2011 S550 4MATIC
Miles on odometer: 67K

Hello all.

Just got an amber message that reads "vehicle malfunction" with a diagram of the car and a down-pointing squiggly arrow in the middle. The message went away after I pressed the "ok" button on the steering wheel. I think this message is related to the leveling system. Any thoughts?

Much appreciated.

 

squiggly doesn't sound right....

you'll need to excuse the bits where my typing let me down - but a reasonable bit of info about how they did the suspension

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...ml#post9095086

 

After a few days the message came back. So far, I've been able to discern the following pattern.

When the engine is turned on the vehicle starts to raise automatically. After a few minutes, the message comes on. Once I had a better look, the graphic depicts the silhouette of the car with an arrow in the middle pointing up. This is the same icon that's on the dash atop the button labeled "raise". If I press the OK button on the steering wheel, the message is cleared. However, the "raise vehicle" button no longer has any effect. There is no noticeable electrical motor whirr or air escape from the engine compartment.

Based on these observations, I suspect the Airmatic suspension pump may be the cause. There is also the possibility of a faulty relay or burnt fuse. As the pump goes, I looked in Amazon and the prices range anywhere between $100 to $260 for just the pump.

By the way, the "sports" or "comfort ride" feature is working fine. Switching between these modes provides a noticeable feel to the ride and steering.

Any thoughts or tips on further troubleshooting (i.e., checking the relay or finding out where the fuse is located) greatly appreciated.

Also, doing a search in Amazon for "Mercedes-Benz Star Diagnostic" shows a wide selection with various price ranges. Any suggestions or recommendations?

Thank you.

 

going back some 7 years

with a level sensor seized the bumps just bend the bracketry - this leads the car to get muddled more frequently as the breaks on the clips holding the level sensor get more and more snapped off - and the compressor runs more often than it should - this leads to wear till the pump fuse pops (orange large 40 amp one under the bonnet above the SAM) - fiited a new pump as Xentry test said it was old and tired (utter waste of money)

it can (it did for me) cut out and stay wrong for months - so long as there's no dramatic load changes the car doesn't care and carries on as if nothing is wrong - the ONLY way to tell is the raise button no longer does anything - I ignored ( I thought for more than a year) until I put 300kg of concrete in the boot and rear floor then the car went weird sagging on one rear corner - I unloaded and drove to get more and it levelled out - but with more onboard when I got home the other corner was weird then the level warning came on in the cluster next drive - It cleared and it levelled and for another few weeks - I drove wondering what was going on till another drive the rear dropped to the floor when the rear bracket fell off

 

When car starts to raise when started it means car went low when it was sitting. You have a leak.

You get malfunction when the pump times out before it gets car back to level.

 

I just remembered the order

took it to a garage to get the level sorted... they didn't mange it (I think at this point the rear was seized and all the work they did was just bending the rear bracket) - confused they gave up and informed me try it - we kept a note of the old reading so we can always go back...

I used the car for a year like this - it drove much the same - but whilst I never got any cluster warning, I did notice the raise button no longer did anything

had the fun with the concrete and lopsided rear - which I put down to the car unable to correct for load (as per post above) that did throw a cluster warning - but I couldn't get the car to clear or run the pump - went to see a local specialist who found the fuse popped and fitted a new pump, relay and air filter (in-line with merc specs to get your 2 years warranty)

drove for another 6 months thinking the heights weren't any better - then one day it crashed to the floor and I found the rear snapped off (no cluster warnings !!!) - cobbled that back on and the car lifted itself up - drove to see the same place, who fitted all three sensors

left front close to seized solid,
right front rusty but moved
rear utterly seized, all four legs snapped off like a carrot - with differing levels of corrosion on each leg break - so it snapped bit by bit over I guess years

ride heights still a muddled mess

another three visits to three of the best / most respected indy UK Merc specialists - still never managed to get even a 1mm change in ride height - of course whilst there they all managed to set it to perfection - but the car never remembered any work ANY of them did... all they said in response was "your car is weird"

in the end I got a snap on tool that could do the work - first attempt it did save the change with the car way too low - next day after 10 hrs fighting I got it to save a change once again - drove about with it almost perfect - then I tried to tweak it a smidge more and it went back to the original wrong it always loved - another day fighting it and got it about right... after following the w220 process Merc state

.

 

Fixed it.

It was the compressor.

Thank you.

 

when operating normally in usual ambient temps - the car does not drop overnight and thus does not raise when you start it - you park it stays where it was - you start and its still supposed to be where it was - anything else is a fault

however worth noting - with significant temp drops or changes in pressure the car will breath - mine dropped an 1" in the cold, as it warms up during the day it comes back up again (all without unlocking a door) - had I driven it in th e cold yes it would pump itself back up - but when I stopped it would have remained where it was and if it remained properly cold in the day the height would have stayed where it was

the car can stay the same ride height with no fuse for 6 months if the weather is stable

 

Where you able to drive once the rear slammed down/??

 

if you wish to destroy your car, sure you can drive - nothing rubs but even at less than 20 mph every tiny stone less than 1/4" / 5 mm across, feels like you jumped it off a cliff and landed disastrously - many say it is instantly destroys the air bags - I limped 1/2 mile home any further I'd have had it towed

 

I had the driver side front spring completely fail without any slow leaks prior. It just suddenly popped. I was 330 miles away from home and drove it back. Steering wheel had to be kept about 30 degrees turned to right as obviously severely low left strut opened the toe to left on that wheel.

Tried to not hit any holes/bumps on road but, of course, hit some. There was no damage to anything on the car other that the broken strut may have seen more damage, but it was already broken so who cares. My fear was if I hit something so hard that the top mounting point for the strut would get damaged but nothing.

Ordered Arnott struts for front and the new left strut out the box had a leak. FCP Euro was quick to send replacement and that worked fine.