From time to time our vehicle may present some slight inconvenience that can hardly be noticed. For example, the suspension of one part of the car may be higher than the other part, or in other words, it may be unbalanced. These may seem to be common problems of an old or used car, but we should not neglect these small changes. Detecting a suspension problem in our cars can avoid complications and accidents.
We are not saying that the car is going to explode or that you need to take it urgently to the mechanic, although the sooner you try to fix this, the better it will be for you. If you decide to leave that task to the mechanic or put on your pants and solve it with your own hands, you should know exactly what's going on inside your car.
Air Ride systems are designed to work with air or hydraulic suspension. This system is able to modify the vehicle's suspension at the push of a button, depending on the driver, all quickly and immediately without having to take it to a technician. In most Mercedes Benz cars, this program is included.
But, we continue with the intrigue, what do these air suspension problems mean? Imagine that one day your vehicle loses support and falls down sharply to the point that it is no longer off the ground, so it would be impossible to drive. You will need to call someone to help you tow it, which will be quite expensive and unexpected. You arrive at the mechanic shop with your car being towed, and many mechanics offer services at a good price, but there is a problem, not many mechanics know how to reset the Airmatic Mercedes w220800 suspension. And although it seems that this nightmare is never ending, there is always another option available, which is to learn how your car works and be able to solve the problems yourself.
Air Suspension 101
This system maintains different modes to keep the handling correct, among them is the comfort and ride mode. The vehicle's adjustment is constantly regenerated thanks to this suspension system and can adapt to different types of terrain, so you will not have to worry about the handling of your car if you go on asphalt or a rocky place, everything will stay in place.
One of the points that prove that the suspension is quite useful for the handling of the car, is when you drive at more than eighty kilometers per hour. Where the automatic suspension of the car makes it lower and can get closer to the road, which allows you to take the curves more naturally and avoids random slides that can generate traffic accidents.
Common air suspension problems
You can determine that your vehicle has a suspension problem in several ways, but the two most well-known are:
The instrument cluster. This little gadget inside your car will let you know if there is a problem, and it will read "SUSPENSION AREA FAILURE" if it needs you to go to a repair shop to fix the problem. The most common cases are due to a fault in the car's electrical system and you will need a scanner to make sure of this, and read the codes. It is not such a worrying case, but you will need to be attentive to your vehicle and make sure that this is solved as quickly as possible. At some point during the day the vehicle may drop completely due to the suspension being completely damaged.
The second way to determine this is when the vehicle itself sends an announcement that it is about to fall over, as it is not strong enough to support itself. This is a rather critical state, but we should not stress. The best thing to do is to stop driving, and call a tow truck to help you take it to the nearest mechanic's workshop.
What causes these problems?
Occasionally the air suspension pressure may drop, so it will not have the same resistance. This can be observed due to a defective part or continuous wear of the internal wiper blade. If you need to know the status of your compressor, you can observe how it reacts when the vehicle needs to lift.
In case you turn on the suspension system on your Mercedes S550 and it doesn't start to kick in, there is a problem to solve. In case it does react and stays stable for a few seconds, everything is fine. In case a stress test is done and it doesn't react in a good way, we may need a replacement of the air compressor.
Suspension leaks in these cars are possible, and in fact it is a problem that can attack anyone. This is accomplished from a constant leak in the area of the shock absorbers that cause the insulation to shrink in size. If it is a large leak, it will most likely be visible or audible, so just pay attention to the sounds of the car when we are driving.
Another way to notice if it is leaking is to look at where the vehicle is leaning, as it tends to sink on the side where it is leaking. To confirm leaks in the cracks where the compressed air supply should be, we can make a mixture of soap and water and apply it to different parts of our car. If they make bubbles, we are facing a leakage problem.
The valve block could be the reason for our problem, as it could facilitate the passage of air to the compressor so the suspension of the car will be compromised. We can also have suspension problems if any part, such as the level sensor, is damaged or burned. Therefore it would also be necessary to check and confirm that everything is running in order.
In case there is no problem with the naked eye but you still have a suspension failure, you can use a diagnostic scanner that covers everything you need to check.
2000 Mercedes s430 air suspension reset
Think about it, you're driving along and you find your vehicle is acting up when you hear the sound of the compressor. You stop and manage to repair it on the spur of the moment, then how can you get back to a good air suspension? Well, don't worry. The compressor will be on the mark when you turn the vehicle off and after you turn it back on. Unless you have not detected all the existing problems.