Am a car dealer, my brother got us in trouble buying this 2003 S500 with ABC......

Car drives fine for 1st 6 miles or so, then the ABC in red comes on. ABC message in white is always on but you can go around it to see the mileage on the cluster, while with the RED message it stays on and you cannot erase it or go around it.

Original 90K, drives beautiful, except for this ABC issue.

Made sure fluid is topped with correct fluid and we changed both filters.

Vehicle is loaded, also has new tires, not a single oil leak from motor or tranny.

On the highway you can feel the car bouncing on bumps as well as harsh when you hit a bump or anything on the highway, other than that it's smooth.

Leaving the car in my driveway flat for more than 3 days, front end sinks, more sinking in the left front than right front.

When I go to crank it after it sank, ride is still low on the front, rear has no issues. You can still drive it it's just low. Pressing the ABC sport or the other button doesn't do a thing. But, if i turn off the car, and crank it back up the car goes up by itself, that happens every time....2nd time I crank it. I can then drive it for miles with the suspension being straight.

Took it to an INDY he said he couldn't communicate with the system.
Took it to BENZ, they said we need to change both front shocks first, calibrate it and go from there.. i am aware that it is hard to pinpoint to an ABC issue and be 100% correct without correcting one issue at a time, but dang, can't the dealer communicate with every part of the ABC system and find out what exactly is wrong? Spending $2500 to find out that hmmm it could actually be the leveling sensor now or the pump on top isn't a great idea...


Looked around and nothing online about any rebuilt kit or cheaper replacements to OEM....Maybe $200 or so cheaper, but that won't help...

My question is this: once the red message is on, does that mean there is a problem and the system is deactivated? Meaning, is it possible the front struts are oK, BUT since another component (other than the strut) is bad, the system deactivates the whole ABC system and this is why the front is bouncing? I am willing to spend money on the car, but these prices are ridiculous, especially when the DEALER isn't sure about pinpointing to what component is bad...


Is there an alternative? Say change the front struts with regular struts and not having ABC? Am aware the ABC in red message will still be on.....


Any feedback is appreciated.

 

It could possibly be one or several of your accumulators. There are three accumulators plus the pulsation damper. These are the nitrogen cylinders that control the "bounce" of the car.

An easy non-scientific way of checking the accumulators is as follows:

With the car having been turned off for at least 10 minutes walk around to each corner of the car and push down. All four corners should be very stiff. If you get bounce from one of the corners then it is likely an accumulator. From my personal experience the two large ones generally go first. They are definitely much cheaper to replace than an ABC shock.

BTW, it doesn't make sense to change the filters unless you do a ABC fluid flush simply because any metal particles that may have been in the fluid will only get caught in the new filter. It takes about 10.5 quarts of Pentosin CHF 11 fluid to do the flush. Might as well do a flush of the power steering while you are at it. They both use the same type of fluid. Although the ABC and Power Steering are tandem they have separate fluid reservoirs.

 

Thanks for the reply....Yes I am aware on the power steering and ABC using the same fluid, and it isn't cheap for sure....So why is there only 3 and not 4 accumulators? I heard about them before but never understood what they actually do....if a strut goes bad, is it a must that they leak or are there any other symptoms? should a leaky strut be obvious to see? Where are the accumulators located? also, could they leak or simply become malfunction?

 

There are 4 air cells, also called accumulators or dampers

If youre a dealer looking to sell this car your best bet is to send it to whole sale auction or else do the strutmasters conversion to coil springs

You can recoup much of the conversion costs by sending the old struts to arnott for credit or selling them on eBay

Yes when you get the red abc error the car locks up the suspension to try to prevent damage

 

Tusabes is correct, there are actually 4 accumulators but one is called a pulsation damper. If anything happens to my ABC (praying that it doesn't) I will convert quick, fast, and in a hurry since Strutmasters is a little over 1/2 hour from where I live.

 

You're pretty much right there.

It doesn't really sound like a strut problem if the car DOES raise itself.

It sounds more like a pump problem as it warms up.

The common ABC problems are slowly leaking valve blocks, and worn pump, but it could be the pressure regulator or pressure sensor in the accumulator block behind the right front wheel.

Without knowing the actual fault codes its difficult to diagnose accurately.

Dealers often have difficulty finding the fault even when they DO have MBStar.

Try checking the electrical connections on teh top of each strut, and check the level sensors (and connectors) at each wheel.

You really need to know the fault codes.

Anyone know if a generic OBD2 scanner can display those codes?

Nick