Stop Car Too Low.

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For the last few months after a short while driving have been getting the raise car visit workshop alarm on the dash (in white), it clears every time and does not come back up until after I park up and then restart and drive off.

No air leaks, car sits as it should, I thought it must be a faulty sensor.

Quick visit to Olly at PCS this morning plugged into star and its showing pump not reaching its optimum value, so the pump is on the way out and Olly said he could hear it more than it should normally be, so booked in for a new one, last thing I want is a slammed car with the red warning stranded somewhere out in the sticks, its the original pump so now ten years old.

P.S. The new pump comes with electrical loom/relay which can also age and burn out and can cause more problems so new pump for me rather than a repair kit
 
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The relay is a very standard piece at under £10. Not sure what you mean about the wiring aging, but I certainly wouldn't worry about any degradation of wiring on a 10 year old car.

It's your money and your choice and if it gives you piece of mind then it's probably worth every penny.
 
I like the idea of a £20 fix but I think I am of the same opinion as you Ginger55K.

It's the hassle factor as I use the car every day and waking up to it being slammed means I have to tit around getting it recovered yadder yadder.

Mine also does exactly the same as yours as well so mine is probably the original (if the 5 year thing is not true) - not once daily like I said above but once per trip. It's got worse because it was every now and then previously.
 
I tried the £20 fix on my pump, I too was getting STAR error about pump being unable to reach pressure. Once I took mine apart to fit replacement seals, which was not easy as bolts seized and snapped, I then found that the threads on air pipe were sha*gged...

So in the end I replaced the pump with one from Arnott

I also had a faulty strut, not a problem with leaking but problem with ADS solenoid

No errors at all now...
 
The relay is a very standard piece at under £10. Not sure what you mean about the wiring aging, but I certainly wouldn't worry about any degradation of wiring on a 10 year old car.

It's your money and your choice and if it gives you piece of mind then it's probably worth every penny.

Aging may have been the wrong choice of word but worst case scenario has been a pump constantly on burning out the relay and damaging the cable, as for the repair kit no good for me as its not leaking its the pump not running as it should and making a noise, mechanical wear and tare of a ten year old pump.
 
For the last few months after a short while driving have been getting the raise car visit workshop alarm on the dash (in white), it clears every time and does not come back up until after I park up and then restart and drive off.

No air leaks, car sits as it should, I thought it must be a faulty sensor.

Quick visit to Olly at PCS this morning plugged into star and its showing pump not reaching its optimum value, so the pump is on the way out and Olly said he could hear it more than it should normally be, so booked in for a new one, last thing I want is a slammed car with the red warning stranded somewhere out in the sticks, its the original pump so now ten years old.

P.S. The new pump comes with electrical loom/relay which can also age and burn out and can cause more problems so new pump for me rather than a repair kit
Sounds like a similar problem that I have since I have bought my car. Car is showing no leaks, got my car booked in at PCS on Thursday.
 
OK so slight development today (this is playing out in real time it seems).

I went in the garage today and unlocked the car but didn't get in it straight away. Airmatic normally dicks around for a bit but today I can hear the pump (normally I don't hear it) and it definitely doesn't sound right - same as Ginger55K's I suspect.

Seems like 10 years is about the age for a typical Airmatic pump then...

I don't think the car will be slammed if it fails though will it as I don't have any leaks (as far as I am aware) in my Airmatic - won't it just ride lower?
 
OK so slight development today (this is playing out in real time it seems).

I went in the garage today and unlocked the car but didn't get in it straight away. Airmatic normally dicks around for a bit but today I can hear the pump (normally I don't hear it) and it definitely doesn't sound right - same as Ginger55K's I suspect.

Seems like 10 years is about the age for a typical Airmatic pump then...

I don't think the car will be slammed if it fails though will it as I don't have any leaks (as far as I am aware) in my Airmatic - won't it just ride lower?

Mine was 6 1/2 years and 90k miles when it failed. The car will get progressively lower even with no leaks. Mine lasted a couple of weeks with the visit workshop sign coming up and was only slightly lower than normal when it went in for replacement.

The sad thing about the pump is that they are just rubbish quality. I have a cheap £15 air pump to blow up tyres which is about the same quality. God knows where the extra £200 or so goes into the price!
 
JohnEboy, sounds like you'll have it sorted soon then.

If my pump is the original then it has already lasted almost 10 years. However, the airmatic valve block was leaking so I replaced that plus the 2 front airmatic struts. Ouch wallet-wise, but to have it all working again and with new components that should last quite a while feels good.

Struts and valve block replaced after 8.5 years, they lasted about 110k miles-ish, but showed signs of malaise at around 95k miles and 8 years old.

Good luck with getting it fixed.
 
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Aging may have been the wrong choice of word but worst case scenario has been a pump constantly on burning out the relay and damaging the cable, as for the repair kit no good for me as its not leaking its the pump not running as it should and making a noise, mechanical wear and tare of a ten year old pump.

The kit includes a new piston ring, not just rubber seals.
It also includes new bolts and a tap to clear threads.
I'm not indicating that the seal kit is the only way to go but it's normally the best solution for 80-90% of failures.

If your pump is making a racket then it is not producing air efficiently. This will cause the pump to run for longer and do even more damage.

If owners catch the compressor problem early then the rebuild kit would always be the perfect solution.
Unfortunately most seem to ignore the error messages and obvious noise and vibration from the pump.
 
The kit also now comes with a step by step tutorial on paper and a video of how to fit it. It is very basic work that most people should be able to accomplish in a few hours, including the removal and re-fitment of the compressor to the car.
 
The kit includes a new piston ring, not just rubber seals.
It also includes new bolts and a tap to clear threads.
I'm not indicating that the seal kit is the only way to go but it's normally the best solution for 80-90% of failures.

If your pump is making a racket then it is not producing air efficiently. This will cause the pump to run for longer and do even more damage.

If owners catch the compressor problem early then the rebuild kit would always be the perfect solution.
Unfortunately most seem to ignore the error messages and obvious noise and vibration from the pump.

Totally agree with you.

However i could not hear it, the cars airmatic itself was performing as it should, star indicated not reaching optimum performance but more than enough to reach the correct parameters for the airmatic to operate, the diagnoses from star indicates the early stages of a pump issue.

I may have got away with using the rebuild kit as you say, however as an engineer and the fact that Olly's well trained ear could hear an unusual noise coming from the compressor noise = friction (possible other internal damage) and even if successful with the rebuild kit the rest of it is still ten years old and truthfully i can't be ar$d.:D

You are correct i did ignore it for more than i should:D
 
JohnEboy, sounds like you'll have it sorted soon then.

If my pump is the original then it has already lasted almost 10 years. However, the airmatic valve block was leaking so I replaced that plus the 2 front airmatic struts. Ouch wallet-wise, but to have it all working again and with new components that should last quite a while feels good.

Struts and valve block replaced after 8.5 years, they lasted about 110k miles-ish, but showed signs of malaise at around 95k miles and 8 years old.

Good luck with getting it fixed.

I'm sure once that space is free, some other issue will be along shortly to fill it, lol!

Many thanks.

Next thing to replace is the windscreen as it is fooked - then the wipers (with Merc ones!).
 
FYI. We are doing another E55 airmatic pump today and a S-Class (221)
 
And a 212 we had in this arvo does too. 3 in one day!
 

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