ItalianJoe1

Mine is leaking from the front seal. Rock auto is currently out of stock. Dealer cost is $1400. Where are you guys going for them?

biker349

try napa.

booesq

Hey, Joe. Call Potomac German Auto / LKQ in Buckeystown, MD. 301.831.1111. Great guys. You can ask for Kyle or Luis (... they'll probably pick up, anyway). If you speak with either of them, please tell them Christopher McKenna suggested you call. These guys always hook me up. FWIW, I saved my old one and am planning on rebuilding it. I know there's a thread on here somewhere about that. Are you replacing it yourself, or are you having a shop do it?

ItalianJoe1

I'm a tech at MB so i'll be doing it myself, I just don't want to sink the new part money into it right now, I'm already at 3K just in parts with the ABC lines and accumulators and mounts and other maintenance I did, plus the coil that came apart while doing plugs. All of this in the last 6 weeks, thought I was done and found the pump leaking.

I may do the same, keep the old one and potentially rebuild, but for now I need the car drivable without me spending another $1500.

booesq

Did you find one ?

ItalianJoe1

Ordered an AC Delco reman unit off Amazon for $356 shipped. Will install this saturday and see how it goes. Probably gonna get a seal kit and rebuild my original one if it all goes well and either keep it as a spare or sell it.

biker349

i would think that there should be a core charge so you can send yours back and receive money back.

booesq

Wow. that's what I paid for a used one. I didn't even know that was an option. AC Delco makes a comparable part?

tusabes

Yup AC delco is just the brand name

they rebuild mb cores

ItalianJoe1

Core is $50, included in the $356 I paid. So I could get it down to $306 shipped technically, plus the $10 or so for me to ship it back. For that cheap i'll just keep and rebuild.

DrDoe

Hi,
I hope you can answer couple of questions for me. If the car had been converted to Strutmasters, is there a way to test the system to see what else is broken? The pumps, the reservoirs, the lines...
If not, I assumed the whole ABC system can be removed for parts. Is this correct?
Thanks in advance.

tusabes

If the car had been converted to strutmasters you can't test the abc system
You would have to put all the abc parts back on to test it

DrDoe

So if I do a close loop between the pump and the reservoir then I should be able to remove the rest from the car right?

ItalianJoe1

Yeah a function test would require a rodeo or something, which if the struts are out can't be done.

If you want to remove the pump from the car, the best thing to do is get a P/S pump from a non-abc S class, which should bolt right on and doesn't have the ABC system with it. It's been posted up on here before with part #s and such, I can try to find it if you can't locate the thread.

If the system was failing, it's hard to say what went wrong. Leaks can lead to major component failure, although the valve blocks almost never fail electronically, they just need new seals (so yours could still be sold as good cores), and any remaining hoses/lines would be technically saleable if they aren't leaking, but I don't know many people who would trust used hoses, as they have a very finite life and aren't terribly expensive.

ItalianJoe1

BTW, put my AC Delco pump on today, car is back working as it should. I'm a very happy camper, spending over $1000 less and having the car working is very relevant to my interests.

Welwynnick

Good job. How did you bleed the pump?


Nick

ItalianJoe1

To get it initially primed? I tried your method of spinning by hand but no luck. Ended up putting air pressure into the reservoir as per the MB instructions, after a few seconds I heard the pitch change and it sucked in some fluid. Just kept adding until the level stopped going down. I had to stop and help some other guys do tires and alignments as it was late in the day and there were still customers waiting, but Monday morning I'm gonna rodeo it and try to get all the air worked out. As of now it adjusts height just fine sitting there, so i'm sure it's ok. Just want all the air out so I can confirm the level accurately.

DrDoe

Thank you for the info. I didn't thought about the non ABC PS pump. That's a good idea.
My intention of removing the whole ABC system is to get spares for my next toy as I intend to sell this car as some point.
Beside the thought of gaining precious space and learning the system intrigues me.
Is there a part number for an AC Delco non ABC PA pump?

ItalianJoe1

http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/m...ring+pump,7380

This shows both ways. I will try to find the thread on here where it's more detailed. I don't recall exactly if you needed the bracket or line from the non-abc car to make the pump work, I know I read about it here. For me, I wouldn't want to have a car this heavy without the active suspension, so I never read into it that far.

DrDoe

I recognized my mistake so right now I want to use this car to learn about the V12TT. This is my first V12 and much different than my H2 supercharged.
Thanks for the link.

tusabes

Note the non abc power steering pump from a v8 Mercedes (s430/s500) will fit but the pulley will be different in v12 cars

Most people just leave the abc tandem pump in place if its sufficiently working the power steering

ItalianJoe1

Did my first rodeo on an early car today, every one I've done prior was on a 221/216 chassis or 231. Amazing how fast the car hops around compared to the newer cars. Pressure drop was a little more than I would like during the process but it held up fine and has zero issues. Car feels much better with all new mounts and accumulators, it really rides and drives smoother. Actually can't feel the engine running when coming down to a stop. Amazing car.

tusabes

I'm still waiting for someone to make a manual controller to make the car dance like a lowrider with hydraulics

One guy made such a manual controller for airmatic cars

ItalianJoe1

The ability is there with the stock parts, it will rodeo, pitch and yaw. It moves very fast, way more than airmatic.

I'm sure something could be done where you just intercept the level sensors and feed false info, but it would require some setup to avoid fault codes from locking the struts out.

tusabes

Yes , all that's needed is a smartphone app tailored to move the car like a rodeo

It would also instantly increase the resale values of s class cl class and sl class Mercedes as the custom car community would seek out these models !!