email Jamie Ruis jruis@mbofelmbrook.com

He can sell you one. Fidelity is a good one. He works for an authorized MB dealership.

 

Thanks Chedman13!

 

Jumping onto an old thread here again.

Thank you NolaGL550 for the detailed write up. I am in the process of doing the same on an ML350, 2013.

I am struggling trying to get the electrical connection for the shock disconnected.
I have pushed the little grey tab out, it is unclear to me what to pull/push next to get this connection undone.
Not wanting to damage anything.

Any specific advice would be greatly appreciated.

David in MD

I'm stuck here.

 

Looks like you just need to wiggle the connection apart now that the gray tab is unlocked.

 

So I was able to slide the outer connection body and wires off to the left. It now hangs loose awaiting the new part.
The other side of the plug is still somehow hooked to the plastic behind it, and won't easily release.
Another Mercedes secret?

 

Slow progress, but the end is in sight.
The right side shock and Air Bag are installed, and right side interior components re-installed.

Something that is missing here. Did anyone doing this find that removal of the inner fender liner to make the overall job more simple?
Additionally, I had difficulty compressing the new shock enough to get the lower end up and over the rear control arm.
I'm inclined to include control arm removal on the left side when I go out today to complete the job. I'm just waiting for the sun to warm things up a bit right now.

David in MD

 

I don't recall moving anything when changing my rear airbag on my 164 it was as simple as doing a brake job 30mins or less. However, I will soon find what it is like to do so on my 166GL since my left rear now sags within hours, if I leave it in Sport mode. No problems in Comfort mode. The replacement has been sitting in the garage for about 3 weeks now.

 

DC,
I found the air bags equally simple whether the wheel well was removed or not.

I did have difficulty with the first shock I installed, which was what prompted me to remove the liner.
When doing the second shock, I did drop down the outer end of the control arm (?), which made getting the shock in place immensely easier.

I'm now wondering if I may have damaged the first shock I installed, as I have a clunking noise that seems to be coming from the top mount area of that righthand shock. I did some forcing on the bottom while only one of the upper studs was in the mounting hole. It then require some levering of the upper flange to get the second stud to drop in place. Of coarse, I had already reinstalled all the interior soundproofing and trim prior to test driving.

 

I am in the same boat, ive looked at videos and it seems like my 15 gl350 just takes arnott A2596 bags and from youtube videos of a 164, they seem like a simple twist on twist off procedure after unbolting the air line.

 

Does anyone know how to get this price off??? I’m about ready to pull my hair out! This is a 2012, ML63 AMG, w166, but this rear threshold is not like any of the others I’ve seen where they preform this replacement. There was one screw directly behind the clasp at the bottom, that’s been removed, but something else is holding it on and I feel like I’m going to break it if I try prying on anything. Please help! Thanks!

 

There are 6, plastic push in clips running left to right, roughly centered front to rear.
Simply use a wide plastic wedge pushed under one end or the other and gently pry up.
Once the first one pops, simply work your way across, prying with your wedge.

This is about the most simple of interior cargo area trims to remove.

 

Thank you for the quick response! It is very simple when you know that’s how it comes apart. If you’re a 200lb gorilla like me and you’ve “pried” more than a few of these apart that had one or two more bolts holding things together and broken this $500 plastic piece into ten pieces, then you understand my apprehension to prying when the piece you’ve got is completely different than any of the other ones you’ve seen in tutorials. Thanks again!

 

Glad I could help. As a 260 -270 lbs gorilla, I have also pried things apart incorrectly.
Are you getting ready to change shocks?

 

Already done. With that pesky plastic piece out of the way, I had both the shocks and airbags replaced within an hour or two, super simple job and MAN, what difference in ride quality. I thought this thing rode well before, but even with 75k mi on the clock, it feels amazing now. Now if I could just get someone to help me figure out what’s going on with my boost issue, I’d be set! Cheers!

 

I haven't replaced mine but when I used the Airmatic module in my cloned Xentry system it does have a function to release the pressure in the shock absorber (not the air spring) and says I can take out the shocks when the pressure drops below something like 15psi. I'm not sure if this is mandatory though.

 

Man! you are a godsend! thank you so much for taking the time to make this for everyone and in such a thorough manner that is very easy to understand.

It's inspired me and given me confidence to go at this!

Thanks!

 

I just did this tonight. I can confirm the steps are all the same for a 2017 GLS63 AMG

 

This thread was super useful in swapping out my 2014 GL550 rear shocks and air springs. They were still the originals from the factory with 120k+ miles. However, i think i must've messed up one of the ADS wire connections. This is weird because the plugs came out easy on both sides and i did not need to force anything.

