Mercedes S Class Air Matic Pump Replacement

If your S Class has suddenly dropped itself on to all 4 wheels where the inner wheel arches are almost resting on the tyres and your dashboard is displaying a warning related to the Air Matic system and asking you to visit the workshop, then the most likely cause of this problem is the air matic pump failure.

The Air Matic system is located on the driver’s side ( UK RHD Models ) under the wheel arch mud guard. The mud guard is held in place by quite a few plastic nuts as shown in the pic. After disconecting the negative terminal on your cars battery, you can start removing the mud guard.

Removing the mud guard reveals the Air Matic Pump which is held in place by 3 nuts which go on to spikes protruding downwards. There is a single nylon pipe which connects to the air matic pump, a single black hose and two electrical plug connections which need to be disconnected to remove the air matic pump.

We had problems removing one of the electric plug connectors as it would not move at all from its position so we decided to cut the wires as shown in the pic. Once the pump had been taken off, it took the use of a pair of pliers and a straight head screw driver to get the plug to come off.

Once the new Air Matic pump had been sourced from Mercedes Dealership, we realized that the design for the new pump was slightly modified. The hose connection for a rubber pipe had been moved from its original position to the other end. We decided to improvise and use a slighly longer hose to get the job done making sure the new pipe had no kinks which would hinder the flow of air to the pump.

Once all the connections were back in place, starting the car and pushing the air matic button on the dash to raise the car did its job as it should and warning message on dashboard disappeared after driving for a bit.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 and is filed under Mercedes DIY. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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14 Comments

1. Kevin Brown, December 17, 2008:

   Thanks a bunch! My ‘03 S500 has dropped a bit all the way around. I will replace my airmatic pump this weekend and hopefully it will be as easy as your directions.

   Many thanks again!

2. Automotive, December 17, 2008:

   Let us know how you got on

3. debra, June 3, 2010:

   mercdez 2003 c500 the car is to low to drive. what causes that to happen

   i can hear air when getting ready to start car

4. Automotive, June 3, 2010:

   Please check if your car is down on all 4 tyres or maybe just on one side more than the others. The airmatic pump could be on its way out or one or more of the airmatic shockers could be worn out.
   The pump obviously controls all 4 shocks so if the pump is not functioning properly, you should see the car down equally on all tyres. If one of the shockers is faulty, then you should see the car drop on only that particular tyre with the airmatic pump working overtime to adjust the other 3 shockers.

5. debra, June 3, 2010:

   Do u have to replace the relay when installing a new Air matic pump

6. Automotive, June 4, 2010:

   we didn’t replace the relay and it’s still fine after a few years.

7. FIALDES marc, June 29, 2010:

   J’ai une 320 S CDI de 2001 (WDB 2200261A227764),l’avant droit est plus bas,pouvez vous m’indiquer ou je peux avoir des indications et photos pour changer le kit en haut de la jambe.
   merci beaucoup Sincères Salutations ( I have a S 320 CDI 2001 ( 2200261A227764 WDB ) , the right front is low, can you tell me where I can get information and photos for the kit change at the top of the leg. thank you very much Yours sincerely )

8. Automotive, June 29, 2010:

   If only one of the sides is down, then its the airmatic shock absorber on 1 side only which needs replacing. It’s best to get this replaced quickly as the airmatic pump is working overtime now to keep balancing the other 3 sides. We don’t have detailed instructions on how to replace the shock absrober but I believe if you look at the spare part connections, you should be able to work out what bolts need opening.

   ( Si seulement l’un des côtés est en panne, alors son l’amortisseur Airmatic sur 1 côté seulement, qui doit être remplacée. Il est préférable d’obtenir cette remplacé rapidement que la pompe Airmatic fait des heures supplémentaires pour maintenir l’équilibre maintenant les 3 autres côtés. Nous n’avons pas d’instructions détaillées sur la façon de remplacer le absrober choc, mais je crois que si vous regardez les connexions de pièces de rechange, vous devriez être en mesure de travailler à ce que les boulons ont besoin d’ouverture. )

9. Shahid, July 4, 2010:

   Hi
   Whats the cost of a airmatic pump for a S350 04 plate, as my car has dropped all the way round and the dash is saying “Airmatic fault visit workshop” is this a expensive fix?

10. larry, July 12, 2010:

    hi
    same Q as the last regarding cost of the airmatic pump with fitting
    just a guide price please
    kind regards
    larry

11. Automotive, July 13, 2010:

    I believe a new unit in the UK cost us about £300 GBP

12. ROBERT, July 14, 2010:

    I have a 2000 s 430 and the whole car is slammed to the ground. I believe it’s the air-matic pump. I was wondering if sometimes do they get stuck and maybe you can take they off and clean them and put them back on?

13. ROBERT, July 14, 2010:

    I was looking at strut masters and they have a traditional strut system and i was wondering if that would be better than the air-matic system?

14. Automotive, July 14, 2010:

    Airmatic keeps the car in constant motion e.g. changes the ride height with speed so although you should be able to change the struts to the standard design, I’m not sure if you would want to lose this airmatic feature. You should be able to get the pump refurbished.