Airmatic NO MORE need Help Bypassing Errors
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Joined: Jul 2006
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04 S430 (sold),05 X5 4.4i, 02 325i, 87 560SL, 85 Alfa Romeo
Great closure.. I wish everybody else including myself who are unhappy would do the same so threads like these would go away...
I kinda tired of reading about airmatic, video in motion, and other posts that just seem to live on and on about these cars..
I agree 100% with vette. Unhappy? Concede never to own another one and say goodbye!!
I am actually pretty happy with my car but knowing the w220 as a whole, No.. I will not do it again.. THen again I can say that for a lot of things like marriage, LOL...
That being said, it gives me no satisfaction to complain about what we all know OR do any ridiculous mods to beat a dead horse as the OP did.
Oh BTW my 04' 430 will be on the market as of 1 dec.. but for other reasons.. I'm thinking 19.5ish??
Speaking of OP, am I the only one who noticed how this thread grew legs and the OP hs been AWOL since post #3?
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone...
I kinda tired of reading about airmatic, video in motion, and other posts that just seem to live on and on about these cars..
I agree 100% with vette. Unhappy? Concede never to own another one and say goodbye!!
I am actually pretty happy with my car but knowing the w220 as a whole, No.. I will not do it again.. THen again I can say that for a lot of things like marriage, LOL...
That being said, it gives me no satisfaction to complain about what we all know OR do any ridiculous mods to beat a dead horse as the OP did.
Oh BTW my 04' 430 will be on the market as of 1 dec.. but for other reasons.. I'm thinking 19.5ish??
Speaking of OP, am I the only one who noticed how this thread grew legs and the OP hs been AWOL since post #3?
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone...
Newbie
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 13
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s500
airmatic problem
hi I have a 00 s500 , if i leave the car sitting for a few days its sitting on all four tires. when I start it up up it raises back up is this some type of electric problem or air leak, etc. can someone help me please. PS I'm also in live in MI.(cold weather)
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 3,254
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From: Louisiana
03 E500 and Corvette
Running it to failure puts lots of stress on the air compressor and I had to replace my compressor also.
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Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 14
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2000 S 500
I would tend to be more agreeable with oliver if were were talking about a w211 that comes both ways, but specifically the w220, It would be very interesting to see the alignment numbers on this car with those struts.
He already stated that the car sits higher than it is supposed to, that's already a camber issue..
Either way the thing I do agree 100% on is the fact that he could have gotten rebuilt Struts as a better alternative to disfiguring his S.
And he is always going to live with trying to solve the error issue becuause this car unlike the w211 was not designed to run without Airmatic.
The being the case I can't see where there would be an option in this cars software to deselect the airmatic logic.
I guess we can all agree that this is just something none of us would have done.
Myself, I would have gotten rid of my car first. I don't like it that much to go thru all of that trouble and be stuck like chuck.
In fact, I think I have been one of the blessed happy owners as i have not had many issues at all in the last 3 years I've had this car. Hopefully my maintenance const will remain irrelevant to ownership and I will be able to pass that good news to the new owner if there ever is one.
He already stated that the car sits higher than it is supposed to, that's already a camber issue..
Either way the thing I do agree 100% on is the fact that he could have gotten rebuilt Struts as a better alternative to disfiguring his S.
And he is always going to live with trying to solve the error issue becuause this car unlike the w211 was not designed to run without Airmatic.
The being the case I can't see where there would be an option in this cars software to deselect the airmatic logic.
I guess we can all agree that this is just something none of us would have done.
Myself, I would have gotten rid of my car first. I don't like it that much to go thru all of that trouble and be stuck like chuck.
In fact, I think I have been one of the blessed happy owners as i have not had many issues at all in the last 3 years I've had this car. Hopefully my maintenance const will remain irrelevant to ownership and I will be able to pass that good news to the new owner if there ever is one.
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W220
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Joined: Apr 2022
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gl320 2008
What would suck is to find a very nice looking 2000 S500 that you want to buy, just to find out that someone has removed the airmatic system ( prone to problems or not ) that came from the factory and installed some cheesy aftermarket springs ( struts ) completely and permanently disfiguring the vehicle.
How do you put a price on an car like that except deeming it worthless from that point on.
