Smoothie

I've got a '15 c300 with airmatic. The past few weekends, when I don't drive my car, I've noticed that the two rear tires are completely tucked into the wheel wells.

I get in to start it, and it says, 'Please wait, car is rising' on the main dash.
It's all normal from there.

Is this an issue? The airmatic seems to deflate when left for a day or two?

ManiacGT

Thats not normal and could indicate a leak in the system. Mine sometimes sits a little lower on an incline but under normal circumstances it sits like a steel sprung car even after several days non use.

Mike5215

There's a slow leak somewhere between the rear valve block and the struts. Should be handled under warranty. If it goes too long the compressor will burn itself out trying to keep up.

ManiacGT

Surely you'd expect the car to know if it's running constantly and likely to be an issue?

Mike5215

All the compressor knows is that if pressure drops too low in the reservoir, run until the pressure is restored. Like if you set your home thermostat to 70 in the winter and left the windows open. Your furnace only knows that it has to run until the thermostat is satisfied. It'll run non stop. The airmatic compressor is designed to run in short bursts to keep the system pressurized. When there's a leak it runs continuously until it overheats. If you catch the leak early enough you can spare the compressor. Most leaks are at the top of a strut near the air supply tube, but not always.

Smoothie

Thanks guys. Will get it to the dealer.

Fbm_cavansite

I just had my airmatic fail on me twice. I took it the first time because I got a malfunction saying car too low to drive they apparently replaced the compressor on my C400. Drove it a week same thing happened. Car back in and not sure what the issue is now..

JBMCL

I can only imagine how much it'll cost to service the Airmatic after the warranty expires..

Mike5215

$1200 for an air strut, around $800 for a compressor. Buy the extended limited warranty before the 4/48 expires if you plan on holding onto the car.

Smoothie

Car's been at the dealer for over a week now.
The car's rear airmatic fails overnight, almost each time. Tech goes in, starts it and gets the Please Wait Vehicle Rising message. No fault code.
So I believe they need to prove to MB Canada that there is a fault somewhere. No leaks found.

Fbm_cavansite

What's the 4/48 warranty? And how much does it cost do you know. How would I get something like this after the fact because the dealer said I wasn't able to buy extended warranty as I bought my car pre owned.

Fbm_cavansite

Yeah, the air Matic seems pretty **** on these cars... I wonder what Mb Canada is doing about this.

ManiacGT

thats a pretty sweeping statement. Mine is fine and there are hardly any reports I've read to backup your claim.

Smoothie

Dealer has said they can see that the rear end is failing, but it's not showing any fault codes. So they don't know why it's failing...

abstractls

I would agree, I have 40k miles on my C400 and live in the city. No issues at all

Mike5215

The 4 year/48k mile factory warranty. If your car was purchased pre owned from a Mercedes dealer you should be able to buy the Extended Limited Warranty anytime before the 4/48 expires. If the 4/48 has expired and/or you didn't buy the car at a Mercedes dealer you're sort of on your own. You could go to your credit union, refi the car and buy a 3rd party service contract for some protection. A decent one will run around $3500.

Mike5215

My last 4 cars have had AirMatic. I wouldn't trade the ride quality for a conventional steel suspension despite them needing more service. Considering how much more complex they are than a passive suspension they actually hold up surprisingly well. Guys *****ing about AirMatic usually aren't complaining about repair frequency as much as repair cost. They can put a pretty good bite on you out of warranty. Welcome to the joys of owning a German luxury car.

Sam Manuel

first time I went to the dealer , they were going to add it on without questioning me about where I bought the car but at that point I wasn't sure about keeping it cause of warranty repairs so a few days after I went back they stated that I can only add it on IF it was purchased from an MB dealer, I said but this wasn't mentioned to me the previous time & that was it ! They just added it on , no fight no arguments , no push back from their software.

DavyD

Think my Airmatic has a major problem, after 8k miles ?

Mike5215

Whatever it is, it's under warranty. But yeah, 8k is way early. North of 60k is more typical.

Smoothie

Mine's never failed while I was driving.
Curious if they can find a leak in yours.

c21bill

The Airmatic has been trouble free on my C300 as has everything else. I did purchase the extended warranty right out of the box as I plan to keep the car a total of 6 years and there is a ton of technology on my car. Cheap peace of mind.

Mike5215

I've purchased three extended warranties from MB and made money on every one.

DavyD

Simple fix - faulty pin at the airmatic compressor and a new fuse, though should still not happen

Smoothie

Good to hear. Mine is harder to diagnose as it's not happening consistently. They did say they will replace the rear airmatic as per MB Canada, but I don't think they actually found the problem. No eta on replacement parts yet.