W212 E63 AMG - 65 Plate - Rear Air Spring Issue ?

[ShaunB]

I would also say that my experience matches that of many other E63 owners in that they are well screwed together, are reliable and - most importantly - huge fun to drive.

ndeed so.
I had my W212 E63 for 2 years, and touch wood, it was reliable, and an absolute hoot to drive.
Nice and sedate when you wanted it to be, or a total hooligan when you chose to switch.

 

[M5 London]

Waiting with bated breath with my 28k mile E63 purchased last week

The is a very large ownership of this model in the US and they are quick to complain about anything.
I certainly haven't read of any frequent rear suspension issues on the US forums yet.

I wouldn't sweat it !

I made a parallel thread on a large US forum too. Take up was similar to this one. i.e. this failure is NOT par for the course !

Congratulations on your acquisition !! Looks great !

 

[Gbrowncls55]

well i have a cls55 which I realise is of a previous generation or two and before that I had a w211 E500, both of which have airmaitic. On both those cars when you stopped the car, got out and locked it I think within about a minute the car will release a little pressure from the system and lower maybe 1-2 cms. This was perfectly normal on those systems and was how they were meant to operate. I have no idea if the latest air sprung cars are different or not. Almost certainly they are. Lovely car by the way.

 

[dm2583]

Many Thanks !!

Its grown on me a lot and does make the Uber Exec sort of stand out, in a subtle sort of way.

Looks slightly different shades in varying light conditions too, warning, pic dump :

Beautiful! Mine looks like a taxi/hearse in comparison!!

Which bootlip spoiler have you got there? Like that a lot though not sure it'll look as nice on my black car...

 

[st13phil]

Which bootlip spoiler have you got there? Like that a lot though not sure it'll look as nice on my black car...

Looks like the factory spoiler.

My Obsidian Black pre-facelift car had the CF version and it looked great.

 

[dm2583]

A

Looks like the factory spoiler.

My Obsidian Black pre-facelift car had the CF version and it looked great.

Any idea where I can find a part number for either the carbon or black version?

 

[AMGeed]

A



Any idea where I can find a part number for either the carbon or black version?

The Part number is in the EPC. Here's a link for future part numbers Mercedes-Benz EPC. E 212.074 , E SEDAN, Market Europe, North America, Japan.
Part# for rear boot spoiler..........A 212 790 03 88

 

[M5 London]

Beautiful! Mine looks like a taxi/hearse in comparison!!

Which bootlip spoiler have you got there? Like that a lot though not sure it'll look as nice on my black car...

I took a couple of random and close up photos of the spoiler the other day.

I believe it was factory fitted. My car has option code U47 - Spoiler Lip (not sure if its referring to this though)

...and a bit less in your face here :

 

[st13phil]

I believe it was factory fitted. My car has option code U47 - Spoiler Lip (not sure if its referring to this though)

That's the factory fit CF spoiler. Not a cheap option!

 

[Will]

A bit late to this thread, but I had both rear air suspension ‘units’, aka air bags/air springs/bellows replaced on my S212 E63 with very low mileage (around 12k from new).

It’s one of those faults that many may live with, or may be unaware of. I only used the car infrequently and was aware of it so had them replaced under warranty. No fault codes were stored and the car passed the usual air suspension tests on star but there was definitely a slow leak.

Mine would drop a few mm overnight and a bit more the longer it was left. Just a small leak on the air bags. The valve block and compressor/pipes etc were fine.

Had my trusted local MB independent fit them, simple job once the parts were supplied by the warranty company.

About £1000/pair for the parts and a few hours labour to fit etc.

If you use your car every day you may not even notice it, perhaps only once the leak gets worse. Wasn’t keen to leave it as the compressor ends up working harder and as I had a warranty I preferred the warranty company paying for the work than me later on down the line!

 

[M5 London]

A bit late to this thread, but I had both rear air suspension ‘units’, aka air bags/air springs/bellows replaced on my S212 E63 with very low mileage (around 12k from new).

It’s one of those faults that many may live with, or may be unaware of. I only used the car infrequently and was aware of it so had them replaced under warranty. No fault codes were stored and the car passed the usual air suspension tests on star but there was definitely a slow leak.

Mine would drop a few mm overnight and a bit more the longer it was left. Just a small leak on the air bags. The valve block and compressor/pipes etc were fine.

Had my trusted local MB independent fit them, simple job once the parts were supplied by the warranty company.

About £1000/pair for the parts and a few hours labour to fit etc.

If you use your car every day you may not even notice it, perhaps only once the leak gets worse. Wasn’t keen to leave it as the compressor ends up working harder and as I had a warranty I preferred the warranty company paying for the work than me later on down the line!

Thanks for sharing !

What you say makes a lot of sense.

I think on the couple of times I really noticed a rear ride height drop, it was after about 36/48 hours of having it parked up. Generally the car lies idle for about about 16/20 hours or so after parking up.

This a photo of it today after being sat for about 20 hours.

Seems little lower than it should be I think....?

Yes the bonnet is open (long story but I took my main battery out to charge it on my CTEK charger overnight).

This is the best comparable photo I have of it about a year ago, courtesy of MB :

Not very conclusive I suppose, and I reckon taking vertical measurements from wheel centre to arch is the next course of action.

Anyway I will be taking into MB for a diagnosis, and I note well that it seems not to show any error codes as per your experience.

 

[Will]

Some masking tape from the wheel arches to the wheel will help you measure the drop. Or just take measurements using a ruler to begin with. But looking at your picture I would say that looks too low.

