My E350 Sport Estate 2012 has the air rear suspension. If not driven for 24hrs it deflates down to the buffers I guess.

[SG E350]

When the car is started I am told "the car is rising" and 20 second later the flag clears and all is normal. It runs level and reacts to being loaded. Can anyone give me a steer, I guess there is a release valve somewhere.

 

[Wighty]

When the car is started I am told "the car is rising" and 20 second later the flag clears and all is normal. It runs level and reacts to being loaded. Can anyone give me a steer, I guess there is a release valve somewhere.

I’m guessing you have a slight leak in the bags, pipework or pump . Not sure how you pin it down , maybe spray soapy water on everything when it’s up in the air and see if you can spot the leak ?

 

[Blobcat]

Air bags leak after time - this can lead to the compressor burning out due to excessive runtime - spray soapy water on the bags and lines and hopefully you'll see bubbles where it's leaking

 

[SG E350]

Further to my deflating Airmatic suspension. I've just had a walking holiday in Devon where I left the car in an hotel car park for 4 days untouched. The parking bay was level east west across the car and about 10 percent north south. I parked the car nose up the slope and left it returning 4 days later. There was no drop on the suspension and no "Caution vehicle rising" warning when firing her up. My drive is level north south with a slope east west and it deflates overnight. If there was a sight leak then why would its relationship to level make any difference? Does anyone have any thoughts before I replace the bags and may possibly have the same issue. How does the car know if is level and how does it loose air if required.

 

[AjEvs]

FOLLOWING THE THREAD!!
...as I have identical, except when I park on the nearside curb (with slight slope to that side) the nearside rear deflates (and to some degree the offside rear does also but not as much) but when I park on the other side of the road (slight slope in opposite direction) they do not go down much at all.

they def go down more when its cold but expect that as air does that.

 

[mioba]

Not easily visible with soapy water if its the rubber sleeves of the bags. The rubber sleeves simply become porous and air dissipates out.

 

[Blobcat]

Further to my deflating Airmatic suspension. I've just had a walking holiday in Devon where I left the car in an hotel car park for 4 days untouched. The parking bay was level east west across the car and about 10 percent north south. I parked the car nose up the slope and left it returning 4 days later. There was no drop on the suspension and no "Caution vehicle rising" warning when firing her up. My drive is level north south with a slope east west and it deflates overnight. If there was a sight leak then why would its relationship to level make any difference? Does anyone have any thoughts before I replace the bags and may possibly have the same issue. How does the car know if is level and how does it loose air if required.

Can depend on where the leak is, it might just have been blocked in the slight difference of parking.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Just had both my rear airbags replaced same year and car they start to leak intermittently at first so check the airlines but I very much doubt you have a leak there. I fitted Arnott both sides and all good in fact the car rides much better

 

[SG E350]

I've booked it in for a pair of Arnotts in my local garage

 

[alexanderfoti]

212s are common for rubbing the plastic lines in the plastic undertray that covers the spare wheel well. Definitely worth checking that before forking out for bags

 

[Ian Vincent]

i have just replaced all the lines and spring units on my W212 E class estate. It was suffering from intermittent suspension droop. My local independent MB garage was asking for £1250 for just the spring units - I did it myself and the parts (valvel block, replacement lines and two new air suspension springs) cost just under £400. Took a day to replace everything.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

i have just replaced all the lines and spring units on my W212 E class estate. It was suffering from intermittent suspension droop. My local independent MB garage was asking for £1250 for just the spring units - I did it myself and the parts (valvel block, replacement lines and two new air suspension springs) cost just under £400. Took a day to replace everything.

Who manufactured the air springs?

 

[alexanderfoti]

Who manufactured the air springs?

Yes, they were quoting mb oem parts, no doubt aftermarket is cheaper!

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Yes, they were quoting mb oem parts, no doubt aftermarket is cheaper!

