CLS Airmatic issue - advice please

[J16SBR]

Hi All,

I have a 2006 320cdi with airmatic, has had the front suspension refreshed about 3000 miles ago, last night the drivers front suspension went down....i started the car and it lifted as normal. Drove about 100 feet and the red "car too low warning" flashed up. Its completely down now on the front corner.

The rest work fine, also when i start the car, it lifts but then goes down..

Any ideas before i start sourcing a replacement airbag/suspension strut?

I can hear the compressor working but am dreading a big bill...

Any advice on where to check first is greatly appreciated. Ive read about blocked valves, split air bags, blocked hoses...

It has been a great car since ive had it regardless of a few issues

 

[television]

It could be a failed strut, but these are dead cheap now as other firms selling them. As only one corner it could be just a strut or pipe leaking, on STAR this can virtually pin point the problem.

 

[J16SBR]

was a failed strut, replacement form air dominance with a warranty approx £500 with the old unit going back to the supplier, got it from Mario and A1 merc, great service if you need parts...

 

[television]

was a failed strut, replacement form air dominance with a warranty approx £500 with the old unit going back to the supplier, got it from Mario and A1 merc, great service if you need parts...

Not nice when that happens, but not a bad price at all, much cheaper than it used to be. Shame that no one is doing the hydraulic struts yet.

 

[Hardaker]

was a failed strut, replacement form air dominance with a warranty approx £500 with the old unit going back to the supplier, got it from Mario and A1 merc, great service if you need parts...

I am looking for a rear suspension strut for my W220 and you say this company is OK? I note they are based in London. I have had a nasty experience of a company selling cheap Chinese copies so a bit wary.

 

[television]

There is a company over here doing replacement airmatic struts, but do you have a strut problem.

 

[lyserman]

Hardaker,
Have a look here:
http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/arnott-remanufactured-mercedes-benz-s-class-w220-1999-2006-w-airmatic-rear-air-strut-left-or-right/

 

[thefibreguy]

I had the EXACT fault, but it was the sensor connecting rod in the passenger wheel arch. The ball joint had ceased, & snapped off!! £15, & 10 mins later, all sorted!!

Hope this is your problem.

Regards

 

[Hardaker]

Buying from Air Dominance.

I did buy a rear suspension unit for my W220 from Air Dominance, which is now on the car. I still have the problem of it going down. Need another offside front. The cost from Air Dominance was £259 plus £60 deposit to be repaid when the old one is sent back. Air Dominance pay the return post. It was returned (collected from me) a week ago from writing this post.
All this sounds good except for a couple of things. 1) I cannot find a receipt and don't think I had one. 2) Getting the £60 back. Now there is another thing. I have phoned and emailed somebody called Vince but no refund. This problem is now a week old. Vince phones and apologises for some finger trouble at his end hence the none payment of the £60 back onto my credit card. I was going to buy more from this company but the way this is going I don't think I will be doing that.
I am searching this forum to see if anybody else has bought from them but only one reference from somebody where the person who repaired his car bought from them.
You never know; £60 may appear in my card account tomorrow but I don't hold out much hope.
I bought this item on a credit card, which has not used for a long time; using a debit card there is no help if things go wrong. I don't know if the card company will help me with the £60 refund but I may be going to find out.

 

[star]

I did buy a rear suspension unit for my W220 from Air Dominance, which is now on the car. I still have the problem of it going down. Need another offside front. The cost from Air Dominance was £259 plus £60 deposit to be repaid when the old one is sent back. Air Dominance pay the return post. It was returned (collected from me) a week ago from writing this post.
All this sounds good except for a couple of things. 1) I cannot find a receipt and don't think I had one. 2) Getting the £60 back. Now there is another thing. I have phoned and emailed somebody called Vince but no refund. This problem is now a week old. Vince phones and apologises for some finger trouble at his end hence the none payment of the £60 back onto my credit card. I was going to buy more from this company but the way this is going I don't think I will be doing that.
I am searching this forum to see if anybody else has bought from them but only one reference from somebody where the person who repaired his car bought from them.
You never know; £60 may appear in my card account tomorrow but I don't hold out much hope.
I bought this item on a credit card, which has not used for a long time; using a debit card there is no help if things go wrong. I don't know if the card company will help me with the £60 refund but I may be going to find out.

We purchased a strut from them, fitted it but it was still going down, although a little slower. They sent a replacement, which we didn't even bother to fit as the clips on the boot weren't even fitted correctly ( I took pics) Sent that back for full refund inc postage, after a couple of calls all was refunded. Purchased one from MB, no more problems.

 

[Hardaker]

More on Air Dominance.

There was a twist of fate in this concluding message. I was looking at my Barclaycard account on my Barclays app then it disappeared. A 'what happened to it' phone call from the bank, using their direct line phone, got little sense from the person I spoke to after getting past the robot. All I could get was 'Install the Barclaycard app'. Reluctantly I did this. After a frustrating setup session I found that Air Dominance had indeed given me the £60 for the returned unit some days ago. I had to 'add another card' to the app so I could pay off the outstanding amount, less the £60 refund.
It seems that Air Dominance like to use PayPal as, according to Vince, I would have had the refund much quicker.
I note he comment about the poor quality of the products (refurbished units) and the purchase of the much more expensive unit from Mercedes - £1000 a strut, which is a lot more than the £259 Air Dominance charge.

 

[Hardaker]

More on Air Dominance.

