How to Replace a Defective Mercedes-Benz ML W164 Air Spring

Inside your Mercedes-Benz, your air suspension system allows you to enjoy smooth and sporty rides. As you attack corners with aggressive speed or even cruise over potholes and rough patches, your air springs inflate to cushion out the ride and help you grip to the road to remain in full control. But, once your air springs form a leak or become damaged, it’s a rough and uncomfortable ride—and not to mention a slow one.

How do you know when it’s time to replace your air springs? You don’t need to be a mechanic to diagnose air suspension problems since your Mercedes-Benz ML-Class makes it obvious with the following signs:

• Your SUV sags to a corner when parked
• You hear the air compressor running non-stop
• You feel a rough and uncomfortable ride
• Your SUV drives lower than normal
• You hear a hissing sound from behind your tires

What You’ll Need:

• Basic tool kit (17-24mm sockets, flat screwdrivers, etc.)
• AEROSUS air springs for the Mercedes-Benz ML W164
• A car jack

Replacing your Mercedes-Benz ML W164 Air Springs

1. Pop the hood and take out your Mercedes-Benz’s air compressor fuse. You’ll find the compressor fuse in a small box to your left-hand side of your engine. After pulling out the fuse, it’s safe to raise your SUV with a car jack.

2. Take out the three strut top flange nuts and disconnect the airline. For this step, you can unscrew the nuts with your hands. Also, for pulling off the fitting on your airline, take off the cap, and the remaining sleeve will slide off with ease.

3. Take off your wheel. As basic as removing the lug nuts, and then sliding your wheel off directly.

4. Open your fender well and disconnect your shock control.

5. Find the control arm in the upper portion of your fender well. From here, you’ll want to disconnect the control arm nut, followed by disconnecting the arm linkage on your sway bar. You can then remove the wire holding on your strut, as well as the lower mount bolt and nut.

6. Pull out your strut. A 13 mm socket is all you’ll need to remove the three nuts from the top of your air strut to remove it from your Mercedes-Benz.

7. Remove the locking ring from your strut. There are many ways to get in your strut. But the easiest method is using a flat screwdriver and a pair of pliers to remove the top plate from your strut.

8. Remove the old air spring and install your new air spring. For this step, you’ll want to lubricate your o-rings and install them on your strut. Also, once you fit your air spring inside your strut, use a new nut to hold your AEROSUS air spring in place. Next, install your cover plate and locking ring to finish reassembling your strut.

9. Reinstall your strut. From here, you’ll mostly redo the above steps in reverse order. Start by placing your strut in its position and screwing in the nuts that go on top. You’ll also want to remove the old pipe tip from your air fitting. Finish off by pushing your air hose into its position until you feel it lock into place.

10. Reconnect your sway bar linkage and your control arm. For this step, you’re reconnecting the lower strut bolts and nuts to your sway bar. You’ll also reconnect your control bar to the upper A-frame of your SUV. Finish off by tightening the remaining nuts and re-securing the wire around your strut to hold everything in place.

11. Reconnect your shock control. This includes connecting your ABS cable to the electrical connector in your fender well.

12. Put your tire back on your SUV.

13. Lower your Mercedes-Benz ML-Class to the floor.

14. Start your engine and wait a few minutes to give your SUV time to adjust to your repair.

Ready to fix your air suspension issues on your Mercedes-Benz ML W164? Head to the AEROSUS website today and today and order your replacement air spring. We make the shopping process easy and risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee, a 2-year warranty, and parts that are full of quality.