AIRMATIC - what else could it be.
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Joined: May 2020
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2008 S550 w221
AIRMATIC - what else could it be.
2008 S550 W221
ok came outside a few weeks ago and the back end was on the ground. took car to a mechanic. he said left rear air strut. ordered arnott left rear, installed and SAME PROBLEM. Mech says Right rear, Ordered Arnott right rear and installed - guess what - SAME PROBLEM. Mech says compressor, ordered arnott installed and SAME problem. Mech says Valve Block, Ordered arnott installed and SAME ISSUE. Mech says air ride computer ordered installed and SAME ISSUE.
besides telling me I need a new mechanic which I agree with, can anyone suggest anything else besides going to springs.
So both rear drop fairly fast and seem to only go up 2 inches or so from 111mm to 58mm rise.
Thanks much.
Sylvester
ok came outside a few weeks ago and the back end was on the ground. took car to a mechanic. he said left rear air strut. ordered arnott left rear, installed and SAME PROBLEM. Mech says Right rear, Ordered Arnott right rear and installed - guess what - SAME PROBLEM. Mech says compressor, ordered arnott installed and SAME problem. Mech says Valve Block, Ordered arnott installed and SAME ISSUE. Mech says air ride computer ordered installed and SAME ISSUE.
besides telling me I need a new mechanic which I agree with, can anyone suggest anything else besides going to springs.
So both rear drop fairly fast and seem to only go up 2 inches or so from 111mm to 58mm rise.
Thanks much.
Sylvester
Last edited by GamblerSCS; May 8, 2020 at 03:01 PM.
Thread Starter
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Joined: May 2020
Posts: 5
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2008 S550 w221
seems to not be in range vin is WDDNG71X08A160879
both rear drop together and do not seem to ever pump up to full height.
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MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Aug 2014
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S500
read this post fully
https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...lizer-bar.html
"the rear airmatic level sensor for NO sensible reason" is stupidly placed on the left and the park brake mechanism is in the way. During build of the car that suspension level sensor is fitted pre fitment of the rear suspension assembly to the car. On the bench its just possible to fit the little clip holding one ball joint to the antiroll bar.
after a few years the level sensor seizes up and snaps off (just like they designed it too, and then due to appallingly written, dangerous software, it fails dangerous) the car thinks its too high and collapses the car on the floor whilst driving... if you and your family are still alive, that's enough to get you back to a main dealer where they extract $500 dollars to fit a $3 headlamp level sensor (which Mercedes use on a critical suspension system !!!)
however its not an easy job, the merc specialist who did mine didn't want the job, took them 4 hours to do a 10 minute job - they have done before and still broke the clip twice. As can be seen in the car re anti-roll bar fault post above, you can see on that car, they broke the impossible to fit bracket, so its held on with a worm drive hose clamp.... even so the simplest way is to undo the drop links and rotate the anti-roll bar (45 degrees anti-clock from left side) to get the level sensor attached. In moving the anti-roll bar (to do the level sensor) it looks like the cheap nasty bushes on the anti roll bar slipped 1/2 inch sideways as they did it. They never noticed and put it back together wrongly.... one could argue to avoid noise the bushes needed changing...or they'd never have slipped in a direction they are not intended to move in anyway
https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...lizer-bar.html
"the rear airmatic level sensor for NO sensible reason" is stupidly placed on the left and the park brake mechanism is in the way. During build of the car that suspension level sensor is fitted pre fitment of the rear suspension assembly to the car. On the bench its just possible to fit the little clip holding one ball joint to the antiroll bar.
after a few years the level sensor seizes up and snaps off (just like they designed it too, and then due to appallingly written, dangerous software, it fails dangerous) the car thinks its too high and collapses the car on the floor whilst driving... if you and your family are still alive, that's enough to get you back to a main dealer where they extract $500 dollars to fit a $3 headlamp level sensor (which Mercedes use on a critical suspension system !!!)
however its not an easy job, the merc specialist who did mine didn't want the job, took them 4 hours to do a 10 minute job - they have done before and still broke the clip twice. As can be seen in the car re anti-roll bar fault post above, you can see on that car, they broke the impossible to fit bracket, so its held on with a worm drive hose clamp.... even so the simplest way is to undo the drop links and rotate the anti-roll bar (45 degrees anti-clock from left side) to get the level sensor attached. In moving the anti-roll bar (to do the level sensor) it looks like the cheap nasty bushes on the anti roll bar slipped 1/2 inch sideways as they did it. They never noticed and put it back together wrongly.... one could argue to avoid noise the bushes needed changing...or they'd never have slipped in a direction they are not intended to move in anyway
Last edited by BOTUS; May 9, 2020 at 03:48 AM.
