(This post is a super longSkip to the bottom for my questions. )


Hi, I’ve got a 2007 R320 with 4 corner airmatic. I’ve had this car for only a couple months and it’s my 1st mercedes. It’s got about 180k miles on it


I’ve asked a few questions and read lots of old post on these forums as I’ve worked through solving my airmatic issue. Now I’m kinda stuck. I’m going to put the whole story up and see if I can get some direction.


While driving I got a malfunction with the up arrow message. After a few minutes the red “stop car too low message” popped up. I pulled over to a gas station to look. My right side had dropped with the right rear bottomed out.



My car has always sagged over night but not while driving. This car is sorta new to me and i thought that was kind of normal.



​With the red message my controls wouldn’t raise the car. I got out, checked the 3 fuses, tried to do an internet search to see if I could drive it. After about 10 minutes I opened the door and the car started to rise like normal. So I started it up, hit the raise button. I sat there for a minute kinda surprised it had fixed it self and pop! The right rear air spring blew.


So now the left side is fully raised. The right rear is bottomed out, and the front right is super low not being able to support the engine. I work out of town and I’m 5 hours into a 7 hour drive to work. It’s night and pouring rain. The owners manual says don’t drive over 50mph, the wheels aren’t touching the fenders, and the last 2 hours are 45mph and under. So I drive to work.


At work I find a blow right read airbag so I order an Arnott one a replace it. I start the car and I still have a “malfunction” message and the airmatic controls are locked out. I do some more research, pull the compressor pump and test it. It’s super weak plus I found the hose from the air filter to the pump completley broken.


Order and install a new pump from Arnott and replace the hose. Go to start, same thing. Airmatic controls locked and “malfunction” message. I’m thinking I need to clear codes to get the system to unlock.



Found a nice guy on FB to bring his autocal scanner. He finds 3 codes.



5150 - stored - check component b22/7(left rear level sensor)


5501 - stored - critical vehicle level at the rear axle


5193 - stored&current - power supply sensors : short circuit to ground.

​

He clears the codes but 5193 won’t clear. However the malfunction message is gone. I’m excited now start the car…nothing. Airmatic is still locked out. Pump is not running.


He was going through his scanner. Voltage at all the sensors was 0 (I think) but the left rear and some weird number. I remember thinking that was weird because it wasn't the bag that blew.


FB guy leaves. I run it a few more times looking around. Malfunction message is back. The next day I decide to look into the rear left wheel sensor. I unplug it and now the airmatic screen says raising (instead of nothing like it has been). The malfunction message is still there and controls are still locked though.

​

So I plug it back in, disconnect the levers, move them so the car will think it’s low. Start the car, no red too low message. I tried the same on the “good” right rear side and it causes a red too low message. Hook the right side back up and red message gone.


Now I’m feeling pretty good there’s a problem with the left rear wheel level sensor.


Now my car is on blocks and I left it at work. I work 7 days on 7days off and live about 7 hours away so I’ll be back to it in a week. I’ve ordered a left rear wheel level sensor, and a solenoid valve block “just in case” due to the compressor sucking in moisture which I’ve read causes problems with that valve block too.



After such a long post I have a couple questions.


Will a wheel level sensor lock out the system? I’m worried there’ll still be more problems and there’s no parts in that town.


Do these cars need a scanner to clear the code before the system starts working? Or if I replace the correct part, will the car figure it out and start filling up the suspension?


What else can the 5193 code mean?


Anything else I’m missing here? I seems there’s not much left for me to replace here.



Thanks in advance. I’m going to post this to a few Mercedes forums so you may see a repeat on the others.

 

Did anyone on any of the other forums respond? I have the up arrow malfunction warning.

 

How did you find a person on fb with autocal scanner?

 

No. Not a lot of responses on these forums. Pretty sure the main cause was my ride height sensor. Just had a few issues all at once.

 

Just asked on a buy sell trade page if there were any mercedes owners in the area who did their own maintenance and has a scanner. I was surprised it worked. Got lucky though.


i ended up buying a Youcanic scanner after.