We purchased a strut from them, fitted it but it was still going down, although a little slower. They sent a replacement, which we didn't even bother to fit as the clips on the boot weren't even fitted correctly ( I took pics) Sent that back for full refund inc postage, after a couple of calls all was refunded. Purchased one from MB, no more problems.

I sent this quote on to Air Dominance who reply: "I can remember we had some troubles with the seals because the manufacturer supplied bad batch seals, little difference in the size it was very difficult to catch it and we had some returns. After changing the supplier we haven`t got any returns."

I am aware there is a difference between a garage fixing a problem with a car. They want the job done and do not want it to come back. There is no mention of the 400% increase in the cost of the part as the garage is not paying for it - the customer is. On the other hand there is a person with a 12 year old S320 trying to be economical with costs and friends in the trade doing the work on their ramp with the owner's assistance. (whenever I visit these friends I usually get sucked into some job or other) How much is a 12 year old S320 worth? Mercedes solution to the rear offside going down was just over £2000. They had to agree that was not far on what the car might be worth. I am not going to bother asking as to why the situation changes if I park it the other way round on a slight slope.

I am reasonably confident that Air Dominance, who are in the UK, not China or Germany, are OK. I am going to replace the air control valve unit (under the headlight I am told) also the front offside unit, which is knocking. No rush on that as it does not go down, but I think it would be best to have the car on the ramp to change the air control valve.

While my work in science was mainly electronics plus operating a proton synchrotron, I have learned quite a bit about air suspension systems since this problem on my car appeared.

 

[star]

I fully understand the cost implications of buying oe parts when fitting to older cars, however we are caught in the middle, we fitted said part to a fully loaded 221 s class, only to be called by the owner saying that it went down over the weekend. Now this makes us look bad, we only charged out at just over cost. Now if we fitted another faulty strut, we would run the risk of loosing said customer. We discussed the options and purchased from mb. (Car worth more than a few grand tho)

We have no problem with fitting reconditioned parts, (air Dom never mentioned a problem with undersized seals) or s/hand parts as long as the customer purchases them or understands there is a limited warranty so we are not stuck in the middle doing the job twice for nothing due to no fault of our own should it turn out faulty. I took pic of both struts but won't post on here.

I am sure air dominance products air of fair quality but after fitting a faulty one and the other not looking good, I couldn't take the risk.

 

[IndyHiggie]

2008 W211 E550 base

I had my passenger front drop a week ago, (@164150 kilometers) and have been reading as many posts as possible, as I too want to be relatively certain before I buy a replacement. It appears as I read that the strut may not drop all the way down, but still be bad. This is how mine behaves. Start the car, car rising message comes on, I hear the pump and see the corner rise, it only raises 20mm, and is still 25mm below the operators front. I never hear an air leak, but honestly at near 60 years old, I don't hear that well. I shut it off, and the next morning the pass front will have dropped that 20mm. Since I figured the strut was going in as a core anyway, I unhooked the airline on top, then started the car for just a few seconds. The compressor was pushing air down the line, but what surprised me, the strut made a loud air loss sound, and dropped the fender almost onto the tire, a good 25mm lower than the over night leak out.

Since Arnott is US based, I've considered their reman.~$500 after core return., or even their new/improved airstrut ~$575 USD after old strut rebate. I've also seen new Bilstein airstruts for about $725 USD:

With the single passenger front overnight leak down, unable to rise to match the operators side, or be safe to drive, sound like strut time?

 

[Mr Filipov]

I had my passenger front drop a week ago, (@164150 kilometers) and have been reading as many posts as possible, as I too want to be relatively certain before I buy a replacement. It appears as I read that the strut may not drop all the way down, but still be bad. This is how mine behaves. Start the car, car rising message comes on, I hear the pump and see the corner rise, it only raises 20mm, and is still 25mm below the operators front. I never hear an air leak, but honestly at near 60 years old, I don't hear that well. I shut it off, and the next morning the pass front will have dropped that 20mm. Since I figured the strut was going in as a core anyway, I unhooked the airline on top, then started the car for just a few seconds. The compressor was pushing air down the line, but what surprised me, the strut made a loud air loss sound, and dropped the fender almost onto the tire, a good 25mm lower than the over night leak out.

Since Arnott is US based, I've considered their reman.~$500 after core return., or even their new/improved airstrut ~$575 USD after old strut rebate. I've also seen new Bilstein airstruts for about $725 USD:

With the single passenger front overnight leak down, unable to rise to match the operators side, or be safe to drive, sound like strut time?

For the sake of saving a few USD, why not just take it to someone with the proper kit who should and probably will find exactyl where the failt is? Yes it will cost a bit more but sure enough a lot less than replacing a part which is perfect working order. Just because the symptoms might be the same as next person on this thread, it does not mean it will be the same part.

 

[IndyHiggie]

Good advice Mr Filipov, I wish there was an Independent around here I trusted. A M-B owner who doesn't use one of the two dealerships in central Indiana, seems rare. I've done a lot of my own work on the many American cars I've owned, and basically decided that as everyone reports the airstruts to have a specific life span, like most automotive moving parts, combined with the fact that I really do plan to keep this one, or pass it to my son, I'm going to replace both front struts anyway.

The best news, I just finished the dropped right corner an hour ago with one of the globally known reman.s and I'm back level again!!

I'll see if it holds pressure overnight, but before the replacement, it would only raise to 24.75 inches with the raise car button on, now it matches the operators side at 27 inches.