Arrie

Are you absolutely sure you have the ABC? I have the Airmatic with buttons for elevated driving height (for very rough road surfaces with slow speed), sports mode and comfort mode. You may be mixing the systems as the Sports button in the Airmatic system changes the stiffness of the shocks. There is an electronic valve at the shocks that changes between sports and comfort modes and it is a very noticeable difference in my car between the modes as sports really stiffens the car and body roll is very limited in turns. But it still is Airmatic, not ABC.

If I understand it correctly ABC has coil springs with hydraulic cylinders/shocks that works totally different compared to Airmatic as it can immediately raise or lower a wheel based on sensor data. Airmatic works with air spring and only controls how much dampening it puts in a wheel.

I may be wrong but someone who knows this better can chime in.

s550hollywood

Well I can't be totally sure because my car is at dealer right now but there is a Sport button just below the raise button. If I push it, a red light remains lit. Wikipedia says cars that have ABC have a sport button on the dash.

s550hollywood

Well I can't be totally sure because my car is at dealer right now but there is a Sport button just below the raise button. If I push it, a red light remains lit. Wikipedia says cars that have ABC have a sport button on the dash.

s550hollywood

My cars options sticker says it has Airmatic with Adaptive Dampening System ADS II. There is a Sport button up on dash beneath the raise button.

s550hollywood

To be clear it has a sport button down on the console next to the joy stick wheel, but also has one on center dash left of my navigation screen below the lift button. Does that mean I have ABC..............anyone know?

Arrie

Sport/Comfort selection next to the Comand control knob is for the transmission mode. The one in the console left of Comand/NAVI screen is for suspension. Airmatic suspension has Sport/Comfort modes and also the raised mode.

If you have air pump for the springs I don't think you have ABS. ABS is hydraulic and runs from hydraulic pump.

s550hollywood

I guess thats what I have then. Dealer will be taking a chunk of money from me today for sure. Do you know what Airmatic with Adaptive Dampening System ADS II means? Thats what my options sticker says is on the car, it doesn't mention ABC anywhere on it.

Arrie

I don't know for sure but i think it is the control of that dampening valve on the shocks.

BOTUS

on the w221 with airmatic

you get sport and comfort (and some with paddles get M for manual, which stops it changing up)

The changes you get are:

1) gearchange SPORT brings 1st gear in to play & 2nd reverse gear - like you need that. However it makes it silly in gnarly twisty roads, as it kickdowns just when you didn't need it making traction cut in & it ties itself in knots.... go back to comfort and drive faster safer !
2) suspension SPORT drops ride height a bit, stiffens and gives a badly thought out brittleness, which means you have to drive slower as the car doesn't have the fluidity to chuck it around safely. It does reduce wallow & that can make high speed work less tiring
3) steering SPORT gives a slightly firmer setup, but the system can't produce enough assistance for throwing it around tight spaces / car parks safely as you overwhelm the assistance till it goes stiff mid turn
4) little known SPORT also changes the distronic plus (active cruise) to drive slightly closer and react more enthusiastically to maintain set speed, again badly thought out and irritating

s550hollywood

I know one thing, after I changed the battery from a AAA battery to a Mercedes battery, the car seem to be peppier in comfort mode driving as if the AAA battery was dampening the performance some how. However maybe its just in my imagination, but it seems I don't need sport mode on the tranny for that great acceleration after changing the battery. Wouldn't surprise me though if the AAA battery is made by the same company that makes them for Mercedes as a Private Label. Is it possible the Mercedes battery gave the car its performance back? The AAA battery died on me a week ago just before the suspension malfunction. I jump started the car and had AAA come and test the battery, the guy said there was nothing wrong with the battery. I've heard that the suspension can cause the battery to die; guess thats what happened because after I jump started it, it was fine and then the malfunction happened right after I changed the battery.

BOTUS

there is a short term adaptive attempt to change gear based on the way you driving....
its possible having no battery connected, wiped out the ant brain and for circa 5 miles it feels different (but it will quickly adapt to more wrong as you drive)
if you drive in sport with your brain missing, for a few miles it will get it all messed up and ties itself in knots

the whole idea that a car that has no understanding of
1) prevailing weather conditions
2) the hilliness / undulation of the terrain
3) the condition or type of road surface
4) the condition of the tyres
5) the capabilities of the driver
6) the mood of the driver
7) the current traffic conditions
and on and on....

can sensibly select the correct gear ratio based on what happened a mile ago, is utter drug induced lunacy !

Using data from engine temp, ambient temp sensor, TMPS tyre temp information, rain sensor, ESP/traction and GPS data could be a good start but they never bothered to try that. Simple throttle position would get 90% better data to work from, than the ant brain idea they picked

Arrie

What does or did the cluster display when you changed between SPORTS and COMFORT modes? Mine says "AIRMATIC SPORTS" or "AIRMATIC COMFORT" depending on which mode I change to.

Did you get your issue taken care of?

BOTUS

on my earlier one (pre facelift)

I just get the character C, M or S on the cluster

Arrie

Hey Hollywood,

Any update to share with us?

s550hollywood

It says "AIRMATIC SPORTS" or "AIRMATIC COMFORT" just like yours.

s550hollywood

YES - the problem according to the dealers diagnostic was a front passenger side airmatic shock leaking. They did say the other side was still good but I chose to replace both at once so I don't have to worry about it happening again. Parts and labor cost me $4300 for the dealer to replace both front airmatic shocks.

s550hollywood

I'm always a fan of saving money by using after market parts and turning a wrench myself but for these airmatic shocks, I left it to Mercedes to restore them with original parts. I wish Chiltons or Hanes made a repair manual for the W221, I'd buy it as I have for all my cars. I know one thing, after I got that Malfunction warning in my dash, the car looked fine all the way around, so I drove it about 10 miles home. Its then I noticed something was wrong as the video above shows. Within driving another 4 miles to the dealership a few days later, the front right side was all the way down nearly touching the tire and that was with the car raised up. Needless to say if you drive a W221 and you see that warning message, prepare to park it very soon and have it looked at because when I got to the dealership, the car was no longer derivable. It was very SICK at that moment and needed LOVE!

DrDoe

My experience on airmatic An Outlier?

cetialpha5

Why not just get the full Mercedes repair manual? It's basically the WIS. About $8.50 on eBay. They also throw in EPC so you can look up the part numbers once you put the vin in. The ebay version is a knock off copy and dates to 2019, the latest repair docs would be from MB and they charge $60 a day for access. The EPC on the knock off copy is also a little out of date, only up to 2018. Latest EPC from MB is $75 for a year of access. For my cars, I just look up the parts in EPC and then find the repair documents in WIS and print them out to give to my indy. From what I've heard, the airmatics are pretty simple so any indy could have tackled it. I usually just buy the parts online either aftermarket or if only MB makes them, there are online MB dealers that discount 25-30% off list price.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Latest-2019-Mercedes-WIS-ASRA-EPC-Service-Repair-Workshop-Manual-Full-version/123679649919

https://www.startekinfo.com/StarTek/subscribe.jsp

https://epc.startekinfo.com/epc/subscribe.jsp

poptopclk

I ordered a exact strut from a manufacturer with 2 year guarantee $160 incl shipping. Then 1 hour later job done ..... It is an easy job here look see
Never pay a dealer a year's worth of payments..