Once the new air bags were fitted it did not drop at all even after several days being parked. Neither did my other cars (eg the old E55 I ran alongside it) even after a week plus of sitting unused.

I’m sure there’s loads of these cars out there with slight leaks, doesn’t seem uncommon but not a major issue either and if used daily probably never noticed.

 

[M5 London]

Yes exactly ! Masking tape is a great idea thanks.

I was actually editing my original post to add another photo and point out taking measurements was the way forwards.

 

[Hakon]

So with the thread in mind, I've been keeping an eye on the rear arches of the wagon that's been parked up for about nine days.
I measured two fingers between the tyre and arch on both sides yesterday evening, the engine was then started and immediately it went to three fingers, although not a precise investigation there was certainly a clear and noticeable difference.

The ignition has been on in the last nine days the engine hasn't, does the air pump only function when the engine is started ?

The masking tape and thermometer (garaged so temps are more repeatable) will be out in force next time I anticipate a lay off of a few days

Although not as near a rapid deflation as M5 London, there does appear to be a leak of some sort.

 

[st13phil]

Don’t forget that the system will also bleed off air. Anyone who's had one of these cars will know about the characteristic “farting” that happens at seemingly random intervals after parking up. Once the air has bled off it won’t get replaced until the car is run again.

I would be concerned over a significant drop in (say) 24hrs, but a minor drop over a few days I would suggest is not something to worry about. If you can hear the air pump running for long periods, then again it would warrant investigation, but if it just runs for a few seconds at the start of a journey then that’s what it’s supposed to do.

Regarding the OP's car, I would say that there is a leak as the degree of drop looks to be fairly pronounced from the photos.

 

[amzchhabra]

Weirdly when speaking to others prior to purchasing my E63, the only thing I was told to watch out for was the Airmatic!

Personally, i think there was a leak in the airbags, which is generally the only thing that happens with them, but because it wasn't noticed early, it ended up taking the pump out with it. I also think that my local dealer the first time did not help themselves by not checking or doing any sort of leak tests before hand, hence the car going back 3 times in total with ultimately the whole system being replaced.

As for the £1700 warranty, I have taken it out for my own peace of mind. I don't drive my car much, but when I do, it helps knowing I won't have any unexpected bills if the worst was to happen.

 

[M5 London]

Affalterbach, we have a problem !

So I used masking tape, not necessarily to measure, but to see how evident this drop was.

Before :

NSR

OSR

AFTER !! :

NSR

OSR

Without taking measurements the OSR seems to suffer slightly more than the NSR.

Anyway there is a clear issue here. This was measured after about 72 hours of being parked up.


Oh and here is the party trick, just touch the door handle to unlock the car and wake it up and hey presto :

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[AMGeed]

What is your thinking on the diagnosis for this fault?
It seems more than a coincidence that both airbags would leak at the same time, not that that can't happen.
Is it easy to get access to the airmatic valve block and test that for a leak? I think that is the way I would go to start.

If no obvious leak at the valve block, get a Star test done which should show if it's the bags themselves leaking.
If you haven't got an indy yet, I'd head to Wayne Gates in Harrow going on recommendations from other London members here.

https://www.mercservicing.co.uk/

Edit.........it appears Wayne Gates website security certificate has expired . His phone and email are as follows.

020 8863 9233 [email protected]

 

[M5 London]

What is your thinking on the diagnosis for this fault?
It seems more than a coincidence that both airbags would leak at the same time, not that that can't happen.
Is it easy to get access to the airmatic valve block and test that for a leak? I think that is the way I would go to start.

If no obvious leak at the valve block, get a Star test done which should show if it's the bags themselves leaking.
If you haven't got an indy yet, I'd head to Wayne Gates in Harrow going on recommendations from other London members here.

https://www.mercservicing.co.uk/

Edit.........it appears Wayne Gates website security certificate has expired . His phone and email are as follows.

020 8863 9233 [email protected]

Thanks and actually I know Terry and Wayne Gates. He recently fitted my MB rear pads and discs that I supplied him with, on this E63. He has actually also done a few A and B services on my hardly ever used E Class Coupe. Very good outfit indeed !

However on the E63 for diagnosing and rectifying issues I want to, in the first instance, rely on my 24 months AMG warranty that was supplied on my car when I bought in October 2018, with 17K miles on it. Its on 21K miles now.

I have a few of other cars that are well out of any main dealership involvement and a lot of my time, over the years, has been spent on keeping them up and running. (BMW E30 M3, E34 M5 and E39 M5)

In terms of diagnosis, from what I understand its going to be either, one / both of the air springs, the valve block or any of the associated pipework / joints connecting these all up with the pump too.

I also agree statistically for both air bags to fail at the same time, is slim, thus thinking more about pipe work from the valve block, perhaps before it splits to supply each air bag, or the valve block itself (I must admit I have not studied this system fully yet, but will do so at some point). I presume the valve block should essentially close such that no air can leak over night, but I am also aware that they do sometimes 'piss' a bit of air out after switching the engine off and at random times thereon. (Not sure if this is via a pressure relief valve or similar).

If this was my 100K, well out of warranty car, I'd be on the floor on my back with a spray bottle of soapy water, that's for sure

 

[AMGeed]

I'd forgotten your car is still under warranty
Of course, get the dealership to diagnose and fix.
Hope you can get it sorted soon.

That expulsion of air from the airmatic is a bit urgent isn't it
One of the first things I noticed after picking mine up. The E55 never did it.