jpohl402

Hello,
My car was an Arizona car until 2 months ago, and has never seen cold weather at all. This evening was by far the coldest day yet this winter - about 5 below.
I have had air struts go out in past, got warning message on dash, familiar with symptoms, etc. However, when that occurred, only the corner the strut was leaking would dump.
Anyway, I left my car parked outside for about 5.5 hours. When I came outside, the whole thing was slammed. I am talking 2-3 inches from ground. I was stunned. So I started her up, and raised the suspension. It raised just fine. I proceeded to drive about 10 mins home with zero warning messages on dash.

Could cold weather cause all air to leak out in such a short time span? I found that odd, and again was quite stunned. Thanks

AMGPilot

Moisture in the system probally froze an outflow valve open

Yuille36

I would concur with that assessment

jpohl402

I know front corners have the struts - what is the story with the rears though?

Twice now - first this morning around 8:30am, I came out to the garage & saw (only) the left rear corner sagged over the tire. Rest of car was normal (though unbalanced.)
Raised her up, then set back to Sport 1, & drove the car for 10 mins to destination. NO error messages on dash to check suspension.
About 3.5 hrs later, came outside to the exact SAME issue. Repeated procedure - raised, set to sport 1, drove. Drove for about an hour, no issues or warnings.
Though I suspect next time I come out to car, it will be sagged again. Opinions please?

Yuille36

You have either a bad shock, or it could be the air lines, or distribution block, or air compressor, but most likely its the air shock. Something is not holding air in the shock, that is where the sagging is coming from. I had this same issues in 09, took it in and they had to replace the rear air shock, all under warranty Granted there will be some settling in the suspension, but not sagging to either side, that's unacceptable. Have it checked out, because it can develope in a complete collapse. While the car is running the air compressor is keeping air in the system and shock, it's after the car is shut done this occurs. This in itself can cause the compressor to burn out from the constant running, to supply air.

nanayaw6

OP, although I haven't experienced such a dip in temperature, had an encounter where the temperature dropped by about 20-30 f from the time I parked the car and when I came back to the car discovered it was sitting extremely low. Another forum member confirmed my suspicion that the difference in the density of colder air outside the strut vs that of the less dense(warmer when filled) air in the strut could account for some of this.
Such is seen with tires when the temperature gets cold outside and your tires look like they're almost flat.
Just a theory.

AMGPilot

At the pressures the system operates at temp delta will not cause the ride height to change more than 1/10th of an inch

nanayaw6

I wonder what happened with mine then as that was the only time the height changed so much as I'm always keeping a watchful eye on my fender gaps in anticipation of failure. Temps were about 65 when i was driving and dipped to low 20s when I came back. Only exception I can remember from that day.

AMGPilot

If that was the case ANY car/truck/suv with air suspension would do that and they don't. You most likely seeing the effects of a frozen outflow valve or some other leak in the system

03'55AMG

Mine use to do that too, got a car too low message, waited a few mins, back to normal. this was about 4 years ago and nothing wrong.. but i must admit, when my whole car dropped over the wheels it looked AMAZING! lol

jpohl402

^^^
It has been happening for a week now.
You never got yours fixed? I have been too busy to take it in...

03'55AMG

no i never even worried, when air gets cold it becomes less dense, and the air becomes easier to compress. and there may even be a valve opening because of it. try parking it in a heated garage or building and see what you get.

EDIT: just read your post about only the left rear tire.. that is not normal, take it to the stealership or any one your comfortable with to look at it.
like AMGPilot said, may be a valve or hose somewhere around the rear