What should the height be left at when parking it for a couple days?

 

Has anyone who has dealt with ABC repair ever bought another unconverted ABC car? They're on my blacklist, along with the air suspension cars.

 

Hello,

I have had my ABC repaired at a local foreign car shop. the ABC hoses and valve blocks were replaced. Now the vehicles driver side rear will not lower. It appears as though it was calibrated at the incorrect height. How can I get the ABC to default to factory?

 

Hello Nick, Howard and other ABC experts. I have had a 2009 CL500 for the last 7 years and before that an S500 and S600 which both had far superior ride quality. I always put the ride quality down to 20" wheels with silly low profile tyres but recently it has started to get worse. The left side is about 1.5" higher than the right side and the back-end feels skittish on uneven surfaces and more worryingly when driving at quite modest speeds and entering a corner (especially right handed ones when coming into a hill) the orange 'ABC Malfunction' message comes on, all 4 corners get pumped up to their maximum height and the ride becomes dangerously bouncy. Stopping, turning it off and back on allows the ABC to reset itself back to it's lop-sided normal and I can carry on my journey. My local Indie has had it in numerous times and have changed ride height sensors, re-calibrated levels and run several rodeo tests, all to no avail - the readouts suggest the car is level when it quite obviously isn't. They're at a loss to solve the problems and I'm not really up for simply swapping out parts in the hope they eventually hit on the correct one. I see lots of comments about sinking cars (I had this on my S500 until the system was flushed and rodeo-ed which solved the sagging) but none about cars that ride too high - when I get this problem happen, which is virtually every time I use the car, it looks like some sort of crazy monster truck set-up and the car is becoming unusable, I was blown away by ABC on my first S500 and have insisted on it it on all my subsequent MBs but this is making me reconsider. I'd be really grateful if anyone out there can tell me what is going on with my car and how I go about having it fixed - short of randomly changing sensors, spheres, valve blocks, control units etc in the prohibitively expensive manner that the garages I've seen so far seem to be advocating. Many thanks for the huge knowledge base you guys have created, I just hope that somewhere amongst it all is an answer to my problems.

 

Hi!

I have a new car (CL500/2000). The rear left suspention is shot. It does lift the car just fine but doesn't do any damping. I don't really understand how is that possible if the hydraulic system doing it's job. No fault codes either. They say either a broken spring (which I highly doubt) or something else broke inside, but there is no leak and the sensors, pressures are checked out to be fine. I know I need a used or refurbished unit. My question is if CL500 and CL55 strouts are the same or is there a difference? Also, what could be the problem inside, how is it possible that there is no damping just the right ride height? Thanks

 

Could you specify what you mean with no damping? Is it riding like a boat?
If yes, you'll need to replace the pressure accumulators.

https://www.abcspecialist.nl/en/arti...0-r230?itm=689

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Only one of the rear shock absorbers acting up like that. It does no dumping at all. When they put it on the test pad it seems like there is no such device in the car. One corner only. the pair in front and the other one in the rear is checking out to be perfect. It handles like a car with three shock absorbers, but the ride height and the leveling is fast and perfect. no leaks. One suggestion was a broken spring, but I don't buy that for some reason... it rattles though while driving like when a top strut bearing is worn... but wouldn't make the shock absorber doing nothing.

 

Nick thanks so much for putting all this information together. I am seeking a Mercedes CL600 specialist shop with experience with this cars hydraulic suspension in my area of Orange County, Southern California. I have a fairly low mileage (54k) 2003 CL 600 with Renntech performance ECU. One day I go to put the car in the garage and I see a stream of oil all over the driveway after I pull it in. Looks like the hydraulic suspension system developed a severe leak. My understanding is if I let the system go dry (even trying to pull it up onto a flatbed tow truck) I will destroy the pump and possibly the entire system if the burned out pump causes metallic particles to enter the system. I'm looking for a reputable and honest shop in the Southern California area that 1st has the knowledge this system and 2nd not take me to the cleaners as this can be super expensive to repair. Can anyone from this area suggest a reputable shop?
Thanks in advance!

 

Posted this in the R230 section, any thoughts ? Thanks in Advance

Ive owned a 2006 SL600, which now has 59K miles, for over 6 years. Within the first few weeks of owning the car I had an ABC hose fail, and within months the pump began to fail. It then took me 3 rebuild replacements to find a Functional ABC pump, only to have the blue light come back a year after. This week I flushed the system, and pressure returned to 175-185 bar at idle. I allowed the engine to warm up and drove test drove it, and the pressure stayed at 170+ at all times. Then the next day I started it up and 10 minutes in I got a Blue code. Here is the other interesting piece. the ABC comes on only after the engine warms up and after extended driving the pressure will go as long low as 129 at idle, which I believe is 600-650 RPM. IF... you raise the idle to just 850-900 the pressure goes back to 165-174.....

I think its odd that a few hundred RPM increases pressure by 40 bar, at cruise the pressure stays around 167-175

Any thoughts":

 

Has anyone got a quick answers for 2007 W221 S600 ABC:
- how many high pressure ABC hoses are in the system? (I understand that some "return" hoses carry less or no pressure, so they would be less likely to leak/burst)
- how many shop hours would it be to replace them all?