 

I do not think there is a lot of interest in the R class. I like mine. In three months, I put 7,000 miles on it. I drove it from Seattle to Atlanta Georgia. Very comfortable ride,

My passenger from side is about a quarter inch lower than the driver's side. The previous owner had the air bags and compressor replaced last year. so I'm hoping it is just a sensor. Did you do the repair yourself?

 

yes. Ride height sensor is very simple. A scanner is needed to find out for sure. Rockauto.com had the cheapest Arnott sensors I could find. They are the only brand I see recommended for airmatic stuff on any of these forums.



So you have a malfunction light and the only issue is your pax front side is a little lower then the rest?

 

That is correct. However today I received a second message about a front airbag. I cannot remember the exact message, but something along this line. Correct, only the front passenger side is slightly lower.

 

How do you like the Youcanic scanner? Can it communicate with the airmatic system and actuate the air pump as well as set the peak and min heights for the air suspension?

 

Yes it can. So far that is all I have used it for.

 

Ok, I'm back. It's been a while, but the car is finally back on it's on 4-wheels! There were a few life complications preventing me from actually getting to actually work on my car, so it took a bit longer than expected. I'm going to post the fixes that I found and some extra info in case anyone else is having a hard time researching. There's not a ton of information out there for the R-class. It took me awhile to find out, but the R-class shares the same platform as the M (w164) and GL (x164) models. These models have a lot more info on these forums and YouTube videos out there.

Anyway, like I said in my earlier post, I found the left rear ride height sensor wasn't indicating the same as the other sensors, so I went home from work, and I ordered one of those. I also ordered a new solenoid valve block since my pump was so worn out and had been sucking in moisture. Both Arnott parts, cheapest on Rockauto.com. I had read on these forums that it was likely to be next due to the moisture. Plus, it was such an easy fix. I also ordered a Youcanic scanner. It's cheaper than most of the options out there that can do what I wanted, and it works on every car out there without subscriptions. It was $500 but I counted it as tool I'll likely use again vs paying the labor for a shop to fix this stuff.

So, I get to work, swap out the valve block and wheel sensor. We used my new FB friend's Autotel (my scanner hadn't shown up yet) to clear the codes. Car is fixed. my controls are back. We used his scanner to help put air into all the bags so we can take my car off blocks. Press auto calibrate. It's all working.........Except now the front airbag is leaking....a lot. C'mom!!!

So far, my theory is that my original problem was my rear right bag had a leak that was getting worse. As I was driving down the road my already weak compressor could barely keep up and now the leak was getting worse, so I got the malfunction light and then the too low light. While parked the bag had folded just right and was able to hold air long enough for everything to fill up. As soon as the pressure built, that leak turn into a rip. Then driving for 1.5 hours with a left side at max height and a right side bottomed out, it messed up the left rear ride height sensor. I think the code.
"5193 - power supply sensors : short circuit to ground," was an issue in the ride height sensor and that's what was locking out the airmatic controls. I've read in on the net that if a ride height sensor goes out it'll lock itself out at max height and lock the controls. That wasn't on a Mercedes forum, and I can't confirm that.

Anyway, the problem is fixed but now I need to replace the left front strut. I decide to just order the other 2 struts as well at this point (All Arnott). Now I have 2 fronts and 1 rear airbag/struts on order, and they should show up in a couple days, the same day as my scanner.

Once all of my parts show up and I get through other life stuff I get back to my car a week later with some struts, a new scanner, and some new tools I bought just for this job. The front struts are pretty straight forward but it is a hassle getting the bolts off. Once I got a hold of a pneumatic impact driver, I was able to get everything off no problem. I suggest anyone else doing this job to also get a 1" steel pipe that's a few feet long to use a pry bar in order to compress the strut to get it out and put the new one in.

Finally, got all the parts installed, hook up the new scanner, put air in bags with scanner, drop car off of jack stands, perform auto calibrate with scanner, and boom! It's alive!!!