Airmatics phantom?

[french]

Over the past 2 weeks my E55 has been showing me "Airmatics visit workshop"?

I had no previous warnings & the car had run perfect when last used , which was about 2 weeks before that.

I put a diag on it & it said Front left damper unit on Y2 had two wires touching?

Ok so I had a look at wires & they looked new from the unit, I separated the plug by the Strut & sprayed contact cleaner & I put a diag on & it said the same again?
Same at the N51 Suspension ECU, plugged it in same error...So after playing around I gave up, before I did I put the C tek on for a day, came out in the morning & the C tek showed the green light with the battery fully charged, tried again & got to the bottom of the road & up came the "Airmatics visit workshop", now before I pulled away the suspension works as it should , Comfort, Sport 1 ,Sport 2 shows up & it raises to the full height?

I thought I'll take it to a garage that has the proper Star equipment & someone who knows how to operate it correctly, so I went there yesterday & up came a load of codes (?) plus the one my machine had shown previously, they said they would clear all codes.
Drove out the garage & up it popped again, they had a look & said all the other had gone so it must be a strut, I asked how it has not dropped in height ever, he said the air part is OK its the damper solenoid thats U.S. & they cannot be repaired so a new strut needed.... Eeek!

When I got home I a friend popped over & I told him my day, he said, " Has the battery been flat at all as this will give spurious codes", I said I had fully charged it two days ago & had just done a 25 mile round trip that day so we had a look with the multi meter 12.38v...he said could be better.
He then told me to not touch the car at all & check the voltage tomorrow afternoon & see what the Volts are then. Next day unlock it( now at this point there was no Airmatics visit workshop showing) so look at the Volts 11.9 & right away up came the "Airmatics visit workshop"...he said your battery is suspect, switched the engine on & 14.1v, so cleared code, engine running , went for a short ride to Halfords about 6 miles , came out it showed 12.2, went to friends house about 20 miles & 26 miles back, all the jouneys the Airmatics suspension was perfect, I went into corners fast to try & aggrevate it but perfect in all settings came home stopped car & it showed 12.3v.
Now my friends has told me that if the Airmatic system see's under 12 v(11.9v) it will trip it into Limp mode until you turn off , he is right on the ball
! Plus as its suddenly got a lot colder & the car was not used for a few weeks this combination is the problem, solution...I am going to invest in a new qualityAGM battery...plus a drink for my (bestest now mate)
So hope this is useful to someone in the future, ...Phew am I happy!

 

[AMGeed]

I hope that a change of battery will cure your problem, but don't celebrate too soon.

My 18month old battery is showing 11.9v one day after a 24hr charge at 6 amps and I only get the convenience message. No false airmatic warnings?
The front battery is also 18months old and OEM. My rear is a Bosch S4, recommended by ECP, but I have my doubts its man enough for the E55.

 

[french]

This is already fitted to mine & the same is gong back on.
Bosch silver 019AGM Battery (S6013/S6002)

 

[Major774]

I used to get the visit workshop message at random times and the raise function would stop working (there was no air leak with the system).

1st attempt - PCS checked the suspension over and reset the suspension settings
2nd attempt - PCS replaced the airmatic pump and I have not seen the message since, and the raise function works all the time

 

[Major774]

I hope that a change of battery will cure your problem, but don't celebrate too soon.

My 18month old battery is showing 11.9v one day after a 24hr charge at 6 amps and I only get the convenience message. No false airmatic warnings?
The front battery is also 18months old and OEM. My rear is a Bosch S4, recommended by ECP, but I have my doubts its man enough for the E55.

I got my battery from MB:

 

[french]

Well its all fine & dandy, no codes or messages & the car is gliding along...having 2nd thoughts now about the new battery, to late I its winging it way towards me, ought to be here tomorrow. I changed the Air pump early last year Major so no problem there, I think its the cold weather & the car has been standing around lately & only been on fairly shortish journeys latel. Wish I could find out when this S6 Bosche was fitted though, looked through the history & no mention, which is odd as it was on Mobilo from 2004 until 2014? still all is good!

 

[french]

Just an update, I fitted a new battery & all was well.
I left it a week & had charged the old battery, a week later & its still showing 12.6v in the shed. So I thought I'd pop it back on to see if its OK, as soon as I connected it back on the car up came the Airmatic sign, but the buttons all work correctly? Fitted new battery back onto the car & to my astonishment the Airmatic visit workshop was still there? Checked all the wiring & it all seems fine, it is still showing the code 5210, saying its an open circuit on the No2 solenoid in the front Y51 damper unit. I have a scanner that can actuate the solenoids, it can make each one work individually, they work except No2, no1 on the same Y51 unit is OK. When I actuate No2 solenoid strangely, the Compressor vibrates for 1 second?

I dis-connected the connector to the strut/damper & actuated the solenoids both showed the same code open circuit & the Compressor vibrated again,
when reconnected fault was only on the one side & compressor vibrates for 1 second ?
I think all the wiring is OK & have narrowed it down (?) to either the N51 control ECu going bonkers or the solenoid in the damper unit Y51/2, has failed.
Why the compressor is being actuated is baffling, the solenoids (1 & 2) function is to actuate the electro-valve switch that controls the dampers/oil flow & stabilse the ride, which again points towards a N51 packing up?

So I guess now its time to find a good Auto electrician to check the wiring properly & then check the N51 Ecu, my money is on the Ecu.

Have a friend who has an RS6, he just ripped his out & was done with it, says he likes the more sporty ride from Coil overs etc. I do like the smoothness when its working correctly...this could change & depends on how much my wallet is expected to lose weight though.

 

[french]

All looks good, wires & Ecu very clean ?

 

[french]

So today I took the strut out, still no air loss just the Code 5210...definitely the electro- damper failing. Seems they cannot be repaired ...well yet anyway, someone somewhere can replace a solenoid. A new compressor last year & now a strut, not bad going really, the strut looks as though its from new & the damper has clearly seen better days so 14 yrs is pretty good going!

 

[french]

Normal service has been resumed...

 

[J4CKO]

Mine has said Malfunction a couple of times but everything works, will a normal common all garden code reader give me a clue, its done 115,000 so might need a pump I expect.