A Mercedes-Benz S-Class should be a few things: luxurious, comfortable, and above all, quiet. My car was two of those things, but failed pretty miserably on the last bit because of one common component failing in spectacular form. Here’s how I fixed it with my bank account and sanity intact.
For those of you who are new to me and my luxury car hacks, I purchased a Mercedes-Benz S500 about 2 years ago and have been driving it daily ever since. So far, it has been the most reliable car I’ve ever had, save for one minor fault with a part I should’ve probably replaced anyway.
However, an issue had been pegging my annoyance meter for the past month, and it had to do with the car’s air suspension system.
If the system is working normally, the air suspension gets inflated and deflated by a small compressor, putting air in a small tank and then distributing it to each of the car’s four air shocks. This is done to adjust the car’s ride height in corners to stay relatively flat, and lowers the car on the highway to make it slightly more aerodynamic and fuel efficient.
My car did that, but only just. It was slow to rise and sounded like a hummingbird with roid rage became sexually attracted to my car’s subframe. The system was also leaking a bit, prompting the noisy operation to persist when driving down a flat paved road. It was jarring and not becoming of any Mercedes-Benz, much less an S-Class.
Through searching Benz forums and consulting with my best friend Google, I narrowed the problem to be my car’s air compressor, which needed to be changed for a new unit, at not inconsiderable cost for my frugal wallet.
Since I’m the cheapest person on the planet, I elected to do the transplant myself and record it in video form for you all to enjoy, or mock.
I mean, how hard could it be?