bzliteyear

hi guys,

it's only been 3 weeks since getting my 02 S55 and today as i went to drive it, i noticed the right rear of the car basically sitting on the tire. it's not quite clear whether it's touching, but very close.

the previous owner had already spent $1500+ on some valve related items in the past 3 months, but i recall it was in the front. my friend thinks it's a bad right rear strut, but thinks it could also be the pump on the right side(front right is also a little low, but not as much).

i did purchase extended warranty via interstate for 3 yr/36k miles, but frankly i'm a bit anxious about how they'll react to covering me so soon after i just bought the warranty.

any idea what the most likely item is and how much if this is out of pocket? also, any chance it's related to prior item? i recall there was a TSB on the ABC as well.

thx all.

ScottCLS55

Is there any oil on the ground?? Most likely it will be around the low shock if so..

If there is no leak then there is another valve bad..

If there is a leak of oil then your right rear strut is bad.

Good luck

bzliteyear

i just checked the ground and it's totally dry.

the only side that looks low is the right rear of the car...looks like it could be just a single strut? how much is that for parts and labor?

SteveFox

This same thing happened to me some months ago.

Are you getting any error messages on you display in the dash? I did and it was saying "active body control drive carefully" It turned out to be the pump was bad and needed to be replaced. I had an extended warranty, but it was some cheapo one and i had to pay about $4500 out of a $5000 repair.

Good Luck

bzliteyear

so the good news is that there's no leak, there's no error code when i turn on the engine. best of all, when i push car lift button, the car raises up and it looks normal again.

i spoke w/ the adviser at RAB Motors and he says that according to MB, it's normal for the car to "rest" on 1 or 2 corners if the car isn't driven for 4-7 days. if there's no error code, then his suggestion is to get the line flushed and change filter for 4 hrs labor plus parts to remove any possible air - grand total, about $1,000.

btw, my car was a 2001 build and apparently the old struts have been replaced w/ new ones from an old TSB already. in addition, in the past 3 months/3k miles, the car just had the front valve(?) replaced. the pump i think is still original and ok.

i'm going to drive it a bit, but curious if any of you guys have thoughts, esp regarding the "resting" part.

whoover

The flush is a good idea. Microscopic bits of metal play havoc with the valves. Don't be surprised if they call you and say they found a valve block that needs replacing. I never saw an ABC car "rest" like that. I have had a number of valve blocks replaced.

SteveFox

As whoover just said, it was the valve block that needed replacing.

I gotta agree with whoover again regarding the resting. I let the 55 rest for 4-5 days sometimes and i never seen it rest like you said.

Ausmbtech

For vehicles that don't get used often it's a good idea to have the dealer to run "rodeo mode" on the ABC system whenever the vehicle has a service.

Basicly it cycles the valve block continously for 10mins which allows the valves to seal better.

If after performing rodeo mode, the vehilce still drops after a few weeks then it may require attention (only if it doesn't come straight back up when the engine is started)