kcmstono

Hi, I recently purchased a 2005 SL500. It has 55k miles, has been dealer maintained , garage kept and has sat for the last 2 years. Replaced aux battery, and everything works well except the pneumatics on both seats. When you push one of seat buttons you can hear a click in the back of the seat but no movement, or sound of air. The seat bolsters seem to be partially inflated and hold you firmly in the seat. Can't tell about other bladders. The doors lock/unlock fine and the soft close trunk works as well. I have pulled pump fuse to reset it and it works fine. There are no codes for the door electronics or the pneumatics. Hoping someone has seen this before or has some suggestions. Thanks in advance, Keith

MikeJ65

Are they multi-contour seats with the complex control or just lumbar with the single dial? It is common to see the PSE replaced and not coded for multi-contour.

kcmstono

multi-contour

Carpedmman

I have the same problem and my research has shown that this is a very common problem with these seats. There’s a small airline for the bladders that gets damaged by the seats moving forward and backward. Once the car detects that there’s a leak in the seats, it shuts down the air going into the seats. I’ve Sean videos on YouTube where they remove the seats and splice in a new tube to fix the leak. Good luck with your repair! Please let us know what you find!

MikeJ65

The biggest problem on multi-contour seats is that there are eight separate bladders. As they age, they get brittle and crack at the seams or at the inlet port. I don't really recommend used ones because they are probably brittle as well. I did a pair of seats a couple of years ago for just over $500 in parts. Now they run about that much PER SEAT. But, like I said, new PSE pumps come coded for no multi-contour seats and without a coding change they will not work. Honestly, it is a really nice feature, especially in the massage mode.

kcmstono

Thanks for the info, looking at the records I see no reference to the pump be replaced, (doesn't mean it wasn't). Think what I'll do next is remove a seat back and see if there is any pressure in the lines.