Whatever the OP bought they seem extremely cheap just wondered who made them

 

[alexanderfoti]

Whatever the OP bought they seem extremely cheap just wondered who made them

For sure, There's some really cheap no brand ones available, ymmv!

 

[Ian Vincent]

I have just been through the saga of curing (I hope) an intermittent collapsing of the rear of my MB 212 Estate. I took it to a local independent MB specialist who recommended a new pair of airbags at a cost of £1250. As my problem was intermittent, I thought it unlikely that it was the airbags and declined, instead I ordered a new valve unit and a set of replacement lines at a total cost of just under £100 and spent half a day replacing all the lines and the valve block. It made no difference; the intermittent problem remained and it wasn't as if the parking location could be to blame as generally the car is parked outside my house on the level drive and sometimes it deflated and sometimes it stayed up.

So, last week I bit the bullet and ordered a pair of new airbags from a company called Aerosus. They aren't original OEM and they aren't Arnotts but since they only cost £270 delivered for the pair, I thought I give them a go. Another half a day spent fitting and the problem appears to be solved. The car has been in regular use since last Tuesday but the suspension is still up.

For any prospective DIY mechanics out there, there are plenty of videos on the web showing how to replace the airbags and it isn't a complicated job. For me, the most challenging is getting a heavy car up on axle stands because the stands need to sit under the jacking points which prevents me jacking there and if I jack under the rear differential it's a lot to lift and I can feel my little 2t trolley jack straining. The only other issue I had was that I don't think the valves used in my replacement units are genuine Voss which made it a lot more difficult to push the polyamide airline into the valve without damaging it.

I have since stripped the outer cover off the airbag units that I removed and pumped them up in an effort to find the leak. There were no obvious holes in the rubber but I found a very slight (and I do mean slight) leak around the bottom of the rubber bag where it is clamped to the base unit. I can only assume that depending on how the unit settled after a drive determined whether or not the unit would leak.

Hope this helps someone if they have the same problem.

Rgds Ian

 

[Ian Vincent]

Who manufactured the air springs?

I have provided a more detailed description of my experience above. As it says, my replacement units were supplied by a company called Aerosus and were supplied from Germany. Clearly at that price, they aren't OEM but in one respect they are superior to the OEM units because the ones I removed have the Voss valves screwing directly into the nylon top unit and it is easy to cross thread and strip the threads. The Aerosus replacements have a brass insert which gives much greater confidence in the valve being correctly inserted. If they don't last then there are plenty of alternative offerings on the Autodoc site including some they claim are OEM quality at about £450 each down to Ridex at about £270 each. I'm happy to be a guinea pig and see how the cheaper units perform.
Rgds Ian

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

I have provided a more detailed description of my experience above. As it says, my replacement units were supplied by a company called Aerosus and were supplied from Germany. Clearly at that price, they aren't OEM but in one respect they are superior to the OEM units because the ones I removed have the Voss valves screwing directly into the nylon top unit and it is easy to cross thread and strip the threads. The Aerosus replacements have a brass insert which gives much greater confidence in the valve being correctly inserted. If they don't last then there are plenty of alternative offerings on the Autodoc site including some they claim are OEM quality at about £450 each down to Ridex at about £270 each. I'm happy to be a guinea pig and see how the cheaper units perform.
Rgds Ian

There are a lot of cheap Chinese copies out there so due diligence is required, Arnott are my choice, just had two fitted at £350 ea

 

[Ian Vincent]

There are a lot of cheap Chinese copies out there so due diligence is required, Arnott are my choice, just had two fitted at £350 ea

I bought them knowing they were cheap units. If they fail prematurely, so be it but looking at them there is nothing complicated about the unit, it's a rubber tube sealed at each end and covered in a plastic concertina type dust cover. I guess it will be a question of how long the rubber lasts - the original MB units lasted 10 years so if they do 5 years, I'll be happy.
Rgds Ian

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

It generally is down to how porous the rubber becomes relative to age, I’ll be happy with 5-10 years, having said that I may change the car next year so it may not be relevant