Hello all.
05 e55 w211 here.

i have a weird issue with my front left airsuspension strut.
it is not leak, torn, or worn.

but the problem is.
i cannot deflate the air bag.

heres my story.

my car has been uneven most of the time. ( about a year now) i tried to accept it
the left side is always 20mm higher than the right side. yes the whole left side of the car. front and back,
i accept it as 'normal' condition.

so one day i brough tinto an indy shop to have it calibrated automatically.
sure enough the left front is higher (as expected).
but when he press F3 to start calibrating. the rear and right starts moving to calibrate itself back to zero. while the left didnt move at all.

curious. we thought it was the levelling sensor..
check the voltage. the voltage reads lower than the parameter range ( about 1.6v)
we tested the level sensor. voltage input is fine. we unplug the lower lift and manual play around. sure enugh the voltage on the screen increases/decrease) so level sensor is fine.

now we try to manually release the air on the left bag thru star.
the pressure reads about 8 bar in the beginning...
when we press start to release. the pressure bar reads 2 bar immediately but the the strut doesnt let any gas and the car doesnt lower. (suspicious number 1.)

we tried releasing the right side.
pressure read about 8 bar
press start and the pressure bar decreases incrementally (not immediately like the left)and the car lowers..

ok. so. then i think. why doesnt the left bag deflates and car lowers like the right?

so we took thing a step further.
after checking out manually deflating airmatic strut from fcpeuro from kyle.
we decided to test it manually by jumping it on 9volt battery.

i can hear the solenoid clicking but no air comes out. (weird)

i tried it on the right dtrut. same clicking noise on solenoid but no ar comes out.

so back to the drawing board.

now what we did was.
we unplugged the airlines.
(car is normal level (left still higher than right)
bag still holds pressure.

when i went into star and release pressur on right strut.
upon entering the menu immediately the air from the strut is released....we havent even pressed start yet..(suspicious)

now that the car is flat. we try to pump air back into the bag.
now. both left and right strut the airlines are unplugged.
we went to fill strut in star...
we chose right ( because the right is deflated)
and sure enough the airlines pumps out air as it should... but....
the left strut airlines is also pumping air..(suspicious. shouldnt it suppose to be because i chose right strut in star menu)

so my questions..
is this problem with my left strut valve solenoid? ( the black electronic thing on top of the strut)
or is this the valve block problem?

why can't i deflate my left strut both from star and manually.
i can deflate my right strut thru star but not manually like Kyle did in fcpeuro.
link below

also why does filling up my right strut, also inflates my left strut. is this normal?

sorry for the long post.
any help and inputs are appreciated.
thank you.

 

It sounds like you have a stuck valve inside the air strut, and you might need to replace the entire air-strut. And if the air will not release the bag might need to be cut in order to get it out in order to replace it.