Guys. My 2002 S55 with 83K started to dip the front driver side when ever is parked longer than 1 week. it did this for over 9 months. Once I turn it on and put it in gear it bounces back up immediately. Again only the left front driver side would dip down. By the way I had the ABC Hydraulic line replaced under the national recall one year ago. Two days ago I parked the car after driving it and a huge spot of oil leaked out from the same front driver side of the car. Some smoke also becasue the car was hot. The entire car from all sides dropped two inches. I could still drive and turn but obviously did not want to cause additional damage. I had the car towed to the dealership yesterday morning. Today I get the verdict from Mercedes Benz of Portland. Here it is. Hose replaced under national recall is fine. Tandem Pump which controls power steering and ABC is leaking badly and need to be replaced. Its located in the upper left corner driver side. The system need to be flushed and a new filter and hydraulic fluid need to be added. Cost $3200.00. There's also a 50% chance that two valve block (Front and Rear) will eventually fail because of introduction of the new parts. Cost for each block is $1500.00. I will have the car repaired at a friend of mine Range Rover Shop and will let you know how much savings it will be. Reason I am taking it to the Range Rover Shop is because from previous experience RR have a common similar problem with these suspensions failing. Although RR have Air and not fluid I will take it to my friends garage and see what i can save. He stated he has the equipment and MBZ diagnosis tools to work on it. I will take it Friday with the dealership diagnosis. Stay tuned....

 

unfortunately that sounds about right...$3200 + 1500*2...seems like everyone is out roughly $6500 to replace 2 struts, pump, + a few hoses....

 

Once my extended warranty is up, I am gonna sell my SL. I am gonna miss her, but, ABC repair costs are highway robbery.

 

I am having many of the same problems as you with my ABC. That is why I just ordered a STAR diagnostics computer with all the adapters so I can fix this sh*t myself for much less hopefully. I am sick and tired paying the dealer the cash they want.
Johan

 

My car is in the shop for ABC repairs as well. Repair bill is running about $7400 for the left side. Lucky my warranty company is picking all of it up! I'd be pretty pissed if I had to pay for it.

 

I am having the same problems.

I bought 2002 S55 AMG with ABC problems at a discount. At the time I bought it the left rear side of the body would sag. I was getting the regular white-colored "ABC - Visit Workshop" message. Once in a while, especially in the morning, I would get the orange-colored "Car too low. Do not drive" message. When I would shut off the car and start again, the body would rise properly. I took it to a local shop specializing in Mercedes and he showed me all the codes: System Pressure too low, etc. He put in more fluids in the reservoir and checked if I had any leaks which I did not. After about a month I got the orange-colored warning while driving: "ABC - Drive Carefully". I took it to a dealer and he said that the pressure to the struts was 50-70 bar when the normal should be 150 bar. He also said that my Tandem Pump (ABC + PS) is shot and that I need to replace that (cost $2,500 parts and labor). After a day, I got another bad news that my left, rear valve stop (part# 2203201258) is shot. That is another $2,000 (parts and labor). So I am up to $4,500 - about the amount of discount I got on the car. I guess I am even.

My worry now is after this expensive ABC fixes, am I going to have more problems. Looking at the forums, it seems so. Dealer says that I should come every 30,000 miles to flush the system (cost $400).

Since I have been hearing a lot about ABC problems in earlier models, here are my questions. Would you recommend keeping the car with preventive maintenance as recommended by the dealer? How about buying warranty and would they cover ABC repairs? I love the car and how it drives, but these repairs are way too expensive.I have heard people replacing ABC with standard suspension available in the aftermarket.

I would be interested in knowing your thoughts.

 

Hello, I drive a 2002 CL500. When I turned my car on this morning it said "Active Body Control - Drive Safely", do I need to take it into the shop immediately?

I understand this could potentially be a serious issue and a lucrative issue for Mercedes.

 

Minuteman,

Please take your car to the dealer immediately. I did not and I had to pay for it dearly.

When you get the "drive safely" warning light, it seems that your ABC pump has given up keeping your car at the right level and your car could be very low. In my case, it was about 2 in off the ground - I could have damaged the undercarriage.

In my case, the pump as well as valve stops (front and back) needed to be replaced. I bought this at a discount because I knew ABC repairs are expensive. Now, I am back even. ABC Pump, 2 Valve Stops, 18+ hr labor - about $5K in all with some discounts on labor/parts. Ouch!!

Hope this helps...

 

I guess the way I understood it is as follows. ABC pump keeps the pressure in the struts (should be at about 200 bar or 2900 psi) and valve stops (front and back) need to make sure that the pressure is maintained. If the valve stops start to leak then the ABC pump has to work harder to keep the pressure. Any one living in the cold climate would know that your HVAC system has to work harder when a window or door is ajar. It is kind of similar to that. Valves leak pressure and then ABC pump has to work harder to keep the pressure up and then it is an endless cycle which eventually takes the toll on the ABC pump. ABC pump giving out means that your valves are probably faulty too.

What I understand now is that your valves get faulty because the hydraulic fluid (or air in care of Airmatic) eventually gets contaminated. There is a filter, but no filter is perfect and since we are dealing with high pressure systems, the valves eventually start to leak and then it only stops when ABC pump gives out.

