Wehrmacht_benz

is this normal? my car was sitting in my garage for 2-3 days and i uslaly have it out every single day..anyway i get in start it and i get abc too low stop immediately....i shut it off and stait it upo a few times....and the car rises and the message goes away...it drives fine now..

anyway how dangerous is it to leave the car sitting and not used...im thinking what if i went away on a three week vacation..does this damage abc?

BlownV8

Do you see hydraulic fluid under the car? Our fluid, synthetic Petosin, has a greenish color. Going by memory, my 2003 CL600 uses Petosin 11S.

Yes, the leak can be an issue. The leaks could eventually cause the pump to fail and that is big money to replace. Take it in and get the leak fixed. You might even be able to do it yourself.

Put the car up on ramps and take off the lower engine shrouds. The control block is in the front of the engine on the drivers side. You will see an aluminum control block with around 5 hydraulic hoses attached. Check to see if you can see any fluid weeping from the block or around any of the hoses. The hoses are cheap but the pump is expensive!

Wehrmacht_benz

no there is no leak....

it was not running for a few days and the right side was almost right above the tires and once it got warmed up the car leveled back up...and the light went away...'

i have a feeling its normal..but i am wodnering if it happened to anyone else..

why should this happen if you dont use the car for a few days or more..?

Jud Chapin

My '02 does it after it sits for over a week or 2. This is considered normal so I'm told. However, a drop after a few days or so may be a different story. I've let mine sit for around a month and the drop on both sides has never been a problem as it comes right up after starting and then putting it INTO GEAR. The drop is caused by internal leaking. When I first noticed mine doing it, I took it in and they changed the ABC fluid and filter but it didn't help.

Wehrmacht_benz

well if i feel a need to ill bring it in...the pump was replaced about 6 months ago abd car was servied a month ago...

as far as im concerned if it snaps right back up it should be fine...

these cars just have minds of their own,,they do random things to freak their ownrs out..

shanta

my 02 does the same thing. i went out of town for a week and left it sitting, came back and gave me the ABC warning. I hit the button to raise the car, then hit it again to put the car at normal height and it is all good.

Wehrmacht_benz

i was just thinking what if i had the car lowered>....thenn the body would be resting on the damn tires when this hapopened....damn how do people lower these cars with renntech and everything withthe possibility of abc failing>

CL5driver

My car does the exact same thing. I have a new ABC pump and never had a leak. This is how they are supposed to sit. They have an automatic leveling system that activates after the cars is turned off.

v8plus4

Not sure if this is normal. I've left my 600 sitting for 2-3 weeks at a time, and it has never dropped an inch.

BlownV8

The suspension should not drop. If it does, you have issues.

Wehrmacht_benz

doing a search i found out many people reported on this....the car rises after engine is started....if it does not pop back up then you have issues//

Jud Chapin

All do respect, but I couldn't disagree more. My '02 has done it since the 3 years I had it, and it always comes right up after start up. I have friends at MB who say they see new ones on the lot that have dropped. Also, they say they get calls from people at airports who have left their cars sit for extended period as they find their cars have dropped. I don't believe all do it, but many do and it is the result of internal leaks in the hydraulic system.

BlownV8

.

Just because many of cars drop does not mean that the system is OK. If your car drops, there is something wrong. The suspension should not drop. Yes, many do but that is not how this suspension was designed. There has to be an internal leak in a hydraulic valve that enables the system to bleed down.

Is the problem serious when it leaks down. It could be but it may not be. However, that's not the design of the system.

Mine bled down too until I had the majority of the hydraulic system replaced. Now, it stays the same height regardless of the time it sits. If there was one complaint about my car, it would be the problamatic hydraulic system. I think we can all relate to that fact!

Wehrmacht_benz

well what is the longest you left your car sitting...if you drive it everyday you wont experience this....mine was only sitting for a few days...i usually use it everyday...have you ever left it sitting for a long time?

Jud Chapin

Yeah Blah, you are right on. (I like your new signature, BTW.) There would probably be a lot more of this drop going on if people let their cars sit longer. I honestly don't see the problem as i've talked to too many people about it. Granted, it shouldn't happen but all is takes is a weak o-ring and you will have an internal leak. I'm sure I could raise hell with MB and they'd spend hours and hours trying to find the problem (I'm under warranty). Frankly, my CL has seen enough of MB mechanics and their shoddy work and there is no way they are going to tear into my ABC system. (The last time I was in they chipped both the door and the steering wheel). They may find the problem and repair it, but I bet it'd be doing the same thing later on.

OC kid

Both BlownV8 and Jud are right;

It doesn't take much in these small, high-pressure systems for a loss to occur that would amount to what you guys are experiencing. You can have leaks in these that don't even allow fluid to be expelled from the system; just slight bleed-by at a valve and it allows enough pressure to be slowly lost within the "locked-in portion" of the system untill it reaches an equalization (and settling) point.-each leak acts a little differently.

So yes, BlownV8's right; it is a problem because there actually is a leak, but the leak itself may not warrant the attention as Jud mentioned. (esp. with srvc. horror stories like that)

For me personally, I like to nail dealerships on these things when they are under warranty...although after replacing two sets of wheels because of road rash by their drivers and greeez stains all up inside the interior from their mechanics .. I start to see Jud's point.

Blahz: I've left mine sitting for 2 weeks without a start-up and it didn't settle a bit. ...I'm Just sayin' bro...

OC kid

bltserv

Blah
Like the new pic way better.
If I show that pic to my girl she will want to do her nails on my car.

Back to the topic of this thread:

My 2000 CL will sit parked for up to 10 days at a time.
It never sinks. I have had my ABC replaced as well.
Did not sink before or after. I will vote with the group.
"If it sinks, its leaking somewhere". Simple physics.
That pressure is going somewhere. Either as gas or liquid.
Its bleeding off for some reason. May not be bad.
But it is not normal for my car in its 7 years of life.

sped

I had a problem a few weeks ago when I started my CL after letting it sit for a week or so. The Check Engine light, ABS, ABC, NBC, and CBS lights all came on, but the car did not go down on me.

I called MB and they said to let it run to charge the battery for a few minutes. I did what they said and all the lights except the "Check engine" light went out. After a few stops I did noticed the CE light went out and all was normal. The car really missed me!

Ed