Van and when I removed the nasty carlet out to give it a good cleaning I found 10, $10,000 money wrappers under the padding with some curious stains on them. I wish it was whole
Thanks for the reply's I found the air tank and may have found the problem. I wiggled the line going into it pretty hard and it started to leak due to a cracked o ring under the fitting. replaces o ring and put liquid Teflon sealer on the threads. I will keep you posted on what happens. I also found something interesting when I pulled the cover off of the air tank, a 100 dollar bill torn in half. What is it with me and the used cars I buy? I also bought a 2000 Astro Van and when I removed the nasty carlet out to give it a good cleaning I found 10, $10,000 money wrappers under the padding with some curious stains on them. I wish it was whole
if it’s more than 50% remaining a bank should take it.
Update... I am trying to sell the car and had a test drive scheduled for today so I took it to the car wash to get her all shinny. So on the way back home it starts bouncing and the dreaded malfunction light comes on. So I pull over and both sided in the front are down, try to put it in high ride height and it tells me that the compressor needs to cool off. Well, it cools off, raises to the proper ride height and no light of even a message. So on the way home I get another malfunction light but all four corners are good. I get home and put the car in high ride level shut it off and listen for leaks... nothing. Scan for codes with my i Car soft and get a 5503 and a 5507 this time. Called prospective buyer and told him what happened and how I would not feel right selling it. I called the local indie mechanic and he can't look at it until next Thursday. Any other ideas on what it might be?
PS, the 100 bill piece I found was counterfeit, I thought that it didn't feel right, too thick.
So when you replaced the front struts did you check that the level sensors were put back correctly? Checked for general integrity and operations?
Compressor cooling off message is generally the clue that it’s worn out from pressuring leaky bags, but in your case you’ve already replaced the front struts and the compressor. I’d take a look at the connections you made there.
what kinds of parts did you put back in it? OEM or counterfeit?😃
Last edited by Max Blast; Mar 9, 2023 at 05:14 PM.
Unfortunately I put counterfeit. I think my 'new' comp is worn out already after three months. It seems to run until it gets hot and shuts off so I pulled it and checked the valves and it all looked good with no slop in the piston. I ran some oil through it to clean it up and reinstalled it. Now it seems to work, it pumps until it shuts off on it's own and will also raise car to high position without overheating. I will probably be changing it anyway since I do not feel comfortable selling it the way it is. I still haven't figured both front going down like it did though. It can sit all night in the high position and not drop any.
I also got a code saying I had a leak but that may have been because the comp couldn't get up to proper pressure.
Any thoughts on that??
So I got to thinking that no matter what they find the indie shop was going to be at least a grand so I ordered a new comp and valve block. And after spending the afternoon pulling and replacing to old comp and wondering how I was going to get to the valve block I searched you tube and saw how easy it was to pull the front bumper and everything is right there in front of you so that I can change it sitting in my shop chair. Now I'm kind of excited about it instead of the usual dread.
So I got to thinking that no matter what they find the indie shop was going to be at least a grand so I ordered a new comp and valve block. And after spending the afternoon pulling and replacing to old comp and wondering how I was going to get to the valve block I searched you tube and saw how easy it was to pull the front bumper and everything is right there in front of you so that I can change it sitting in my shop chair. Now I'm kind of excited about it instead of the usual dread.
Feels good, don't it?
You don't actually have to take the front bumper cover off. Just take off the fender liner and maybe the engine belly pan.
Get used to taking off the fender liner. Doing so brings many seemingly insurmountable tasks within reach.
I did that but the valve block is still buried somewhere above the comp. In the video when the dude leaned the bumper over everything was right there. I was amazed.
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