lnnguyen01

2005 S55 AMG 135K miles

Sunday night was driving from Arizona to New Mexico and 1 hour into the trip dreaded ABC Drive carefully red light comes on. Since I was in the middle of nowhere 8pm Sunday night and 5 more hours drive to get home, I decided to keep driving. 1 hour from home, ABC Stop Car too low intermittently comes on. I kept driving and luckily made it home without any damage to undercarriage.

Finally got brave enough to look under hood and car. Lots of fluid everywhere and leak underneath driver's front near wheel.

Is the ABC pretty much unrepairable (or astronomically expensive to repair) at this point? I'm thinking of just deleting the ABC and converting to Strutmasters.

Any thoughts is appreciated!

knowbenz

Take it to a shop and have it diagnosed or find out where the leak is yourself and put an estimate together. It may be as simple as an oring for the pressure sensor. Don't jump to a conversion

Agent-A01

If it dumped fluid it's most likely a hose.

You can take the hose to a hydraulic shop and get a new line for cheap.

lnnguyen01

Could I have cause some huge underlying damage to ABC system by driving the 5 hrs? I am wary of fixing and then find out other problems down the road with huge costs.
Thank!

knowbenz

If it was running dry for 5 hours then maybe.

JohnLane

Add fluid. Find leak. Fix leak. Tends to not be exactly easy-peasy but this beats alternative.

wfooshee

Unless it ran dry, the system won't be damaged by running when the car's low. You might burn your sidewalls on the fenders, though...

If the system ran dry, then you'll need to start with a new pump. Many $$$$$!!! The pump also houses the power steering pump, which is gonna be OK, so if converting to Strutmasters, you don't have to replace the pump just to keep power steering, but if it ran dry and you want to keep ABC, you WILL have to get a new pump.

K2 cfd

I am in the middle of this myself right now. I got my 05' S55 home to AZ. Went to fill it with fuel and when I was almost to the house Right Rear Line to the strut blew. It was a chinese jigsaw puzzle to get out in the driveway, I finally got it replaced. I ordered one from MB after trying to find a shop that would rebuild it. Turns out I got a lot of well, we probably can, and well we can only test it to 1000 psi. So I just went OEM. After replacing the line I started the car and had to prime the pump with a little shop air but it came up just fine. Ran for about 5 minutes and then the Line to the Left front blew.
Making it hard to get the car turned around in the driveway. Ordered that line, and while replacing it I made a pinhole leak in the aux intercooler on the radiator, so heres a little tip, Cover that one up when doing anything on the front of the car. Had to remove and repair that, then got everything back in. Started it up and got it leveled. Did a fluid flush and put on a new filter. The wife drove it for 3 days with no issues, then went out at night and had a Red Drive carefully on the dash! Looked under the car and found fluid, traced it to the reservoir which had overflowed. Researching I found this is indicative of a blown Accumulator when the nitrogen releases into the system it overflows. So right now as soon as I get off shift in the morning I will be locating and replacing all 4 Accumulators. I Ordered 2 from FCPEuro and 2 are in stock at the local dealer. I am stuck at a Firestation until the morning so the story will continue over the next 4 days!

wfooshee

Popped lines are a classic symptom of bad accumulators.

It's the accumulators' job to supply the system with steady pressure, and to absorb the pressure of hydraulic fluid returning from the struts on bumps. The accumulator is a pressure tank with nitrogen behind a diaphragm at about 1500psi. When the car's running, the pump runs the system up to about 3000 psi, which compresses that nitrogen. It's that compressed nitrogen that supplies system's operating pressure, not actually the pump, and it's that compressed nitrogen that absorbs the pressure of spikes in the system from bumps compressing the struts. We read all the time about a shop telling the owner they need a new pump because of the low pressure codes in the system, when in fact they need new accumulators (which are less than a tenth of the price!)

If the accumulator is blown, there's no pressure behind its diaphragm, and as pressure builds up in the system the accumulators fill with fluid, leaving no expansion space for fluid pushed from the struts. Pop go the hydraulic lines.

It's not the lines that are bad, it's the accumulators.

lnnguyen01

I am a decent home mechanic (oil brakes, fuel pump, alternator but nothing high level). No idea as to even how to start diagnosing. Any suggestions or should I just hand over to independent mechanic?
Thanks

JohnLane

Must be a mechanic well versed in the ups and downs of ABC.
We don't want the corner garage learning how not to fix your car!

K2 cfd

My first 2 were definitely Blown Lines. Both dropped to the ground and it was very obvious where the failure was. Unfortunately I replaced them on the driveway so it was a pain. When the fluid overflowed out of the reservoir, it was an indication of an Accumulator failure. In my case the Forward one.

