rwogs

I have a 1995 Mercedes E320 (124,000 miles) and yesterday it started making a very distinct "clunking" sound coming from the driver's side rear (it makes the sound when driving over bumps). In clearing stuff out of the trunk, I discovered that the stud end of the shock was sticking up through the trunk liner! Initially I'm guessing it is a shock problem but won't climb under it until tomorrow. Anyone ever have this happen. I did a search for "rear shock" search in the forums but did not see this particular description.
Thanks

shenagles

haha the same thing happened to me, i made a thread about it somewhere, here or benzworld. Anyhow, what happens is there is a sleeve that holds the piston into the shock housing and that separates forcing the piston into the trunk, through the liner causing it to clunk around and its just riding on spring after that. Just take the shock out (very easy since its broken) weld the sleeve back together and your good to go! or buy new shocks. Both mine went within a week and i replaced them with bilstein sports and im very happy.

rwogs

It turns out that your assessment was exactly right. The compression and rebound of the shock seems fine except for the missing clip. The shoulder of the rod, where the clip sits and supports the "round washer" at the end of the plastic dirt shield, was visibly worn and so I suspect that this was coming on for some time and finally slipped through the round washer at the top. I found two new Bilstein shocks for less than $70 each with tax!! so I just replaced both and will keep at least one for a spare to use in an emergency. It sounded much worse than it was while driving. I was afraid that it may be a broken spring. Here are a couple of pictures.