sl500london

Hi All,


UK Owner here !


So I bought my late 2015 E63 from an MB main dealer back in October 2018 with 17,130 miles on it.


Car is now at 21,260 miles.


Here it is :





Over the last few days, initially I thought I was imagining it, but the OSR seemed like it had dropped overnight when I got to my car to take it out for a drive.


Today I thought I am going to take a photo, before waking the car up by unlocking it. I then took a photo immediately after unlocking it. I did not start up the car or even sit in it, simply an unlock by touching the door handle (key less go etc).




Pre :









Post :













Stupidly I did not take both photos from the same exact position, but I am 100% sure its clear to see that it sits much lower before waking the car up, plus I watched it rise within a few seconds.


From what I understand these cars do not drop overnight unless there is some form of leak from a rear air spring. The original owner definitely did not tick any Citroen DS option that I can see from the VIN data card


Also equally stupidly I did not take a similar set of photos from the NSR.


Any ideas guys and girls, or similar experiences ??


I have read that these rear air springs do fail and sometime in their youth too....


What is the general duty cycle of these rear air springs ? They do not drop overnight and then re fill once the car is started up right ?


Also I do hope that if the rear spring has failed or is failing, that MB do the right thing and replace it under warranty (apparently I have a 2 year warranty as an AUC AMG MB from time of purchase, 10/2018 to 10/2020)


The only thing I think they could argue is the weight of our pretty much ONLY rear seat passenger. He is the only chap that sits in the rear of the car, and coincidentally too, on the Offside and he weighs 20Lb, is Heston our Pug :







Thanks for reading !

timm206

I have a 2016, around 21k miles. Seems like you have a small airleak somewhere, my car sits for 15-30 days at times without being started and it doesnt drop one bit.

Nice combo btw that paint looks awesome! Good luck finding the issue.

5soko

Without reading any codes that might be stored or shadow codes, might be hard to pinpoint..
Us as customers dont have easy access to star diagnostics that can run a few test to pinpoint the issue more easily..

but our air suspension isnt very complex at all..

Im no air suspension expert but,
in your case, might be either the bag or the valve block that might have a small leak.. the lines dont usually leak on these cars or the reservoir tank.
since it looks like the pump is working aswell, leaves only those 2 as the main suspects.

From most common to least:
-The air bag can have a small leak somewhere in its body.. or at times the connection at the bag/airline is faulty and leaks..
-The valve block; when the car is off, which should lock the air lines to the bags to hold pressure via valves. The valve blocks inner seals might be leaking because of age or wear, or the valves are not completely closing, hence leaking air slowly.. Solution would be a new valve block.
-An air line to each bag, 2 total, is leaking somewhere within the line..

Are both sides sagging Equally?
try putting it in comfort, and check to see which side sags in the morning.

great write up aswell, prob best issue write up i have read in a long time lol

EckFe1

Not quite correct. Lift up the car and follow the left side exhaust pipe where the pipe separates from the center of the car towards the rear axle. There is an almost 90° bend with a piece of heat shield next to it. The air line for the shock is routed directly behind it and can possibly melt or burn a bit.
That would be my guess.

kevy3

bump for pug and e63 member!!! Cheers

Vrodman

2015 here and mine squats like that after about 7 to 10 days of sitting in the garage untouched.

As someone above mentioned, you likely have a small leak. If you bought the MB ELW, You are covered under that warranty.

Billmiranda

Looks like an air leak. I just had the entire rear end replaced on my MY14 wagon... It wound up being a TINY little crack in a hose. Issues like this WILL NOT generate an error code, at least not a persistent one. I had gotten one "Minor Air Leak" warning once but hooking up my scanner (Autel DS808) and the Dealer's scanner... nothing after that one error. If you are going to look for the issue yourself,.. soap up everything from the manifold and look for bubbles. People with throw money at this issue without any real troubleshooting... which is what my dealer did to my benefit (have a complete new rear end now - under warrantee).

sl500london

Thank you very much !

Yes its most likely an air leak from the actual air spring...let's see, I'll be taking it back to my supplying dealer for an inspection.

sl500london

Thank you very much for your kind words and also your analysis !!

I note your points well and will be looking into them all, well my MB Dealer will as its still under warranty. If it wasn't I'd be under the car doing some diagnosing for myself. Anyway lets see what they say and then I'll make a plan.

Good point about which side is dropping or both the same....One side only would indicate an air spring on that side I suppose, unless there is a fail safe that would match both sides in the event ONLY on side has dropped....I'm a bit new to this platform....been daily driving ///M cars for over 10 years.

sl500london

Thanks ! Good to know and noted !

sl500london

Haha thanks !! My girlfriend and I are besotted with him....send over a photo of yours please !

sl500london

Thanks !! We have different terminology over here (London, United Kingdom) but from what I understand I should be covered fine on this system.

sl500london

Thanks ! I see what you are saying.

I'll first get MB to have a look and go from there. I am not one to take the "they all do that Sir..." kind of response, especially when its quite clear the system is not performing as intended.

Kind of hoping they go in blind and throw everything at it...(Is that being selfish ? Possibly, but its not like they are going to let me join them in trying to diagnose the issue standing under the car on their ramps.

Let's see how it goes !

PS : Since ever driving cars formally (26 years and counting) I've had always had second hand cars, NO warranty etc etc up until 2015 when I bought a brand new BMW M6 Gran Coupe, did 26,000 hard miles in it with zero issues. With this one I bought it used with 17,000 miles at 3 years old from a MB Dealer who issue a 2 year warranty on it. My point is this whole warranty and main dealer service department scenario is all very new to me. I am used to spannering myself and if very complex my network of trusted indys do stuff for me, whilst I sort of help out where I can.

sl500london

So I used masking tape, not necessarily to measure exactly, but to see how evident this drop was.


Before :


NSR






OSR








AFTER !! :


NSR






OSR








Without taking measurements the OSR seems to suffer slightly more than the NSR.


Anyway I feel there is a clear issue here. This was measured after about 72 hours of being parked up.


I shall update after my MB dealer have a look at it

5soko

Nice experiment! Yea i would agree, there is an issue, that drops a bit too low for sure.. L side is def not as bad as the right..
If i had to guess, either the bag is leaking on the right side, or there is a leak in the valve block for that side..
Dealer will prob throw both new parts at it.. keep us updated!