Sucks you had to go to a shop to do the rear bags. The easiest ones, 45 mins per side, includes jacking it up. I got a pair of rear bags off Amazon for around $170 (Cdn) I installed one about 4 yrs or so ago, still holding up, one more waiting in a box.

I’m scared to see your bill

 

When you replace front struts you get both new air springs and new hydraulic shocks.

When you replace rear air springs, you should also replace rear hydraulic shock absorbers.

Hydraulic shock absorbers are limited life components on all vehicles.

On Mercedes with Airmatic, so are the air springs.

Hard to believe a new maximum functioning shock on one side would be combined with a significantly worn shock on the other. Replace both at same time.

 

Thanks I am unsure? I will check I believe all parts came from the dealership. .

 

Thank you for your support...lol

 

I received both rear bags and both rear shocks, relay and compressor. And even a dis video from the shop ... 😆

 

Lol I wondered about the screw he was referring to it is likely to hold the airbag retainer in place. But they are my long term shop I appreciate their work, they get me in up and running and out.

 

With a much smoother quiet car front end chatter is now a focus. Still too cold to lay on the ground and get after it, but the little time I have poked a pulled around under the front end I suspect I may have worn front differential bushings. It is the only slight noise I can cause.

 

By the way, in German it's "Marthe", pronounced Mar-teh.

I call mine Das Biest.

 

My wife calls her GL “Helga”

 

Wife is at 247k miles on our 2012 GL450. I just finished replacing radiator as a preventive maintenance measure. I was seeing a little seepage at seam on drivers side.

 

My 2012 GL 450 just hit 150,000 miles still running strong👍🏻

 

Today finally all things lined up. A nice warm NYC day, plenty of time on a Sunday day off, and a good parking spot. So I went ahead and took off the right rear tire and spliced in a new ABS sensor harness side connector. About 15 minutes of effort and I had the rear tire back on. With the ABS, Traction and Stability lights still lit up on the dash I figured I had to drive the Big Benz a few miles for the system to reset. So off I drove and 10 feet into the drive all lights turned off. All things back in order so I turned right around and parked so I could put away the tools properly . It was a 9 dollar part a little muscle and some electrical tape. Just great day
I will drive it all next week and if everything is stable take it in for a wheel alignment next Sunday..

 

After an unscheduled trip from NYC to Atlantic City NJ on Saturday just under 300 miles round trip. The Big Benz is still good looking and the engine is superb. The electronics acted the abs wire repair are all in working order. Cruise control which I never use was nice to use this time due to the bad alignment/ old tire combination giving a balance related vibration starting about 73 mph
So with cruise control set at 67 mph it stayed nice and smooth the off center steering wheel got on my nerves
But a great trip with wife and two adult daughters all were very comfortable.
I managed 19.8 mpg going 20.1 mpg returning .

 

The day after the NYC to Atlantic City trip I checked an expansion tank repair I had made before the trip. The little hose coming out of the expansion tank had a leak I initially assumed it was a loose hose clamp but turned out to be the metal piece to clamp onto was the leaking point. So a little JB plastic weld was used to seal that piece back in place and the small leak is now gone. Next it was off to the alignment shop. It's combined with a car wash where every wash gets you a free alignment scan. So because it was raining pretty good it was a good day to take it as they would be less busy. Sure enough I pulled right in, 35 min later the Big Benz came off the Hunter Machine Rack with steering wheel centered and tires lined up.
A test ride has things feeling nice and centered. Still on these old tires but the wheel vibration is now above 80 so normal NYC driving will not produce any notice of it.

Still on the look out for a the Continental Cross Contact lx25 275/50 20 tires at a 280.00 price point. 301.00 seems to be the default low price right now. I will just keep babying things along for now. But with a 160 Speedo it cannot be shaking half way through lol.

 

Well to day on the drive home from work on a 91 degree day, DRS inoperable light came on followed shortly by every dash light except ABS. Red message shows "drive to shop without changing gears" .
Limped car home could not get care to change gear out of drive.
Shut off car unable to restart due to being in gear a pre safe message.

Now no idea what I should have done, as I was stuck in a cross walk and just needed to reverse into a safe parking space so I googled a few minutes. Then I disconnected the main battery for 10 minutes. When I reconnected the battery car started a selected gears as normal so I backed into the parking space and put on the foot brake and shut it off for the night. Main battery showed 13.7 volts the whole time. So I will start with the AUX battery tomorrow. All lights shut off except check engine light.
We will see what happens tomorrow.

 

The Big Benz started up normal drive normal no dash lights. I will still check on aux battery condition. And least I know the mechanics of the car are all in order. What ever caused the electrical system to flip out remains to unknown.. I will cautiously drive it home after work as today should be the same temperature and conditions as yesterday .

 

A lot has happened. The car went back to the alignment shop after finding the rear alignment was mechanically straight but too far out of MB spec range to cause enough issues with wheel speed sensors to trigger the DSR inoperable and limp mode condition. With realignment to proper MB specs. The big Benz drives nice and straight. ......
I then got my iCarsoft MB V4.0 scanner and with a car off battery voltage of 12.16 volts proceeded to drain the battery down. Which may have caused its own trigger of issues with the system and not starting. With the red drive to shop without changing gears warning.
So this is the cross road for me.
Today I intend to change both the main and aux batteries. With fresh batteries it's either going to run or I will have to part ways with it.

 

What did you pay for it in 2024?

 

$8,500.

 

Drive to auto zone, pulled out main battery in 10 minutes I was inside AutoZone with new Duralast Platinum H8 AGM battery paid for. They did not have the replacement for the "mini 4039 aux battery" so I said I would go out and grad it real quick to at least check it.....
.......one hour later I manage to figure out the movement needed to unlock that little rubix cube cage around the little battery..... But it was out and they checked it at 89 percent state of charge. Here is a note both battery dates showed back to early 2011 so may have been original parts. As it was Sunday there was no local replacement to be found so the little MB mini 4039 battery was reinstalled. The new 900 cca H8 main battery was dropped in and tightened down.

The Big Benz is operating as designed.

 

[QUOTE= Here is a note both battery dates showed back to early 2011 so may have been original parts.

The Big Benz is operating as designed.[/QUOTE]

I have learned that battery replacement should be preventative, scheduled maintenance on modern German cars with lots of computers and electronics. I used to only replace batteries when they got so old my car wouldn't start. But after owning a few BMWs and Mercedes in recent years, I've had many strange electrical issues that were simply resolved with new batteries. Now I change them (both batteries if the car has them) on a 5 year schedule even if they still have an "ok" voltage. It is a little more expensive, but maybe not because I had wasted a lot of time and money in the past chasing down electrical issues (and paying for a tow once) that wouldn't have happened if I had fresh batteries. The old conventional wisdom about a slightly-degraded battery being ok is not true. And it's always much less stressful changing batteries on a schedule, because you can shop around for a good price and change the battery at a convenient time instead of an emergency situation.