Hello
I have a 2003 e500 rwd

Car handles poor and bouncy and noticed some rust on the driver side front damper. Steering jerks to left/right over bumps/road imperfections. No air leak. Hooked up STAR to and went to check damper values and says it should be at 500Ma. Below are values = #1/#2 valves

Front left: 490.20/500.00
Front right: 509.80/500.00~490.20 (fluctuating)
Rear left: 509.80/490.20
Rear Right: 480.39/480.39~490.20 (fluctuating)

Air Bladder pressure:
Front left: 8.92 bar
Front right: 5.49 bar
Rear left: 7.41 bar
rear right: 8.65 bar
Reservoir: 13.31 bar

Anything look like a failure here? car has 265k miles. Right front and both rear dampers/shocks changes at ~100k. Left Front never changed.

Suspension components seems tight.

Thanks for any suggestions and guidance. Trying to keep her for a few more years and save some $... not too technically advanced so please forgive me.

Large differences in front air spring pressures plus one front shock with 265,000 miles...I would start with replacing that shock absorber then look to see why the two front dampers are so different in pressure...possibly the sensors for ride height in the front are bent/damaged/corroded?


Milliamp readings for the solenoids are all within 2% of specified so, at least in my mind, nothing leaps out at me as failed.


FWIW, I cannot recall the exact pressures in my air springs in my W211 but they were relatively close to each other. I'll be hooking up the diagnostic system tonight to see what is throwing a CEL and I'll take a look at the air pressures on each corner at the same time so I can give you some feedback.


Next would be checking and or replacing the ***** joints and/or bushings.

Update (with me sitting in car):
Reservoir: 13.5 Bar
LF: 7.7 Bar
RF: 8.5 Bar
LR: 8.7 Bar
RR: 8.5 Bar

Awesome. Thanks so much for checking. Rechecked on a more level surface and values come very close to yours. 7.5 left front and 6.7 right front. 8.1 and 8.2 in the rear. So I think there's nothing wrong with the shocks/springs/struts.

I'm going to get it on the alignment rack and check it all under load and go from there.

Thanks again!