mommy2jhhb

I have a 2003 E500 and the right front strut went out on me. I took it to my mechanic and it is going to be about $1,200 for a new one installed. That is way out of my price range at the moment. I thought that I would check and see if anyone had a used one that they would like to sell? The part number is #211 320 54 13 (I live in the Houston area)
Thanks
Shawna

konigstiger

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w211...ml#post3769684

SZMB

Try ebay for a remaufactured one w/ lifetime warranty for under $500 minus $100 for core. Labor should be less than 2 hrs. Looks like not a difficult DIY. I'll try a DIY when my next front shock goes out.

mcleantmw

Check out the website link in konigstiger's post above your's.............it indicates that Arnott will provide a 10% discount on orders from people who are members of the benzworld.org forum since they are a sponsor for that discussion group.

mommy2jhhb

Sorry for the delay in my response. I have been doing tons of running around trying to get ready for Christmas. I truly appreciate all the help that everyone has suggested.
I did end up finding a used part and I am in the process of getting it put on. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it works. My mechanic is also telling me that since that one went out to expect the others to follow. It makes me afraid to even drive the car. When the part went out I had exited the freeway (i was on a side street when it happened)and had been going atleast 65 or 70 mph what would have happened if it just went out on the freeway like that cause the car just fell down on the right front side. My husband says it probably would have caused me to have a blow out and then who knows what would have happened. I am now in the process of speaking to a shop manager and Mercedes North to see if there are any recalls or anything for those parts, he said that a red warning light should have popped up telling me to stop. But there was no warning light at all....... Scary stuff!!!!!!

If there isnt any recalls or anything I am putting the car up for sale........

Sorry for all the babbling it has just been very stressful.

SZMB

There's no recall on the air shocks (according to the service rep). When one front shock went out on me a couple of months ago, and the dealer quoted me $1500 for repair, I was thinking about selling the car too. But after doing some more searching, it's not really that bad. Buy the remanufactured ones and have them installed at an indy shop or DIY, it's not too expensive. Once it's fixed, you know it'll last at least 60k more miles (that's what I'm hoping for). The rear shocks are easier to install than the front ones. The MB service rep said that he has never seen two front air shocks gone out at the same time or at different times (on the same vehicle). After some searching online (based on the number of reported failures), these air shocks are just reliable as the conventional shocks. However, when the air shock fails, the whole suspension collapses and you can't really drive the car anymore -- you have to be extra careful when driving over bumps and potholes. When a conventional shock fails, sometimes you don't even notice it since the spring supports the weight of the vehichle. There are a lot of cars on the road with broken conventional shocks and people still drive the cars normally -- some of my friends do that until I tell them that their shocks are worn out.

mommy2jhhb

Well it just keeps getting better and better. They got the strut put in, the computer would not recognize the part. So I had to have the car towed to another shop that has a computer to get it to sync? The guy did that and is now telling me that the air compressor is out, so it wont inflate. UGH!!!! I am ready to rip my hair out. lol I am all tapped out, especially with it being Christmas time.

I am going to put it up on craigslist and see what I can get for it the way it is?

SZMB

Sorry to hear that. The compressor is expensive. If this is my car, at this point I would have the car towed to a good MB dealer for diagnosis, just in case your indy shop has mis-diagnosis the problem. It seems odd to me that both the compressor and the air shock failed at the same time. If you decide to go to the dealer, it doesn't hurt to ask the service manager for a good-will repair or discount because it's just unusual that both expensive parts failed at the same time so early.
I personally don't think you can get a good price without having this problem fixed.

mcleantmw

Arnott also sells the air pumps that you need at a much reduced price than the MB Dealers charge.

SZMB

I have doubts in the ability of this indy shop. They installed the shock then couldn't make it to work because of lacking the proper equipment, and later claimed that the compressor had gone bad. Even if after installing the compressor, there's no guarantee that will fix the problem. Maybe they'll claim something else has gone wrong after installing the compressor. Who knows? Are you sure that the shock was bad to begin with and not the compressor? Did you see oil leak on the old shock? If the compressor had gone bad, my guess is that both front air shocks should have collapsed.

gaazmon

I have seen it, on my uncle's 2000 S500. The morons at Auto Stiegler when they were in Encino (no longer in Encino, that's a long story for another day) when changing the brakes or something f*cked up and blew up both airbags while the thing was up on a lift. He was driving on the freeway and BAM, the car dropped. He took it to my other uncle who has an indy shop and when he put it up said both blew out at the same time and the chances of that happening are 1 in a million so my uncle went back and raised h*ll.