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2011 GL 450 Airmatic Malfunction Indicator

49K views 26 replies 9 participants last post by  Shaik001 
#1 ·
#6 ·
Brought my car to a mechanic, he said the pump/compressor is broken, need to be replaced. $580 material + labor, if I provide part, it will be $150 labor.
I need to drive to Baltimore, so I said I will bring it back next week after I come back from vacation.
Hopefully I will survive the ride. It should not be a problem, right?
BTW, why does it break?
What if I decide to not fix it? Just no raise function, not that I use it anyway. Just saying.
 
#11 ·
You will have a very very bumpy ride. My compressor failed when i was 200 miles from home. The good news about the GLs if the compressor fails the car is driveable unlike the cars with Airmatic. But.....the ride is something else. The car will bounce a lot. You must be careful on rail road tracks and etc as it will really bounce. I made it home on Monday, it was a little nerve racking.

Took and had new compressor put in for about $680 for everything at an Indy Mercedes Shop. Mercedes compressor used.

Going forward should the compressor fail again, I will not buy the Mercedes brand but go for after market.

The reason I say this is because, I had a leak over the past 2 months. i finally replaced from the Front strut for $1100 and thought that was it but the truck continued to lower from time to time. It seems both of the back air bags are leaking, which the pump couldn't keep up with the front one and the 2 back ones.

My Indy shop owner said he can fix both back ones with Mercedes parts for $1400. I am not doing it with him.

I am going to buy 2 OEM back rear springs (the bladder looking things) and have them installed by another mechanic. As much as I love my and I keep dumping thousands of dollars on something that should have that many issues (in my eyes). I have watched the videos and replacing the rear air spring (bladders) is not as bad as the fronts so I can do that if I want but I would prefer to have someone who knows what they are doing on it. My projected bill for 2 rear springs (bladders) and labor is about $450 versus $1400.

I would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and suggestions, this forum is so great to read about solutions an ideas. Though we may have different thoughts, they do help others make the best decisions for themselves.
 
#8 ·
My understanding based on reading about the GL (don't own one yet) that if you don't fix the compressor, if the car gets low for any reason, it won't raise again. Did you check the compressor relay.
Also I would recommend the Arnott compressor if it comes with Lifetime warranty.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Very good point. I almost forgot about it! Thank you very much. I did ask him if the electrical connection was loose, and he just said the compressor is not working. No additional comment. :eek
I guess finding a good mechanic is not easy.
I will ask another shop to check the relay just to make sure since I am in Baltimore for vacation.
One interesting thing: when I press raise car button, it will take forever to raise, and you can see it was not raising the car at all, and then it will eventually shows a "compressor cooling down" signal on dash. Not sure if it means anything.
 

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#10 ·
The compressor has a limited runtime -- meaning it's timed by the airmatic ECU to only run for X amount of minutes before shutting off to cool down. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm reasonably sure that 5 minutes of continuous runtime = 10 minutes of cooldown.

Now, when replacing the compressor because of whatever reason, I always ask my customer these questions:

1. How long do you intend to keep the car?
2. How much discretionary budget do you have for this car?
3. Do you want warranty?

Based on these answers, I can suggest various routes.

Best scenario: You absolutely love the car. You don't see yourself switching cars anytime soon, and you intend to keep the car forever.

In which case, I always suggest using OEM parts, meaning buying the parts at the dealer. Why?

Parts bought at the dealer have 12 months, unlimited mileage warranty. So you pay me to replace it, and it fails within 12 months, all I have to do is to drop the car at the dealer with a copy of my invoice, and they will replace the offending part for free. Yes, that includes labor.

What do I replace, assuming we have a failed compressor?

I replace:

1. Air suspension compressor
2. Airmatic relay
2. Airmatic fuse (typically 40A)
4. Air suspension filter (this is the little filter that attaches to the compressor, and just like regular filters in the car, it has a serviceable life)

The relay and filter are often overlooked when doing compressor replacement -- a plugged filter and a badly corroded relay can significantly shorten the lifespan of a brand new compressor, leading to short life and even shorter customer satisfaction. Incidentally, this is recommended in WIS.

Now....this comes with a caveat. This is assuming you do your due diligence and make sure there is no hairline cracks in the air hoses going from compressor to valve block to pressure reservoir. If there is, it needs to be replaced to prolong the lifespan of the compressor. The dealer will not do warranty repair because the new compressor failed due to burning out because of a leaky air hose. That's on you.

Hope I was clear.
 
#20 ·
All:

I can see why or the possible that the airmatic suspension system will leak but I found it odd that mine only leaks when the car is lower than the highest level.

Meaning, if car is lower then the rubber would "flap" over itself which cover conceal or plug a leak. But when at highest level there is no overlap and it doesn't leak.

What am I missing?
 
#23 ·
So i'm having an issue where I replaced the pump and entire set up via a kit from FCP Euro, some context: I had a bag blow on a trip but replaced it. Although it was suggested to do both at the time i didn't have the time for it. Car ran fine, with a trailer and rolled to the house after thousands of miles.

Get home and now the the car is slammed wont raise keeps saying Airmatic malfunction and also having performance issues. Im wondering if the ECU is the issues and if I need to replace or take it in to get reset. Its almost as if theres a short some where because the pump wont engage but my shop swears it works.
 
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