K2 cfd

I can't say wdhether your pump is bad but if you had fluid from under the Driver side front corner I can tell you how to look at it. That is the Line/Hose I just replaced on my 05 S55. Wheel off, inner fender liner off. Bumper cover off and the Line connections are both right there. To replace the line it is the Flange fitting not the quick connect. And before you start put a piece of cardboard or something over the fins of your Aux Inter-cooler. If you are in AZ I would suggest Gilbert AMG, for OEM stuff. FCP Euro for Pentosin and aftermarket. If you need drawings or photos I have those as well. But if the legends are true and you drove for hours with the pump dry, that might not be good.

K2 cfd

I just finished my Accumulator replacement. I replaced Front, Back and Pulsation Dampner. Pretty easy compared to the ABC lines I have been working on lately. Did not have to reset any codes, there was almost no fluid or pressure on any of them.
Slowly chipping away at the ABC Monster. But it sure is an awesome ride when it is working

maw1124

^^^Simply this and everything about this. The accumulators are not there for nothing. Simple, elegant and relatively inexpensive tech to protect the expensive stuff. Real engineering. Actual thought. What a concept...

maw

lnnguyen01

I don't have a lift. Can I do this work myself using jack stands? Do you mind emailing me your drawings and photos?
Thanks
kimlinh01@gmail.com

K2 cfd

Yes you can certainly do it on Jackstands. A lift would be easier obviously, but I just did it, and if you are in AZ you know how warm it has been lately. I will send you everything I have tomorrow, and I will try to attach them here in the forums. To start you can put the front up on stands, take off the Left front tire, remove the inner fender cover and what you are looking for is right in front of you. The valve block, and accumulator are in plain view. If you can't see a failed hose, and you decide to run your hand along it wear gloves, teh steel braiding wil let you know right away. I will send you more tomorrow from work.

wfooshee

I did front and rear accumulators with ramps and jackstands. Haven't needed any lines. When I bought my car, the back would sit down on the tires after driving for about 15 minutes. After it sat for a half hour or so, it would lift right up after starting, but then sag again pretty shortly. Accumulators fixed that, no more dropping since then. The front was done from beside the car with the left front wheel off, and removing the fender liner. The rear has to be done from under the car.

K2 cfd

I sent these and a couple of others to your email.

lnnguyen01

I got it checked out with independent Mercedes shop. They scanned and code C1526-016 "Malfunction in pressure supply" came up.

Their recommendation: found fluid has leaked out of reservoir caused by a ruptured ABC accumulator. Recommend replacing all accumulators. The suspension/power steering pump is leaking also and needs replacement. Filter and flush fluid is include.
$4484.00!

I finally got around to jacking up the right front tire and removed inner fender liner. Did not detect any leaking lines. I think all the leaking fluid is from reservoir and dripped down as best I can tell.

I'm thinking of replacing all 4 accumulators myself then refilling with fluid and see how things go. Anyone has other suggestions?
Thanks!

ItalianJoe1

Reman pumps are available, I put one on my CL 2 years ago and it's been fine, cost under $300 for the part as opposed to $2k for an OEM one. If there really are no leaks (unlikely) you could have just puked out enough fluid to cause the system to pull in air due to blown accumulators, but I still feel like that's unlikely.

Agent-A01

Replace them yourself. You will save near 4000.
It is not hard to do. The rear accumulator near the exhaust will take an hour or two max. The rest can be done in 30 mins individually

lnnguyen01

Thanks! I'm going to try to replace.
1. Are my part numbers correct below?
2. Should I replace only the front and rear drivers side accumulators (2203270115) or all 4?

2203270115 front driver side and rear drivers side
2203200415 rear center
2203270215 front passenger side

8899

My information indicates the following accumulators:

1. Front axle accumulator: 220-327-01-15
2. Rear axle accumulator: 220-327-01-15
3. Return accumulator: 220-327-04-15

And then there is the pulsation dampener: 220-327-02-15

wfooshee

Yes. What you're calling front driver and rear driver are the axle accumulators that pressurize the struts directly, and they are the larger accumulators. What you called rear center is the return accumulator, which absorbs pulses in the oil flow back to the reservoir. What you called front passenger side is the pulsation dampener, which smooths the output from the pump into the lines feeding the system.

I haven't changed the small ones, just the larger axle accumulators. I will change the others eventually, but since my cars was sagging ont the tires after only 10 or 15 minutes of driving, I HAD to do the big ones immediately.