It's been sitting about a year (I told him not to buy this type of car from a mom and pop's used car lot) because the ABC light came on the dash and stayed on, not like on my CL55 where it only flashes for a split second when I hit some bumps and I can still drive it just fine.

We had popped the hood a while back and noticed a bunch of fluid on the hoses at the ABC reservoir that some people in the past have suggested was an accumulator that blew and the pressurized contents forced the fluid out of the hose and caused the spray on the engine components right next to it. I know it also needs the rear valve block rebuilt as the rear driver side will sag after a couple of days. I finally hooked up my chinese Star system to it and ran the codes, and a TON of things showed up as failure, but the only ones we're concerned about right now is the suspension. I am still pretty green at using the software and navigating it and doing further tests, but this is what showed up.

I've told him it'd probably be best to get all new accumulators, get the valve blocks rebuilt, flush the system with new fluid and a filter, and let me run the rodeo test through my laptop and we can get his car back on the road. He's wanted to sell it at a huge loss just to get rid of the headache but told him it's not that hard to replace those parts. If he'll keep the car after I fix it, I'll do the work.

 

Valve blocks, pump, accumulators, hoses, take your pick, or replace the ones that fail most. The usual suspects are accumulators first, followed by the pump, valve blocks if contaminated by either failure of accumulators or pump, and then hoses, which fail at any time( usually after the accumulators have been neglected but not always) throw in a leaking shock or two.

I agree with your dad, but I also applaud your drive to fix the car. I would also guess that a new pump will be needed besides other things.

 

ABC is really nice when it's working well, but it can be challenging to repair when it breaks.

In case you didn't know, you can convert the car to coilovers for very little money. A decent, basic coilover kit can be had for about $1200, and Arnott Suspension will buy your old ABC struts for $200 each (last I knew, this price does change from time to time). Sway bars are optional and can be had for about $1000. Many who have converted to coilovers are happy without swaybars, but IMO they're worth the added expense and labor. There's also a premium quality kit available from VVK that includes sway bars and a new power steering pump to replace your current power steering/ABC tandem pump; this kit is $3900. It's not absolutely necessary to replace your tandem pump; you can just modify the current hose system so that the ABC pressure line is re-routed directly back into the ABC reservoir; very easy to do, just do a google search for "mercedes r230 loopback abc". But if your current pump is leaking, it'll be cheaper to replace it with a power steering-only pump.

Coilovers will not perform like ABC. ABC lets you have a soft, compliant ride when you're cruising, a firmer ride when cornering, and height adjustability that's handy if you have steep driveways, speedbumps, etc. to deal with. An R230 with coilovers will ride and handle like an average sporty GT car with conventional shocks/springs - still good in the corners, but firmer when cruising.

There's a number of different kits available. Strutmasters was the first to offer an R230 coilover conversion kit, but IMO they're currently way behind most other available kits because they have no adjustability at all - ride height, damping, and spring preload are all fixed.

There's some R230 fans who feel that a coilover conversion "ruins the car", but I think that viewpoint's a bit extreme. Sure, it absolutely does change the ride/feel of the car, but in my experience it's just not all that drastic. And it also changes the feel of the car in another way - you no longer have that feeling of "will the ABC system fail today?" every time you drive the car. And once you've spent many $$$ and many frustrated weekends trying to fix a malfunctioning ABC system, that feeling is hard to avoid.

 

I would repair your car first, before you do more damage and blow a hose! Sounds like your accumulators have gone!!!

With STAR/XENTRY it will give guided fault tinding on each message so you can try and find the causes of the problems.

I would start the diagnostics with system pressure too low.

You can clear all stored faults.

You can view all sensors and read exactly what the system pressure is, and you can switch on and off all valves.

You should be able to isolate the fault quite easily.

 

The best way I know to diagnose accumulators is to run the pressure drop after shutdown test. I believe it is in the actual values section as opposed to guided tests, but it will tell you how long the car will maintain 100 bar after the engine is shut off. In other words it measure the drain time of the accumulators. There is an orifice that allows some circulation even when all valves are closed, so time to 100 bar is a pretty good measurement of the volume capacity and health of the accumulators. I know on the R230 with ABC1, this should take close to 50 sec. Something around 30 sec. means that one accumulator is blown, a steep drop in like 5 sec. indicates that both are gone.

My experience has been that the momentary ABC warning is usually caused by a bad front accumulator. If you have a 30 sec. pressure drop time and the light when you hit bumps, I would start with the front. If you have the same drop time and not light, I would start with the rear. No guarantee, but the best way I know.

 

I was thinking the same thing, no good things come from any ABC warning light either white or red, momentary or constant.

 

I’ve been looking at the Chinese Star systems on Aliexpress.
Matt - do you have any links to the one you bought?

Chris

 

Benz Ninja is highly recommended by many users here. You'll get a reliable system with full support after the sale. He even helps with figuring out what's wrong with your car, not just the STAR system.

 

Absolutely true, I used the system built and supported by BenzNinja for three years now, not a single issue. And his support is unbeatable, Highly recommend!

 

Does anyone know the steps in the software needed to go through so I can check individual valves, or the info from the pump with the software? I checked the fluid level the other day, and while it's a little low, it isn't dry at all. He has the money set aside now to order some accumulators and such and I want to go back in and get a better idea as to what the problem is before he buys accumulators for me to put in if it's something else completely that's going to be very expensive.