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Left rear is dropping, the left front drops a bit also when engine not running. With raising and lowering the car the left rear appears to be slower to react. I have replaced valve body seals, flush, filter and new blue hydraulic line. Worked fine for a little more than a month. Nothing is leaking. The line I replaced was the blue line, I thought everything was clean, but maybe dirt did get into the blue valve. I will rebuild the valve body again. If it is the blue line I will pay extra attention to looking at those seals. Does the blue valve body control the left rear? It is hard to trace the lines due to how they snake through the chassis.
I’ve been having a miserable time trying to fix a similar problem for about 6 months. Not only did I get both valve blocks professionally rebuilt, I bought a brand new one from a Mercedes dealer and still have problems! Even after multiple fluid/filter changes and more rodeos than the Texas state fair.
There is some internet opinion that an “internal leak” in a strut can cause sagging. This didn’t make any sense to me, so I asked the experts at Arnott (who rebuild these struts) if it was something they had seen before. Their answer is they had never seen sagging caused by a strut!
I’ve never heard the term “blue line” before, what does it connect?
Last edited by sivikvtec; Jul 6, 2020 at 11:53 AM.
The lines are marked with a color band that corresponds to the each valve body.
That color band is not stock, someone added that.
The control valve marked with blue is controlling a left side (drivers side in the US) strut via a hose connected to the port marked FB1 on the valve block. This is true for both front and rear valve blocks.
The car has two valve blocks, one in each wheel well on the drivers side.
the ports on each valve block are identified as follows:
P: Inlet of pressurized fluid to the valve block
T: Exit of fluid from the valve block
SP: Pressure reservoir (black ball shaped accumulator)
FB1: Left side strut (yellow lock valve, blue control valve)
FB2: Right side strut (red lock valve, green control valve)
Last edited by sivikvtec; Jul 6, 2020 at 01:17 PM.
It appears to be factory but maybe not. Each valve body and valve body port has a color dot. The lines have colored tape that appeared to be factory since they look like they have been on there a long time and it is not electrical tape.
Is the block in the back wheel well the same as the front? I did not rebuild the back one only the front valve body.
Oh, by “line” I thought you meant the hose. Yes, the colored tape on the wiring was there from the factory.
The valve block in the rear is the exact same as the front. However, there are some slightly different hoses/fittings/accumulator attached to it.
The best way to remove the rear valve block is to first relieve pressure from the rear struts by opening the 11mm bleed valves at each rear wheel and then use this tool, sold by Mercedes to detach the quick disconnect hoses.
The hoses had colored tape on them. So the rear wheel control valve has a different connection than the front threaded front control valve assembly in the left front.
Thank you for the help and guidance. I enjoy the r230 but my R123 is so reliable, easy to service and is just as much fun if no more fun. I do like the retractable hardtop on the r230.
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