As there is a first leak in the system, I'm thinking of replacing all the high pressure hoses to help with the ABC reliability a bit - has anyone done that? Thanks!

 

For many, it is an great endeavor to replace all the hoses at once, but practically impossible because of the following;
In order to have a shop perform this job, you'll need to find at least two things:

• An hydraulic shop that is willing to do as you say, throwing the hoses into their shop is usually not an very good idea, since they don't know all the details of the system
  • (Assuming that the W220 runs about the same system and pressure as the W221)
  • Get yourself at least a hose with a working pressure of 385 bar rated hose (the higher the better), that is temperature resistant up to 120 degrees Celsius
  • Inner diameter: 10mm
  • Outer diameter: 3/8"
• An car shop that is willing to tear apart the system and to send the hoses down to the hydraulic shop

If you decide to do it yourself, you'll only need to find the first one. I'm not sure how many shop hours all the hoses take, but some of us have done it (excluding me ) and the repair bills where not small.
As for the low/no pressure return lines, I think it's indeed safe to assume that they won't need to be replaced, except for when they start to leak obviously

 

I could be wrong but I thought the only high pressure hydraulic hose on the w221 was the one from the pump to the front valve block. I believe everything else is hard lined.

 

I'm more familiar with the W220 than the W221. I do know that the former had 25 flexible hoses. The latter has a simpler and better system, and has fewer flexible hoses, but I'm pretty sure it's more than one. The hoses are there to accommodate engine, suspension and subframe movement, but also noise and vibration absorption. I'd guess there are at least a dozen.

Nick

 

Hi Nick

Thanks for sharing and making all our lives easier.

I have an issue with my S600 that sometimes the right rear sacks down after standing a day or half a day but then on other days it's fine and no change to ride/parking hight. Background, both front shocks are replacements (Arnott), valve block front o-rings overhauled, rear accumulators new.

Question, can it be that the one shock is going out-of-business (as the left rear is fine) or that the accumulator for the rear needs to be changed?

Appreciate your efforts and advise.

Cheers

 

Part of the answer to that question will come from monitoring the oil level in the ABC reservoir.
If the strut is to blame, the strut will leak externally and the oil level will go down.
If the valve block is to blame, the leak will be internal, and the oil level will stay the same.
My guess is the fault is contaminants in the oil in the branch of the system that feeds that particular strut.
The circulating system keeps itself clean, but the hydraulic branches to each strut tend to have dirty fluid in them, as the fluid oscillates rather than circulates.
What I would do is jack up that corner of the car and support the chassis.
Take the wheel off and access the bleed screw, and loosen it if you can, without breaking it.
With a clear pipe attached, open the bleed screw and jack the lower suspension arm.
This should force dirty fluid out of the bleed port.
Close the port, replace the wheel and jack the car down very carefully. It will be sitting very low indeed, so you'll need to use a pillar jack to lower it.
Make sure the ABC reservoir is full, start the engine, engage drive with the brake on, and it should level again.
Check the fluid level again.
This is good, general preventative maintenance anyway, and less severe than the rodeo. It should help.
Regards,
Nick

 

Thanks for your efforts, much appreciated.

Oil was flushed completely about 8-months ago when I replaced the front struts (and out on new dust boots for both rear struts and also bled the system at each corner before/while doing the flush), so everything was out, cleaned and put back. Made it a habit to also change/flush the system every year as routine maintenance after hearing the horror stories of how the o-ring "dust" contaminates the oil). Changed oil, accumulators, hoses, overhauled valve blocks on 3-cars but still learning, hence community feedback is so appreciated.

Yesterday afternoon I pumped up the car and left it like this overnight and now 24-hours later no change.

I will follow your advise and try to bleed the system to get the dirt/contamination out.

Later more.


Cheers

 

Is this a correct fluid to use for ABC, Power steering, & Convertible top? From my reading all these systems use same kind of fluid such as Pentosin 11S. This product on Amazon is sold for all three purpose but with different prices and is cheapest at FCPro.

 

THis is the correct Fluid. https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/pen...ntosin-1405216

 

I use Febis power steering fluid 21647

 

​​hello, I would like to calibrate my suspension abc (CL550 2007), I have autel and I can do it, but I don't know what values ​​I should write in the option that it gives me to complete the calibration. I tried it once, but I canceled the action and now when I connect the diagnostic machine it shows abc failure (incomplete calibration). If someone has calibrated abc and can help me please. Thank you

 

I think you're better off in the C216 section of this forum.

 

Well, I've started the process of changing every accumulator in my SL55. I've replaced the two in the driver's side front but both were fine. What was not fine were some of the hoses coming off of the return line. One of them was actually bulging. Two of them disappear over the transmission. Any idea how I can get these off so I can take them to a hose shop? Is it possible to cut the hard line and put in a disconnect? What do I need to do that? Some kind of flaring/ ferrule tool?

 

I don't know who the gorilla is that put these on but the swagelok on the hydraulic line is on so tight nothing I did will take it off. The return accumulator was the sabre way. I had to take the aluminum body that it connects to all the way out and put it in a vice to get it off.

 

I am doing the same thing you are right now. At least it makes me feel better I am not the only one with the same issue.

 

I'm posting more up to date stuff on this thread :

ABC Leak Behind Front Wheel Driver Side sl55 r230

I just got the hoses remade and about to put them in.