rwaller

Purchased 2004 S500 several months ago; by far the nicest most exciting car I have ever driven; however, started getting "Airmatic Warning Car is too Low" messages yesterday; Can someone please give me an idea of what type of problems I may be facing and the potential repair costs???
Obviously, this is an issue that faces many S500 owners.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

S500 Man

could be pump, shock,relay,compressor, if all is broken around 2k per strut..do a search on airmatic.

rwaller

Thanks for the information...sounds like I definitely need dianostic results to identify exact problem.

S500 Man

also check the top of your struts for cracks!

rwaller

Based on previous thread...Airmatic Warning came on yesterday when going around curves or taking turns indicating car is too low...however, car is not bottoming out on wheels.
Should try and drive to service tech or have car towed?

Jezza

I'd wager a lot on it being the pump. Get a diag which will tell you the pressure the pump is making, then get it replaced if necessary.

midlife

Don't mean to jump in to someone else's thread but I have just found out that I have leaks on both my fron t struts. Any advice on what my options now are as I'm new to the forum and ownership of an s class
cheers

blas0827

hey for like $100 buck why not take it to the dealer and let them diag it cuz it can be a couple of things and i know the front shocks arent cheap

Skylaw

rwaller, you can drive to the dealership. Treat it gently. If airmatic goes all the way down, ride will stiffen and steering will become stiffer. Stay off rough roads and out of heavy traffic.

midlife, the location of the leaks is important. If it is upper strut seals, have dealer replace both (about $550-$600, usually). If elsewhere on the struts, they will have to be replaced (About $1600 each, but see http://www.rover-renovations.com/New...-com-s/339.htm for other options).

Also see https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...ic-failed.html for info on the upper seal kits and the relay. Note that the "old" and "new" style upper seals are confusingly labeled; the new kit has the resin filler.

brenner

My 2002 S has the low car warning come on a couple of times. I have a spare Relay in my glove box, and after changing it (it is in the passenger side fuse box under the hood), everything is OK again. My struts do not have any cracks in the black sealant (on top where the airline attaches to strut). The Mercedes part number on the relay is: A0025427219
The internal Hella part number is: 4RA 007.791-13
There is another part number from Hella 4RA 007.791-11. This corresponds to Mercedes part number A 0025421319-26. More expensive.

According to Hella, These are the specs for the two:

4RA 007.791-11 is 950/630 High Power Mini SPST
4RA 007.791-13 is 630 ISO Mini SPST

If anyone is interested, I can tell you where to purchase them for $30.65; and $12.32 respectively. The high power comes in a Hella box, the Mini SPST comes in a Mercedes Orig. Parts box.

I NEVER drive anywhere without a spare relay now. These parts are pretty expensive at Mercedes. I don't want to put the name of the place where I buy mine on this site, you never know, they may subsequently raise their prices.

Jezza

Exactly, no-one was able to tell me what my issue was when my car showed these low car messages, so i took it for a full diag. I think i was charged £40 (thats what, $60?). The computer shows a nice graph of the pressures around the system, in my case my pump wasn't making anything like enough so bingo, one pump, a modified pipe, and a new bracket later there was my problem sorted.

sled

I drive a 2005 s500 w/4matic. I live in Minneapolis, last week the temp was never above 10 degrees F. Unfortunately this was the same week I left may car at the airport, outside. Found the car sitting so low I thought someone had stolen the tires. On the dash in red, "warning car too low". Gently drove the car to the dealership, $2800.00 and some change later I've my car back. Replaced both front struts and various other parts. Turns out the Airmatic pump was fine, which I thought was the problem. I also learned that these pumps tend to be negatively impacted by the cold weather. The technician shared that with me not sure how true.

MSackson

I have a 2000 S500. It has been very cold here. One morning I found the front end of my car wresting on my tires. I panicked, thinking the worst. I called my dealer. He said to start the car and let it run for about 20 minutes. This solved the problem, the car raised itself. I have had to do this a couple time when the weather drops into the teens.