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Out Of Control!!
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 15,901
Likes: 4,632
From: North Scottsdale, AZ
'71 Pinto
seems to not be in range vin is WDDNG71X08A160879 both rear drop together and do not seem to ever pump up to full height.
Last edited by konigstiger; May 9, 2020 at 09:43 AM.
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 59
Likes: 18
2011 S550 4Matic
Check air lines for leaks... I stupidly replaced a strut as well, which was doing the same exact thing, only to discover there was a small crack in the air line where it attached to the valve block. If you have a $100 scanner off amazon, it will be able to show you ride height as detected by the 2 front level sensors and the 1 rear sensor. This would be a good way to determine if your rear sensor is malfunctioning.
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: May 2020
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
2008 S550 w221
read this post fully
https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...lizer-bar.html
"the rear airmatic level sensor for NO sensible reason" is stupidly placed on the left and the park brake mechanism is in the way. During build of the car that suspension level sensor is fitted pre fitment of the rear suspension assembly to the car. On the bench its just possible to fit the little clip holding one ball joint to the antiroll bar.
after a few years the level sensor seizes up and snaps off (just like they designed it too, and then due to appallingly written, dangerous software, it fails dangerous) the car thinks its too high and collapses the car on the floor whilst driving... if you and your family are still alive, that's enough to get you back to a main dealer where they extract $500 dollars to fit a $3 headlamp level sensor (which Mercedes use on a critical suspension system !!!)
however its not an easy job, the merc specialist who did mine didn't want the job, took them 4 hours to do a 10 minute job - they have done before and still broke the clip twice. As can be seen in the car re anti-roll bar fault post above, you can see on that car, they broke the impossible to fit bracket, so its held on with a worm drive hose clamp.... even so the simplest way is to undo the drop links and rotate the anti-roll bar (45 degrees anti-clock from left side) to get the level sensor attached. In moving the anti-roll bar (to do the level sensor) it looks like the cheap nasty bushes on the anti roll bar slipped 1/2 inch sideways as they did it. They never noticed and put it back together wrongly.... one could argue to avoid noise the bushes needed changing...or they'd never have slipped in a direction they are not intended to move in anyway
https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...lizer-bar.html
"the rear airmatic level sensor for NO sensible reason" is stupidly placed on the left and the park brake mechanism is in the way. During build of the car that suspension level sensor is fitted pre fitment of the rear suspension assembly to the car. On the bench its just possible to fit the little clip holding one ball joint to the antiroll bar.
after a few years the level sensor seizes up and snaps off (just like they designed it too, and then due to appallingly written, dangerous software, it fails dangerous) the car thinks its too high and collapses the car on the floor whilst driving... if you and your family are still alive, that's enough to get you back to a main dealer where they extract $500 dollars to fit a $3 headlamp level sensor (which Mercedes use on a critical suspension system !!!)
however its not an easy job, the merc specialist who did mine didn't want the job, took them 4 hours to do a 10 minute job - they have done before and still broke the clip twice. As can be seen in the car re anti-roll bar fault post above, you can see on that car, they broke the impossible to fit bracket, so its held on with a worm drive hose clamp.... even so the simplest way is to undo the drop links and rotate the anti-roll bar (45 degrees anti-clock from left side) to get the level sensor attached. In moving the anti-roll bar (to do the level sensor) it looks like the cheap nasty bushes on the anti roll bar slipped 1/2 inch sideways as they did it. They never noticed and put it back together wrongly.... one could argue to avoid noise the bushes needed changing...or they'd never have slipped in a direction they are not intended to move in anyway
interestingly my swaybar bushing is kicked out also 1” or so to the right. Ordered a new swaybar and rear level sensor. Will update next week when its installed
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S500
with the right kit there's a test, it should reach 10 bar inside 30 seconds or something.... a worn pump does 5 bar in 2 miutes
sound like the pump isn't running? you should always use a new fuse for good measure and a new relay as that's part of the guarantee to go with a new pump...
sound like the pump isn't running? you should always use a new fuse for good measure and a new relay as that's part of the guarantee to go with a new pump...
