S212 Airmatic ‘Malfunction’

[SinaW212]

Hi all,

Since a few months ago the rear left suspension couldn’t hold the height for more than a half a day, but when I started the car it could just raise the vehicle to normal height, it also happened to the left front side a few times.

Earlier today I got a puncture and had to mount the space saver spare. After fixing the tyre, the left side of the of the vehicle remained lower than the right side. I tried manually raising the vehicle and put it back down, I can hear the compressor working and I see both sides move up and down, but the left side always remain lower than the right side.

The star machine didn’t find and logged errors and there was no errors on the display. Until earlier this evening that the error message ‘Malfunction’ showed up on screen (photo attached).

Any ideas about this? Where should I begin? In case of a leakage, do I need to replace the whole air struts and only parts?

Thanks in advance.

 

[phobos]

You most likely have a leak on one of the lines. Had a similar issue on my old S212 where one of the lines had a cut. Luckily, it was very easy to repair as Mercedes sell a part, where you can cut the line, remove the cut / damaged, broken portion and use a metal joint to link the both ends of the line again. Pricewise, I think it was around £50 GBP. A star machine can also run preassure tests, but I would star by spraying soapy water on the valve block / lines to see if any of them "bubble".

 

[Londonscottish]

In my case it was one of the rear air bellows. Bought a pair of Arnotts at around £260 ea IIRC from Autodoc. They seem to go at around 10 years old.