Merc EQC Air Suspension Issue in Warranty

[Gnevans]

My wife’s EQC is two years old has just had the rear left air suspension go. It has dropped and given us an advisory to drive it under 50 mph.

Has anyone had this issue and should it be covered by warranty/goodwill?

[Rozzers]

Unless it’s obviously damaged from an external source it should be fully covered if under 3 years old.

[Greenmantle]

Gnevans said:

My wife’s EQC is two years old has just had the rear left air suspension go. It has dropped and given us an advisory to drive it under 50 mph.

Has anyone had this issue and should it be covered by warranty/goodwill?

Surely it must be the same air suspension found in the GL range?

[raspy]

It's a newish car within factory warranty, just call up MB breakdown, get it recovered to the MB dealer and get them to deliver a hire car to your home.

[raspy]

BTW My 7 year old C350e dropped its air suspension at the rear on both sides.

I called up MB breakdown, got it recovered to MB dealer, and MB breakdown arranged a GLC300 fully loaded spec hire car for 3 days.

It turned out to be some wire broke (which wasn't covered by my MB extended warranty) - Anyway, end result was a bill of under £200 including diagnosis, parts and labour and of course the recovery and hire car was at no extra cost.

[Gnevans]

Thanks for all the replies. Super helpful thank you all.

[Gnevans]

A fuse went which caused the air suspension to collapse

[Discombobulate]

Gnevans said:

A fuse went which caused the air suspension to collapse

Be careful. Fuse (to compressor) can go because the compressor is working over time due to a leak in air bag.
Fixing the fuse works, but important to consider reason why it blew....

[Gnevans]

Thanks for that. Still another year on the warranty we will keep an eye on it.

[TheDeuce]

Discombobulate said:

Gnevans said:

A fuse went which caused the air suspension to collapse

Be careful. Fuse (to compressor) can go because the compressor is working over time due to a leak in air bag.
Fixing the fuse works, but important to consider reason why it blew....

Indeed. And tbh given the known expense of air suspension problems AND the potential unknown EV powertrain issues that 'could' effect some EV's and cost a fortune, I would recommend maintaining an aftermarket warranty once the manufacturers runs out.

I'm looking to buy a used iPace to replace my soon to be returned lease iPace, and I wouldn't take that step with no warranty. Happily I can confirm that so far quotes are less than for my old 430d beemer, because whilst EV and luxury car stuff like air suspension can be very costly, the general simplicity of EV powertrain appear to mean any sort of significant claim is actually overall less likely. About £620 a year for an iPace in it's 4th year of life.

[whirlybird]

TheDeuce said:

Indeed. And tbh given the known expense of air suspension problems AND the potential unknown EV powertrain issues that 'could' effect some EV's and cost a fortune, I would recommend maintaining an aftermarket warranty once the manufacturers runs out.

I'm looking to buy a used iPace to replace my soon to be returned lease iPace, and I wouldn't take that step with no warranty. Happily I can confirm that so far quotes are less than for my old 430d beemer, because whilst EV and luxury car stuff like air suspension can be very costly, the general simplicity of EV powertrain appear to mean any sort of significant claim is actually overall less likely. About £620 a year for an iPace in it's 4th year of life.

So EV's are so reliable you have to take out extra warranty ???????

[blueacid]

whirlybird said:

So EV's are so reliable you have to take out extra warranty ???????

Utterly terrible. Compared with petrol and diesel cars which literally never ever break down ever. It's a mystery why Green Flag, the RAC, and The AA exist.

[dvs_dave]

whirlybird said:

So EV's are so reliable you have to take out extra warranty ???????

So you’ve come to troll here too?

[jimKRFC]

Just having the same issue with mine. The suspension warning light came on with the "drive under 50mph" warning.
Looking into it it's the "rear axel level control" error, which means an issue with the air suspension.

It seems that cold weather can cause the air compressor to freeze, or more precisely it gets moisture in it which freezes, this then blows the fuse (orange 48v one). Happened the first time in the really cold snap a few weeks back and again this morning. Going into the dealer tomorrow for repair/replace the compressor.

[Gnevans]

Same as we had a fuse replacement. You’d have thought cold weather testing would have dealt with this.

[astroarcadia]

I had this exact same issue with my EQC the week before Christmas after a week of driving in snow and ice.

Car was recovered and issue covered by warranty.

[TheDeuce]

Discombobulate said:

Gnevans said:

A fuse went which caused the air suspension to collapse

Be careful. Fuse (to compressor) can go because the compressor is working over time due to a leak in air bag.
Fixing the fuse works, but important to consider reason why it blew....

That's true more than ever if just one corner dropped, the others will retain existing pressure until triggered to reduce pressure.

In an EV you can actually hear the compressor working (or not) which should make such diagnosis pretty easy I would have thought.

[Gnevans]

TheDeuce said:

Discombobulate said:

Gnevans said:

A fuse went which caused the air suspension to collapse

Be careful. Fuse (to compressor) can go because the compressor is working over time due to a leak in air bag.
Fixing the fuse works, but important to consider reason why it blew....

That's true more than ever if just one corner dropped, the others will retain existing pressure until triggered to reduce pressure.

In an EV you can actually hear the compressor working (or not) which should make such diagnosis pretty easy I would have thought.

Ok here we go again the first night with minus temp the light is back on and the car back to Mercedes.

[Gnevans]

OK Mercedes have now had instruction from Germany that the fuse fix is no longer acceptable. The car needs the relay fuse and compressor replacing, so if you have had the fuse replaced recently id advise going back to Mercedes for the full fix.

[TheDeuce]

Gnevans said:

OK Mercedes have now had instruction from Germany that the fuse fix is no longer acceptable. The car needs the relay fuse and compressor replacing, so if you have had the fuse replaced recently id advise going back to Mercedes for the full fix.

Glad they're sorting it! I do a lot of electrical work and if a fuse blows, given that it's quite hard to blow a fuse (a 13a plug fuse can carry way more current for quite some time..) the first course of action should always be to investigate why it blew, not simply replace it

It's still a concern of mine that just one corner dropped though. You should push them to pressure test that corner at max ride height setting held for a few hours. As said a leaking air can will cause the compressor to run continuously, and get very hot damaging itself up until the point eventually the fuse may fail. But there will be a reason it was running continuously in the first place.