After reading the other posts, I am thinking I might as well get the system checked out, just in case.

cheeyoungdonny

if your shocks are leaking they cost about $1300 at the dealer each..but there is a company in Florida that rebuilds them for $400 bucks look on ebay for them..i just had mine done and they work just fine & they give you one year in them

Pauly

Brenner,

Sent you an email. Please get back to me.

Paul

KevinJ

I have ordered the Airmatic relay (Hella type = P/N A0025427219) and am about to fit but wondered why Hella make another type quoted in the above post, but is labelled High Powered.

Can someone tell me why there would be 2 types for the same relay in the W220?

I don't want to fit the wrong one....

Thanks.

brenner

Search under user name "brenner" dated Feb 22,2009 to view my experience with airmatic.
I repaired leak in struts and replaced pump.

brenner

You just raised your car, you did NOT solve the problem. You no doubt have a leak. When you fix the leak, your car won't go down anymore

brenner

I replaced my pump too (I'm in germany at the moment). I bought my pump on e-bay, the NEW part number...it says in the MB EPC parts that you need the modified pipe you spoke of. But after looking at the two pumps, I reallized that the new modified pipe (32 Euros) is actually the same pipe as the one on my old pump. I carefully removed the old pipe and took the new modified pipe back to the MB dealer, but they wouldn't take it back because they had to "order" it. So I used the new one....This pipe is the air intake pipe that has an airfilter on the end.
Did they find any leaks on the front struts? My car had a leak on the passanger side, but I repaired both of them.

brenner

I just repaired my struts myself. There is a repair kit for around $80 per side. It includes a new seal, air valve and a small plastic jar of a special grease. You would also need to buy (I made my own) a tool to remove the old seal.
Some one is selling one on this forum (make a search for "airmatic tool". He wants $75 for it, good price. If you want to read more about this leak repair, look at my posts under brenner
If you don't want to do it yourself, figure on about $150 - $200 plus parts for both struts.
good luck

Jezza

My struts seem ok thankfully, although they do show signs of cracking. How did you repair them?

brenner

The part that cracks is just epoxy that covers the seals. Cracks don't necessarily mean that the seals are leaking. You have to chip the epoxy away before you get to the seal. Try putting some soapy water on the cracked epoxy, start your car, look for bubbles, shut car off, check for bubbles. If you see bubbles, the seals are leaking. Usually if they leak, you won't notice it until the pump can't keep up anymore, then eventually the warning sign comes on, or the car won't stay up in the HARD ride setting.
I saw a video of a guy spending a whole day fixing his leak by chipping out the epoxy, then putting replacing the epoxy. He did not replace the seal. That's like having a tire witha tube in it. The tube gets a leak...and you fix the hole in the tire, but not the hole in the tube. Alkl that work for nothing.
Just a side note...I reapired both struts, but replaced the epoxy only on one side....about 2 months ago, and the one without the epoxy is NOT leaking. I don't know what function the epoxy serves (it's painted black, so it's hard to tell what it is).
Does your car make air hissing noises when jacking it up? Or after you shut it odff? If yes, you have a keak.
Been on vacation, so this was first time in 4-5 weeks that I've looked at MBworld, kind of late to help

chibenz

Brenner, please check your inbox.
Thanks

Skylaw

The epoxy serves as a vibration damper for the brass valve, so that its small neck (at the bottom) doesn't crack. You are quite correct that the epoxy is not the seal itself.

The epoxy will crack either from an air leak in the seal under it, or simply from metal flexing in the upper strut mount. The soapy water test tells you which of those caused the cracking. Visible cracks mean you ought to check.

The oldest strut mounts ('00 and possibly some '01s) did not have the epoxy at all. The metal in those mounts was prone to flex and crack, and the black paint would flake off in the circular stampings of the mounts. That was an indication that cracks were beginning to open up in the metal, creating a leak. The replacement mounts were of a different design.

mark7

I own a Mercedes CLS and it's displaying me that fault of AirMatic Dual Control. What shall I do to resolve this problem?

Thanks
Mark