The vehicle is currently stuck in Sport mode. I will have to raise up the vehicle again tomorrow and look into it. Sigh! I already lost a day because bilstein did not include replacement white retainer clips for the air springs. Thankfully, the dealer had them in stock.

I wish just one repair could go exactly as intended. /Rant.

 

Well this is embarrassing! Turns out Dumb Dumb (AKA me) installed one of the level sensors incorrectly because the thing can fold up in the opposite direction as well!

I was able to use the Innova 5610 scan tool that the local Advance Auto has to see what the cause of the Airmatic malfunction was. Once it clearly pointed to the level sensor signal being implausible, a quick visual check against my disassembly photos confirmed what I had done wrong. I installed it correctly and everything started working as expected. Some points to note with the incorrectly installed sensor in case anyone comes across this in the future:

1) The Airmatic button light would switch to "Comfort" temporarily on engine start until the "Malfunction" light on the IC shows up and then would stay stuck in "Sport" Mode.
2) Additional raising of the vehicle would make the headlights droop and dance all over the place since they are not getting correct level information. (Only visible in dark conditions obviously)
3) vehicle was sitting lower on the bad install side (Rear Passenger) than the good side (Rear Driver) but not all the way down as ii would be if the air bag was deflated.

Being stuck in "Sport" mode can be a sign of incorrect/bad ADS plug install as well. Having an accessible scanner made all the difference. Advance said they only had a simple code scanner, but when I showed up to buy the $400 Innova 5610 scanner, the rep there said they had one available for customer use. So don't take their word over the phone, actually show up at the place and ask for the best scanner they have available. Autozone gave me the same response on the phone, did not bother going and checking there since Advance was my first stop, being closer to home.

 

Hi folks... looking like I'm in line to do this fix as well, as I woke up to a big puddle of oil under the left rear corner this morning. Super happy to have this thread for reference.

What are thoughts on whether this is safe to drive while I wait on parts?



(Yay Canadian winters!)

 

A blown shock is usually bad for the springs which are air springs in our case. I kept driving mine until my parts arrived but only to a minimum. I must have put no more than 20 mi.

I did Bilstein in the rear and the arnotts in the front. I also went ahead and changed out the airbags in the rear since that was such an easy job.

 

I did the rear airbags a couple of months ago (Arnott's... what an easy job; so much space!) and noted the condition of the dampers at the time... so this failure doesn't surprise me... but the scale of it did; that's no small leak!

 

Since you have new bags, I think you will be fine just keeping the use to an absolute minimum. Use a second vehicle if you have one, as much as possible.

 

Ordered new Bilsteins, from Rock Auto... should arrive tomorrow. Will keep driving to a minimum; I presume the gas in the damper should be fine - the oil is just to control the adaptive suspension (sport/comfort), but I don't know if it needs at least "some" oil to avoid issues with the piston, valves, etc.

 

I got this done on Saturday morning, replacing both rear ADS dampers. Big thanks to the OP for the DIY; made this an un-intimidating job. As noted... it's not particularly difficult... the time & tedium is primarily in removing and reinstalling the interior trim panels. I was working in a cramped & cold garage... if you plan on 4 hours, that should be plenty, esp with the help of the DIY. Getting the damper connector clips undone was indeed frustrating... just tight tolerances and a lot of dirt and grit, so be patient... push the gray bit out (about 1/4" or so), and then press down on it to unhook and work the connectors apart; look at the connector on your replacement damper to understand how it works. Make sure you have the proper size sockets/wrenches for the lower damper bolt... it's large (24mm or 15/16), and if you don't have a good impact wrench, you'll want to be able to put a lot of leverage onto it; once started, it will come off no problem. I had it soaking in Kroil for ~24 hours as well, and they didn't give too much grief (and you can see in the pics above the state of rusted decomposition on my vehicle...!).

That being said, I would offer one recommendation to the original DIY above:

At Step 8, it's not necessary to remove AAAAALLLL the components and wiring harness etc in order to pull back the foam for access to the damper top nuts. In hindsight, you can just unbolt a couple of very accessible components and cut a flap in the foam - there are even some molded indentations in the foam that make it fairly obvious where to slice. I marked them for future reference in my car... see pics below:

X166 2015 GL 350 Accessing rear damper top nuts (passenger side)

X166 2015 GL 350 Accessing rear damper top nuts (driver side)