I asked my mechanic about preventive maintenance and he said that there is no recommended maintenance for ABC flush as part of A or B service, but he thinks that they should be flushed every 30,000 miles. The struts, as I have learned, don't go bad that often, but if Mercedes would recommend ABC fluid flush as part of service maintenance which costs about $300-$400 - mainly labor - then all of us could be avoiding costly repairs.

 

Your mechanic is right! After the pump dies it lets out small pieces of I think rubber from the seals which clog up the valve blocks. These valve block controls are electric BUT any dirt stops them in there tracks! Now the problem with the ABC filter is that it is on the return line. So when the pump fails and lets crap go into the fluid it doesn't get filtered until it actually returns and the damage to the valve blocks is already done. I learned the hard way. New Strut, lines, tandem pump and both valve blocks. I told my wife that my car is my mistress. She hates my car!

 

The final repair cost for replacing ABC pump, two valve blocks, and a tire with discounts came at $5.3K. I might have been able to save the pump (about $2K) if I had taken the car immediately to the shop when ABC warning light (white ones) came on. Both my valve stops were bad. Now the ride seems wonderful.

I am curious if you all recommend preventive maintenance on flushing the ABC hydraulics.

 

Can Oxygen or anyone else time in on this but it seems that most of the ABC problems are up to the 2003 model years. There is not much mention of 2004, 2005 and 2006 models with problens. If it is mainly a mileage and maintenance problem then the newer models would not have the mileage on them yet so that would be one explanationo or is it the case that MB rectifed some or most of the ABC problems in the later models?

 

Well I actually think Oxygen's car is a 2005.

 

If anyone is interested in have ABC pump and front valve blocks with Expansion tanks from a 2003 CL600. Good working condition and cheap.

I also have a PSE pump, the one used to suck all doors closed etc...

 

I think this is going to be a never ending problem.
So far I have pretty much all pipes re newed and a new pump. Now it's starting to drop one side at the back, 6 years old 54k it's pretty poor and no
doubt a strut will be next.
Whose for a march on the Factory, ABC out!ABC out!ABC out!

 

That sucks. You have a internal leak on a valve block. Probably dirt got introduced during all that work you had done already. Not the end of the world though just real annoying! Maybe a good odeo flush will clean up that problem for you.
Johan abc out abc out abc out

 

Thanks, I'll give it a try.
This forum is great for info.

 

Man, ABC problems are the worst - I'm lucky that my car had all of the ABC problems resolved by the last owner a few thousand miles before I purchased it. Maybe that's why he sold it, haha.

I think we all dread walking up to our cars in the morning...and seeing them drooping down low on the wheels.

 

I purchased my S55 brand new and had so many repairs of the ABC I can't keep track. At first they were repaired under warranty but after the 70,000 miles I got a few exceptions to repair it but soon that ran out and I had to pay. My dealer's word was these are very complex systems and are sensitive to any slight malfunction. I have 2 engineering degrees, Mechanical Engineer and a Master's in Electrical Engineering so it was hard for them to bull**** me and I had a company where we designed and manufactured complex weapon systems with computerized drive systems that were hydraulic. This was a faulty design and should have never been installed until extensive testing and quality control was completed. I continually brought the car back insisting that it was not as good as the first 70,000 miles and the ride was rough. Why should one have to flush out a sealed system? Because the materials selected for the seals were inferior and disinegrated. I still have the car and in fact it is up for sale but the ABC is working great after I got an independent mechanic, Mercedes trained and worked for a dealership for 12 years, to test it and found part of the problem was a differential rubber mount ahd split and had put strain on the ABC system. It now runs as good as ever despite having 182,000 miles on it. A lot of work done by MB dealers is a trial and error instead of solid diagnosis of the problems and we pay for that guesswork.
I am really stupid because I just bought an S55 AMG, K8 compressor 2004 with 66,000 and it looks like it just came out of the showroom. 475 HP and I love it. I will check back in 50,000 and let you know good or bad move.

 

Pokerjoe,

At 182,000 miles on the clock, i salute you for keeping your ride that long. Most of us would have long parted ways..

 

I still haven't sold the 2001 S55 AMG. Lowered the price to $13,500. I just drove it the other day and sorry I didn't buy the other 2004 as the 2001 is riding so nice.

 

Hey guys, my friend's S55 2004, had the same noise, but did not have any problems with ABC and turning steering wheel, today the noise had gone but steering wheel is turnig hard and you can feel the pump working when turning. My concern is that it shows ABS(visit work shop) and ESP malfunction on the display and "safety innactivate" and that hydraulic fluid level is OK . What do you think?
Thank you

 

Hey pokerjoe. I'm in Pa where's your mechanic. I have a cl 600 with abc issues. Too
long a story to tell but I want to avoid a dealer. The local dealer seems clueless.

 

Did you ever get any where with the standard suspension concept.

 

Guys- It took about a month to get my 02 S55 fixed at a total cost of $2,100. I basically decided to take it to my Range Rover mechanic considering RR's are notorious for having similar suspension problems. I bought the hydro pump for $1400 and he charged me another $700 for bleeding the system, refill, and install. I drove about 10k miles since and so far everything is working great. I think it is worth investigating a Range Rover specialist in your town.