E Class Estate rear suspension height level sensor arm broken

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imh001

New Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2017
Messages
5
Location
Solihull
Car
MB E220 estate
The activair suspension on the car gave a malfunction light and then rose to its fullest extent... and stayed there! - The rear suspension became extremely stiff. We were in Ireland at the time ( not sure if the uneven roads contributed to the problem or not!!) - A very helpful mechanic in Castlebar identified that the problem lay with a broken arm on the rear suspension height sensor, and managed to effect an interim repair with cable ties. I was browsing through and saw that another member (baldbloke)has also had this same problem, and managed to source the replacement arm rather than the full sensor assembly - If anyone can help in providing a source for this item I'd love to hear from them - inevitably the Main dealer is very keen to sell me just the complete assembly whereas Baldbloke managed to obtain the actual bits for £37 in 2016.. Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated!
 
Same here! I reglued mine with Marine grade silicon and has been fine since......
Ideally a new one would be great but I've been unable to locate just the arm. So I await any more info.
 
Thanks Kwer , If I fail to get anywhere with finding the part, I'll try the fix - and if anyone can come up with Baldblokes' source, I'll post it for posterity. -- Couldn't believe how badly the car felt without that suspension!
 
I had the same problem on my W212 E63. The arm that broke on the sensor is plastic. It must be a known problem, the replacement sensor had a metal arm. I don't remember it cost much to repair.
 
imh001 what car do you have ? (i.e what age - is it a W211 or W212 ..)
 
Hi Richard,
Its an E220 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY Executive SE registered on Jan 12
REgards,

Ian
 
Ok, in the case of W211 the arm is available on its own at about £35. In the W212 its the whole sensor and thats well over £100 :-(

R
 
Thanks Richard -
I've had a quote from MB for £360 for fitting a new sensor assembly - it really smarts since the actual issue is just that cheap piece of plastic linkage. It makes you wonder why they changed design.....
I'm looking to buy a second hand sensor assembly and swap over linkages as a first shot - but if it proves not to be possible to source one, then MB spares can afford their Christmas party this year! :)
 
£11 for the arm on a 210...though I affected a repair which lasted me 6 years until I got rid of the car.

I had bought the spare part but never got round to fitting it and in the end sent to an MB owner in Guam...where they were very expensive.
 
I'm another victim of the broken plastic linkage. My car is a 2010 W212 E350 estate, the drivers side ( UK ) rear sensor linkage broke and the rear suspension pumped itself all the way up so the back end of the car was pretty high. The ride was horribly hard, almost as if the rear suspension was locked. Inspected the passenger side linkage and that looked like it was cracked and ready to break too so used the cable tie solution mentioned in the op's first post on both sides and it works a treat. Have to drive to Exeter this weekend so will carry some spare cable ties in the car as a precaution. Have the car booked in to the local MB garage to replace both sensors next week.. not looking forward to the invoice but at least they give me 10% off parts and 40% off labour due to the age of the car.
 
67940617-8454-4388-A246-023969D677D6.jpeg I’m going through this as well with my 2011 S212 E350cdi, I called my indie mechanic and from describing to him that the car (at the time) was stuck high he thinks it’s a stuck linkage. Since I booked the car in the car has dropped. Picture attached is how it sits right now.

Are these the same linkages that are advertised for lowering the rear of airbag’d fitted cars? I’m thinking two birds, one stone and I’m keen to lower the car slightly from its normal height.

Apologies for the thread hijack.
 
From what i can gather these links / sensors form part of the headlamp aim control system ( as well as keeping the car horizontal ). So lowering the suspension has other complications, such as, how do you ensure the headlamp beam is set up correctly??
 
0106F77D-D0FC-4239-ACD6-55E117EED843.jpeg
From what i can gather these links / sensors form part of the headlamp aim control system ( as well as keeping the car horizontal ). So lowering the suspension has other complications, such as, how do you ensure the headlamp beam is set up correctly??

Thanks for that. From what I’ve gathered when people have altered the ride height it’s been done with links and there’s been no mention of repercussions on the headlights.

I took the car to the garage today and they identified the fault as a worn out wire leading to the pump. They said it was a common fault and it was fixed in 20mins whilst I waited.
 
From what I’ve gathered when people have altered the ride height it’s been done with links and there’s been no mention of repercussions on the headlights.

If the car is lowered too much, the self levelling xenons may need recalibrating with Star.
I've had mine done when the headlight aim failed the MOT last year. (a W211 E55).
 
If the car is lowered too much, the self levelling xenons may need recalibrating with Star.
I've had mine done when the headlight aim failed the MOT last year. (a W211 E55).

Cheers :)
 
I have a similar issue with a 2008 S211 (w211 estate) in that the drivers side (uk) is riding higher than the passenger side.
I am reading conflicting information concerning the levelling sensor.
Does the w211 estate have a single sensor somewhere in the centre of rear axle or does it have two one for each rear wheel as mentioned in cjohnson6 post #11 ?

If it only has a single level sensor than how can this affect differing height on a single side, I would think it would only act on both side at the same time.
 
There is only one on the rear axle...it's on the driver's side.
 
From what i can gather these links / sensors form part of the headlamp aim control system ( as well as keeping the car horizontal ). So lowering the suspension has other complications, such as, how do you ensure the headlamp beam is set up correctly??
provided you lower the car evenly, the headlamp dipped beam angle will not change, so no issue, and of course you can still edjust the headlamps manually for initial setup anyway
 

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