Oxygen

As some of you remember back in February of this year, the High Pressure Expansion hose coming off of the ABC tandem pump decided to let go on me and caused a whole bunch of issues.

In the end I replaced the complete hose assembly and the ABC tandem pump.. the thread is here: https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...ement-diy.html

The other day I was doing a quarterly inspection of my car from bumper to bumper, and guess what? The hose that I replaced already failed and is leaking.

Looks like the part of the hose that ends in a dead-end plug is leaking from around the plug...

Anyone know how I should handle this with MBUSA? This hose was around $450 if I remember correctly.

In the picture below you can see a drip of hydraulic fluid that leaks from the plug at the end of the hose and it drips down on the hose below it, possibly reducing the other hoses' life as well.

Exotic-metal55

That really sux!!! I wonder how long until people start putting coil overs on, trash the ABC system, if that is even possible?

Oxygen

Yeah well.. these parts carry a 12 month warranty from MB, so exchanging the hose for a new one would not be an issue.

My issue is who is going to cover the 5+ hours it's going to take to swap this hose out, bleed the system, flush the fluid and perform calibration?

I would never trash the ABC system for coil overs... these cars are way too heavy and ABC is the perfect system to keep handling amazing.

Viet_Amg408

damn oxygen.. you got bad luck man

so it's a dead end plug that's leaking right? is there a bleed screw or some sort of tighten in the end?

look like that plug is use to hook up a guage to check the pressure in the abc system..
maybe its not fully tighten? i can't tell by looking at the pics.. did you get the first look when it was put in...

also did you try to depressurize the system and remove the plug see whats going on since you underneath the vehicle already..

good luck bro..

let us know what you find.. i hate to see you drop the engine to replace those lines again..

Viet_Amg408

hell no man.. i rely on hydraulic raise up and down to get in/out my drive way daily.. w/o it there no f*king way i can drive...

Can't do that with coilover...

and there's body roll. w/o abc.. damn this car is hella heavy...flip you over instantly ...

Oxygen

It's not bad luck. It's poor engineering/manufacturing/quality control of Mercedes-Benz.

There is no valve and no plug at the end, it's a permanent seal. There is no way to tighten/remove the seal.

ABC has working pressure of around 3000psi so any kind of lose connections would spell disaster. This is a leak at the crimp where the rubber hose meets the metal plug at the end.

I'd hate to have to replace it and go through the whole process again, but it looks like I have no choice.

It's not an issue raising the motor.. it's simply 2 bolts on the motor mounts and a jack underneath the oil pan to raise the motor up an inch or so.

Viet_Amg408

oh, in that case..sucks for you haahahaha..good luck though..have fun at it..

hcetzneb

The part should come with a 12 month waranty on the part and the labor.. It happeneds at my dealer all the time if a shop installs a part and it fails they bring it to the dealer and we inspect it and replace the part under the parts waranty. I think you shouldn't call mbusa first, give the dealer you bought it from a chance to help first you might be suprised. If you go the route of calling mbusa what happeneds is it might look like the dealer isnt helping you before the got the chance to.. whatever happeneds if that dealer says no or gives you a hard time let me know i have been with benz for awhile and looking a you sig im kinda close so if i can help with anything.

Oxygen

Very cool to know.. I'll try that route today.

Quadcammer

It can't be that hard to have someone fab up an all steel line for this.

That rubber to metal connection is concerning at 3000psi.

Oxygen

Went to the dealer where I purchased the hose assembly. Spoke to both the service manager and the shop manager, they told me that they'll have a new hose for me TOMORROW but they will not cover the labor. They said since they did not install the part, the labor is my responsibility. They are only responsible for the part itself.

Viet_Amg408

btw.. did you do the replacement yourself last time at your friend's shop ?

or your friend did it for you?

anyhow.. second time should be a piece of cake, for whoever did it first time already...maybe 1hrs..this time....

Oxygen

I did the work myself, but ABC work is never a piece of cake.

I've done all sorts of ABC work on all types of different cars... S-Class, CL, SL.. valve blocks, flushes, filtering, pumps, lines, tanks, etc...

This will take longer than an hour for sure. In any case, I have to rip the hose out, drive it to the dealer, get the new one, put it in, etc..

alx

i think the parts warranty applies only if installed by a "certified mechanic".

i do not know what "certified" means - asa certified? mercedes-certified? amg-certified?

you might be up for an uphill battle...

alex

Viet_Amg408

not really, if the part show sign of defective, and not damage by installer regardless certified or not..


i bet mercedes already ordered the parts for "oxygen" even though he didn't have the part out yet..

Oxygen

Yes they said that the hose for "oxygen" will be here tomorrow.. but "oxygen" is not ready to do this yet.

MB_Forever

Are there any signs to look for before the hose starts failing? My CL500 now makes a bubble type noise when driving on un-even surfaces and I'm not sure if that could be a sign. There are no leaks yet.... Any ideas?

Oxygen

Yes... it starts to leak, which indicates that the crimp is faulty and hydraulic fluid is making it's way out of the hose, slowly enlarging the fault and eventually it will go BOOM.

hcetzneb

If you want ill ask my SM tommorrow and maybe i can get you so documents on the warrenty.. let me know

Oxygen

Please do! Much appreciated!

Oxygen

Well after thinking about it on the way home from work, I realized that these are the steps to change that hose out...

-Suction ABC fluid from ABC/PS tanks
-Remove Airbox
-Remove Tanks
-Remove Belt
-Remove Pulley
-Remove ABC pump
-Disconnect/disassemble line
-Lift Motor
-Assemble all components
-Fill/Bleed PS system
-Fill/Bleed ABC system
-Perform Rodeo
-Change Filter

This will take at least 6 hours and will cost much money because I will need a few liters of CHF-11S mineral oil.

Raff

Man, that sucks to hear man. I love the ABC on our cars. I use it all the time for drive way use.
Good Luck.

Mercedes22

Very sorry to hear of your problems, especially as you look after your car so well. What chance do all the people with ABC have if it happened to you. Is just bad luck or is it a ongoing design fault ?

Oxygen

I feel that the reason why these systems have some many failures is due to the nature of the design... think of it this way-

The system is pressurized to 3000psi when the engine is running, which is fine, there are many systems out there that are subject to much higher pressure than 3000psi... BUT... this 3000psi system is in a vehicle, which is subject to vibrations, stress, moisture, dirt, etc... and this slow degrades the system and it's components. Nothing lasts forever.

Oxygen

The fact that a 7 month old hose that has been revised in design is leaking is a design fault though... but I'm sure Mercedes won't give a ****.