I guess I would feel a bit differently if it was a body that actually had a factory option for airmatic or struts like the E class, then it would be a different situation and certainly easier to just "turn off" the airmatic option.
But this isn;t the case with the W220.
This is the same thing as installing a small block chevy motor in an Jag as people used to do back in the 80's when the old XJ engines were found to be crap.
Everybody on the planet knows that the early W220's had suspension issues. Why keep the car if you can't afford to fix it. because now, you are sooo stuck with it. and not only can you NOT trick the computer to clear those errors, you have no way of properly aligning that car which means that your handling is in the toilet, and you are going to eat tires like never before.
I can;t even imagine how bouncy that car must be and would not want to be in the drivers seat on curvy roads at speed.
Too bad you elected to go that route.. I hope you find a solution.. This is something I would have never ever done to a car. sorry.
The only way I see to bypass the airmatic error for this vehicle is to write a new program.. By my count there are at least Seven (7) subsystems that deal directly with the car's suspension electronically. There is no way to gut all of these checks and monitors without a complete software rewrite. so you have a bit of a situation there. Good luck.
BTW. with 4 springs, what do you do for shocks? particularly in the rear?
How do you put a price on an car like that except deeming it worthless from that point on.
I guess I would feel a bit differently if it was a body that actually had a factory option for airmatic or struts like the E class, then it would be a different situation and certainly easier to just "turn off" the airmatic option.
But this isn;t the case with the W220.
This is the same thing as installing a small block chevy motor in an Jag as people used to do back in the 80's when the old XJ engines were found to be crap.
Everybody on the planet knows that the early W220's had suspension issues. Why keep the car if you can't afford to fix it. because now, you are sooo stuck with it. and not only can you NOT trick the computer to clear those errors, you have no way of properly aligning that car which means that your handling is in the toilet, and you are going to eat tires like never before.
I can;t even imagine how bouncy that car must be and would not want to be in the drivers seat on curvy roads at speed.
Too bad you elected to go that route.. I hope you find a solution.. This is something I would have never ever done to a car. sorry.
The only way I see to bypass the airmatic error for this vehicle is to write a new program.. By my count there are at least Seven (7) subsystems that deal directly with the car's suspension electronically. There is no way to gut all of these checks and monitors without a complete software rewrite. so you have a bit of a situation there. Good luck.
BTW. with 4 springs, what do you do for shocks? particularly in the rear?
Hi there i just installed the conversion from air to spring ( with shocks inside the springs ) VERY GOOD RIDE ,the only problem is the error message ,but just got ot the next page and everything is working fine ,i did only the fronts and i love it AFTER 4 LEFT AND 3 RIGHT REPLACEMENT IW AS FED UP WITH IT ,the rear working just fine , so i just lieve it the way it is , it cost me 500 canadian ,the only problem was : the big nut ,onthe right side i got it of with no problem ,and all worked out ,on the left i could not get it to budge ,went to my mechanic could not get it of either ,so ordered a new nut for 15 doller and drilled the nut out it worked ok just took me 2 hr ,well i am 77 years old so i am a little slow ,but I LOVED IT AND IT WORKED FINE I HIGHLY RECOMEND THE CONVERSION ,
Newbie
Joined: Nov 2022
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s430
I don't wanna be in high speeds when one of those go out vs a reliable shock that's known for its performance. The guy wants to know how to get rid of the light not your opinion on shocks you do get that right? Many performance shocks will take you down the road at speeds and around corners or way past what that car is able to do dynamically. When the ABC AirMatic is down right dangerous when they give way. Toyota Supra had TEMS shocks that did the same exact thing and you could add a coil over or oil filled shock that would drastically change the performance of the car in a positive way. Yes they designed it to be at a certain ride height at a certain speed. That can be achieved with adjustable high performance shocks. Getting back to the problem is when you break hard or take off fast the light comes on every once in a while and is annoying when you know nothing is wrong with the car and the sensor is expecting a different result because you have a different product. How to fix the light from coming on with aftermarket parts? like how would you keep from tearing a engine mount apart with more horsepower because you added turbos. You are going to increase the value of the car by adding horsepower to the motor and the shocks just may not be able to handle the sudden jerk of the vehicle because it has more torque.
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