R-Class (W251) Produced 2006-2013: R320CDI, R350, R420CDI, R500

Airmatic logic?

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Old Oct 7, 2015 | 01:36 PM
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Airmatic logic?

Does anyone know what the full airmatic logic is? Sometimes my car airs out a little bit when I park it, and sometimes it airs out completely. And of course, to mix things up, sometimes it does not air out at all. Sometimes it airs out after I open the driver's door after parking, and sometimes it doesn't initiate air out till I lock the door via key fob. The inconsistency is what confuses me, and I'd be semi-worried if the system wasn't rock solid and leak-free, so this is more of a quest to learn what da heck the system is thinking.

Also, does anyone know where I can find detailed diagrams/schematics of the whole Airmatic system? Do "factory service manuals" exist in PDF form somewhere...?

Hmmm, I realize my first paragraph almost reads like a Dr. Seuss narrative, minus the cool rhymes
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Old Oct 25, 2015 | 12:23 PM
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My experience is like yours it rares how much it let's out and when. I noticed when I have my whole family in the car (5) it let's out more typically.

A funny side note. When I went for inspection the lady was about 400 lbs or so. I had to get in passenger she sat in driver seat testing stuff etc. When she gets out it let air out for like a solid 7-10 seconds. I was praying she didn't ask me why it did that cuz I would've told the truth lol smh
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Old Oct 25, 2015 | 03:38 PM
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I, too, have noticed that it does tend to air out more often after having carried a heavier load/number of people. Hmmm...

Another person was telling me his theory: the car will adjust its height when you park it on an uneven surface, or in such a way that the car feels that it needs to level itself a bit, like at an angle on a sloped driveway. I'm not 100% sure that's correct though, as I've found my car airing out even when parked on totally flat/level surfaces. Hmmm, the mystery continues!
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Old Oct 25, 2015 | 07:08 PM
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as far as I know the airmatic does "poll" frequently for height discrepancies when driving and when it senses a wheel height outside of the calibrated range by a certain percent it will then try and compensate, continuously re calibrating the static height even while in motion. while driving it can't really get a static level reading because obviously all of the wheels are oscillating up and down constantly but it does this by reading frequencies which are almost as effective in most cases.

it also takes a reading whenever the vehicle comes to a stop, and again will compensate if a wheel is far enough out of spec. it also re adjusts every time a door is opened then closed to compensate for any loading or unloading, so the air out when you exit is just the vehicle leveling because of the occupant(s) weight being removed. vehicle level comes into play as well as how far from level it may have been right before you stopped so the amount of air out can vary depending on a few variables. because it is adjusting from frequencies instead of a static reading when driving it's very possible for it to have been slightly less than optimally leveled when you initially park so it is possible in some circumstances to actually park and exit without any air out taking place but this would not be typical, but it is possible in some circumstances.
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