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I must thank you all for contributing and putting together resource threads that come in handy for a new c215 owner. I believe I have read all of them, but none seem to solve my weird problem (not fully, more about that later). I will try to be as thorough with the information and repairs that already have been done as possible, as it could give you guys some clues, so bear with me.
Back story:
It was salvaged in the US, sold to Germany, where it was fixed, registered, driven for a few thousand miles, and then crashed again very lightly on the front (headlight, hood, and grill). That's where I come in, I brought it to Latvia, repaired the accident damage, no problem there, and then proceeded to sort everything else out. https://poctra.com/2004-MERCEDES-BEN.../SACRAMENTO-CA
Here are some photos of the initial damage that occurred in the US, it might have some clues.
There were no ABC related issues or DTCs before, the car drove totally fine, it sat perfectly level, the ride height was perfect, it raised all four corners equally high. There was a cracking noise on the passenger side when turning the steering wheel to full lock. It was diagnosed to be a bad upper control arm. It was immediately replaced with a Lemforder control arm (I only later found out, from reading some of the threads that it could be an issue). I compared the OE control arm and the new Lemforder and they looked identical in every aspect. Immediately after the repair, I noticed that the ride had become much stiffer. No trouble codes, no problems with raising and lowering the ABC. Over the next few days, the car cluster started flashing the red ABC warning when going over bumps. It was immediately clear that one or both pressure accumulators had failed.
Both front and back large pressure accumulators were replaced with new OE units, as I did not want to guess which one had failed, and changed them both as they are of the same age and the other one will probably go out soon too. At the moment I was not aware that there are two more, smaller spheres (one on after the pump and one on the return line). Just for a good measure, I ordered both new OE spheres, but they have not yet been fitted. This is where the mystery starts. After changing both spheres the mechanic rodeo blead the system, the pressure of the pump was good, it did not drop under the threshold on high demand and everything seemed fine except for one thing. The right-hand side front and back was now sitting lower than before. We tried to do the calibration through Launch diagnostics tool and then through an original MB STAR computer. And on both, we ran into the same issue. It would not calibrate properly. I read tons of instructions and threads, but none seemed to have my problem.
Small side note, right after this I replaced the right front ride height sensor with a new Arnott sensor as it was in stock in the nearby shop. I thought that maybe it was bent during the control arm repair. The Arnott sensor looked identical, the plastic molding, even the sealer and the part number font looked identical to the old original one (it looks like arnott could be the manufacturer of the OE unit, which is packaged for MB). It gave exactly the same readings on the diagnostics too, so I believe the sensor is good. I checked and nothing is bent, the sensor sits flush.
Now back to the problem.
Plunger height calibration - successful
LR 2.72in
LF 1.26in
RF 1.06in
RR 2.44in
Load adjustment - successful
Ride height calibration - failed (after this there is a permanent, white ABC visit workshop message)
Initial readings of level sensors:
LF 2.86V
RF 2.31V
LR 2.27V
RR 3.10V
We used the up/down keys to get the voltages between 2-3 and to have the car sit as level as possible without going outside the voltage range (on a straight driveway, not on an alignment lift).
I made sure that the voltages are not very close to the end ranges, to avoid minute fluctuations that could throw it out of the range. They were all set to approx 2.2 to 2.8V Now, this is where the weird stuff begins:
The diagnostic tool says the inclination angles for a CL should be within the range:
2.4 to 3.1 degrees front
-3.3 to -2.9 degrees rear
Lets say I enter anything within that range (trust me I have spent many hours trying all possible combinations in small increments), the next screen says: Proceed with the calibration of level with the entered angles YES/NO
And right there it displays the angles and they are all whacky, especially one.
LF -15.2deg RF -2.6deg
LR 16.2deg
RR -13.2
If I click yes, I get the permanent ABC Visit Workshop light. The car drives fine, but the error message and the fact that it now sits a bit funny bugs the hell out of me and I have to fix it. All local shops are shrugging their shoulders as they either lack experience or the willingness to dive deeper and figure it out. I am on my own on this.
My questions are:
do I do something wrong and I don't understand how the calibration logic works?
why is the RF inclination value is so vastly different from the other three on the last screen?
or maybe RF is the only normal reading and the rest are all out of whack?
what is the meaning of life?
Isn't the last screen supposed to show the values that I just entered in the last screens? Or it is some sort of algorithm based on voltage x angle + orbit of mercury in retrograde?
Could it be a bad strut/connection after the initial crash damage? Any hints or tips are welcome. If I can provide any more info, please let me know.
I love this car, and I love the ABC suspension, it rides wonderfully, I just want it to sit level and not to yell at me about visiting a workshop