Hi everyone, once again my beautiful 2003 E320 designo make my life a misery. I'm on a road trip with my 72 y.o. dad trough the montains of northern Mexico and then the airmatic, well, just the left front wheel (or both, it's night here ) is gone, the car looks like a bull defiyng a matador, and drives like ****, the wheel hits the car with every hole on the road. The nearest dealer is about 600 miles from here, and tomorrow is sunday, everything will be close. Please somebody help me to fix this thing!I can't believe this!

 

Hi,

You say it has only gone down on the front.
Unusual for BOTH fronts to give a problem and not the back.
One front could be a straight leak in either the pipework or strut.
Both fronts and no back suggests electronic problem since two valves would have to be shut in the valve block whilst the other two are open.

Pump situated behind wheel arch protection on RH side with attached distribution valve block.
Does the airmatic pump run with the ignition on and the car low.

If YES you have an air leak, faulty height sensors or the valve block / ECU control has gone bad.
If No then maybe the fuse on the pump feed is gone. Don't have a fuse chart with me but it is a heavy amp fuse in one of the engine bay black boxes.
Other than ignition OFF and then ON there is little you can do by the roadside.

Do you have "Warning do not drive"?
This warning is displayed when the car is low and on/near the bump stops.
Basically you have no suspension travel or bump absorbtion capability and therefore vehicle ride and stability / braking etc are adversely affected because of the lack of correct ride height and springing.

Likely you will have to decide whether to get the car recovered or proceed VERY SLOWLY as far as YOU consider prudent.....next garage/township. Your call.

Good luck.

 

Thank u very much snanceki. The air pump is working and I can hear the air leaking somewhere in the left side of the front. The car is so low I can't turn the wheels properly without touching the wheel arch. Is there any chance to fix this leak on the road, I mean applying a glue or something to the plastic pipe? Does these cars stops running when this happens? I don't want to have a shut off car in the middle of a Mexican desert. There is a red sign in the dash that says height not sufficient, go to the shop.

 

come on guys! give me some insider's view. Tomorrow I'll let you all know how a teutonic car adapted himself to a mexican road mechanic. Imagine what we will do to these thing. 600 miles to the nearest dealer. Great ha, next time I'll buy a Nissan Sentra, Jajajaja.

 

if the air matic pump was not workin all levls would have been down ,wat you need to do is check the side which is not on level by using the car jack ,wat you ll find is on the top ball joint there is a plastic rod if that is brocken the ride hight will be down check that first before anything,very very common on the e class and the s class,let me no hoe you get on...... the pump on your model is suituated on the front not on the right,right side is only on s clases.

 

thank u naz, i found a dealer around 100 miles from here, i'll try to drive the car there. Is there any chance that the car stop running because of these?

 

Hi MBMEX,

Car won't stop running due to this airmatic problem but you need to be careful if you are on the bump stops...i.e. suspension fully down.

Stuart

 

Well, I finally managed to get into a MB dealer. They revised the car and it was the LH shock absorber leaking air. They didn`t have it in stock and charged me $ 120.00 for the revision. After 4 more hours driving this thing, and after a more than half a dozen scratches in the down side of the front bumper I finally arrived to my dealer. They want 1,200 for one shock absorber, which for me is a reap off. Mercedes make great but unreliable cars and makes a lot of $$$$ selling us, their victims, very expensive spare parts. Please if somebody help me with the price of the shock and if I need to change both.

 

I saw the pump, it is located on the left side front. They replaced a small plastic pipe, for an improved model, the one with a black rubber protection, for $ 33.00

 

The strut (shock absorber to you) are VERY expensive. Period.
In the UK we have the GBP for USD rip off in addition.

"Best practice" is to change both (a bit like tyres on the same axle) at once BUT not essential.

The key is where is the strut leaking, Internally or at the top mounting.
If at the top mounting there is a non MB kit available to repair this at MUCH lower cost. Need to SEARCH this forum for details of where the kit is available.

I'll bet it is leaking at the top as I stated in my PM to you.

Stuart