kombifan

Yes. That might have been the problem.

Any competent mechanic can replace the struts and and air springs.

But reading the codes for the air compressor abd valve block is a little tricker. Plus if he realised the filter was facing the wrong way...He should have known that it would be contaminated so I don't understand why he didn't recommend replacing it right away.

A indy who works only on mercedes is usually better. But also still pricey. It's best to shop around.

Max Blast

Arnott compressor is $389 on Amazon. Move on and be done with it.

jmmurrell

Hey I believe the reason that the mechanic said that the filter was installed wrong is because the filter has an arrow. On my e55 I noticed that the filter arrow was not pointing in the direction of airflow to the compressor like one would think. Mine was like yours I believe and the arrow was pointing in the opposite direction of air flow. I have no idea which way is correct. I know this post is fairly old but I guess I was hoping you found an answer. It doesn’t make sense to me.

Max Blast

Older post, but unless OP is the original owner and can document that nothing has been done to the compressor, he has no case. Even then it’s a case that favors Mercedes position.

its probable that the oil in the system is from the new compressor.

lkchris

The notion of a filter installed incorrectly at the factory is ridiculous and is indicative of what you can face working with independent mechanics who so very often don’t know what they’re doing but are big with conspiracy theories.

Max Blast

yeah I’ll buy that too.

eric_in_sd

I have kept meticulous (side joke: Is **** retentive hyphenated?) records and have spent just over $15K in repairs and maintenance over 100K miles, from 67K miles.

Truth be told, while it seems like a lot, it's only equal to the depreciation over that time period. It's not that much per mile. I've spent $8K in insurance.

You'd have had to pay me more than $15K to drive a Sienna that distance. I had one and hated driving it. I still love driving the GL. As alx posted once, that truck ages well. The turning point was when I went off road, and I realized just how capable the thing is.

The cats are going out, but thankfully I'm leaving Cali soon and can have cheap aftermarket cats put in.

I probably would have been happier overall with a F150, but what's done is done.

Max Blast

Valid points Eric. I’ve spent about 6-7k in parts on my two GL450s over the course of the last three years and depreciation is near flat....bought both at less than 10k and will drive them into the ground.

OTOH I lost about $40k in Mx, depreciation and insurance over two years running a Yukon XL Denali.

curious - what’s your new handle gonna be when you leave CA ?

eric_in_sd

Yeah, the thing still looks great, has been garaged all its life, and I now know it well enough to not be afraid of it. Why wouldn't I keep it? Especially now that gas will be cheap for the foreseeable future. I should change the valve stem seals (drinks oil) and there is lifter noise ... want to see if I can fix either or both of those with additives before gritting my teeth and getting down to it. It might be Stockholm Syndrome, but dang it I'm kind of fond of the thing.

hahaha I know, right? I thought about it as I wrote the post. Headed for Texas, and I don't know whether this forum allows name changes.

Jamm

Just replaced the compressor, new suction filter, and hose. The OEM filter was installed with arrow pointing away from compressor, the new filter was pre-installed to hose with arrow pointing towards compressor.

GL 450CDI
VIN: WDC164828A******