Good evening,

I have a 1999 E320 4Matic wagon with SLS. one of the steel tubing lines developed a pin hole leak but under pressure, leaks a lot of fluid. I need to replace the short piece of line, but cannot find the part, or even a decent representation of the part online anywhere, including the MB OEM parts catalog. It's located under the front driver's wheel well, is easy to access, has a connector on each end, and in theory, should be an easy fix, for either myself or a mechanic, provided the part can be sourced. Unfortunately, the local MB dealer was no help. They pulled up the same parts site I did, and the guy got desperate and even searched on Google! He pulled up the same sites and images I did myself...a little scary a dealership doesn't have access to a greater cache of knowledge and parts. Has anyone else ever had to replace some of these lines, and do you have any online sources that carry such parts? I can't determine a part number or visual. I found a schematic and one of the lines appears to be the correct one, but doesn't look the same, and I am told some of the hydraulic lines differ on a 4Matic, which could explain that. The dealership pulled up the same schematic (attached) and said it was not for a 4Matic model, just the base E320 wagon. I'm attaching a few photos of the schematic (the part I believe I need is labeled as number 30) and a photo of the piece of line. The car runs perfectly, and attempts to patch the existing line have proven not to work...oily fluids will find ANY place to continue leaking from! Any suggestions would be helpful. In exasperation, I would take the car to the dealership, although they would gouge me, but since they cannot even determine the right part themselves, I'm hesitant! The leaking line is circled in yellow, the portion where the leak itself is in green. The end of the line closest to the green circled portion connects into the flexible line labeled as number 20 on the schematic. You would think this would be a no-brainer, but evidently not! Who else has had trouble with leaking hydraulic lines and what have you done to fix them? I would honestly consider another go at patching the existing line if I could find something that would work well enough to do so!

 

Did you ever get a replacement for that hydraulic fluid line ? I have the same issue in same area on that exact line but my leak is big, any advice to find a replacement ?... Thanks

 

I did the get the line fixed, but ended up biting the bullet and taking the car to the MB dealership. I never could find the right piece of tubing. The upside is, when I called the dealership, they were super nice. They gave me the towing number, had the car towed to the dealership for free, and it only cost about $700 to have the line replaced. I didn't think that was too terrible, considering it was done at the dealership. I do know the tubing just comes in straight pieces, about three feet long, and they actually fabricate/bend the tubing when then install it. All things considered, that was one thing I didn't mind paying the dealership to do. Knock on wood, it's been perfect ever since, no leaks. Hope this helps some!

 

That's a hefty price at $700 but I understand completely because the headache and time to fix that issue can stress a car owner . I will visit a MB specialist not to far from me about 5 minute drive and inquire a price for all those other hydraulic lines that have corrosion already and also check a Auto body shop for winterizing car and getting underbody painted with rust protection... Thanks all, I'll update as this issue moves on.

 

I bought some line and fittings from Amazon and repaired my leaks before I gave up and ripped it all out and converted the rear shocks