m-svt-amg

My dad can no longer maintain his 55, so he told me to take it off his hands if I can fix the never-ending ABC issues.

Looks like 3 struts are leaking, smoke is steaming off the passenger side of the engine bay with the hood up on a cold start, car leans to the right after a week of sitting, and I get the red ABC message when starting in less than 40 degrees.

Acceleration feels unstable (swervy) even with esp on (which i dont recall happening when i drove it new). Might be bad struts?

Trunk lift is busted.

Squeaking sounds behind the seats (roof seals/rubber?).

My plan is to get 4 Arnotts, replace abc hoses with hard lines, refill fluid, and clean the valve blocks. Will a pump likely be necessary as well? What can be done about the squeaking roof and non lifting trunk? Also, is it typical for the engine to steam with an ABC leak like this? Can anything be done about it?

Beyond all that, im planning on doing plugs and valve cover gaskets, and then we can evaluate performance mod plans once we have a stable platform to work with.

Any advice from the experienced gurus? I have my fair share of supercharged v8 experience, but ive never worked on german cars or air suspensions myself before.

cnterline

Is this an SL55 ? S55. , SL has hydraulic suspension,not air,I attempted to clean my valve blocks with no success I just replaced both valve blocks,and one leaky strut from Arnott, never looked back,not saying you won't have success cleaning yours but it's a lot of work ,if your handy and do all the work yourself I think I paid 1400 each for the blocks from Benz ,changed out all the fluid ,replaced the ABC filter with the updated version.

I would first replace the leaky struts,change out the fluid and if you have leaky hoses change them out also, then determine if your valve blocks are bad,
Trunk lift struts are cheap and easy to change out
The unstable acceleration could be the bad rear struts,if they are riding low this could offset your rear toe angle causing it to rear steer,this happened to me,
The smoke is either oil from valve cover ,or anti freeze ,that's really all there is in that area to leak onto the ex manifold,
The noise behind the seats could be coming from the struts,they are real close to the back bulkhead can't really call them seats, if that's where your talking about.

m-svt-amg

Thanks for the great input and first hand experience. How would i determine if the valve blocks are bad?

Sorry for not being more specific, 2003 sl55

BlownV8

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Coil-Spring-Conversion-Kit-Mercedes-R230-SL55-AMG-2002-2008-OEM-/191278933160?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c891ce4a8&vxp=mtr
Sounds like this makes a whole lot of sense for you. Get rid of the damn ABC. It's such a major PIA.

m-svt-amg

Im hoping i can get ABC buttoned up cheaper than a 2500 conversion + install. Also, wouldnt abc be preferable to coil overs if working properly?

Tankman

Ok so there is now a replacement kit for that abc system? Last time I looked on this forum this wasn't available.what would the install cost be with all that labour to delete a whole system and install a new one!!!

cnterline

My car would slowly raise up and then drop if I was sitting in it idling ,it would not drop if I let it sit overnight ,after I attempted to fix the raising up and dropping by putting in new O rings in the valve blocks then it started dropping overnight ,

BlownV8

The seller will do the conversion with parts and labor for $4k if you drop it at their shop in Florida. I would think any shop could do the conversion.

BlownV8

Yes but it seems to be a never ending struggle. If you get it removed, it would make the car much more reliable and so much cheaper to operate.

m-svt-amg

I was under the impression ABC issues were mostly caused by lifting the car without loading the suspension?

If that scenario is avoided, and the failing parts are replaced with the updated versions (didnt they come out with a new abc filter and hoses to address the issues?) then we shouldnt have to deal with the same problem again.

Please correct me if im wrong, my research on the topic only consists of about 20 forum threads ive read over the past week. I would love some advice

BlownV8

No, completely false. The problems are from leaking hoses, pump falure, strut failure, control block failure, contamination, ETC, ETC.

Le't say you have a hose that fails and you are driving down the road. If you don't immediately turn the engine off, you have just blown your pump and most likely contaminated your ABC system with metal particles. Those particles will go downsteam and muck up your struts and control blocks. Let's say they are not able to flush the particles out of your system and they install a new pump. Well, those metal particles will take out the new pump and further contaminate the system. It's truly a never ending battle once you get contamination in the system.

m-svt-amg

Hmm i can see why there are so many upset with mercedes about this issue. Has anyone installed coilovers and swaybars with success? My dad my not be happy with that, as he has owned this car bone stock for 12 years.

What is the safest way to maximize the abc system's reliability from this point?

m-svt-amg

Also, you seem to feel the primary cause is hose failure that then dominos into the pump, struts, and blocks? Would hard line abc hoses help mitigate this issue?

The car's history is actually fairly sad:
0-30k miles without issue.

Ex step mom bends lorinser rims on speed bumps. car gets new wheels.
squeaking starts. (I suspect this is where car got lifted improperly and strut #1 goes bad)

car goes in for squeaks, diagnisis another wheel is bent, new wheel. (These are not effing cheap)

Car still squeaks, diagnosis is transmission... sits for 3 years without repair

Dad kicks ex wife out and decides to fix the car, new transmission, trades forged wheels for chrome. Car is leaning after sitting but service at dealership didnt mention anything. Starting it, letting it warm up, turning it off and back on, then clicking the raise button seemed to fix the issue.

Drives car from norcal to arizona, a/c goes out, abc message (blue background) shows on startup. Fixes a/c for desert heat but didnt want to shell out 2 grand for a strut if he "can fix it by restarting the car"

Car sits 3 more years, i start the car, see red ABC mesage and see smoke with the hood up as mentioned. I do the restart warmup dance to get it riding high enough to move, pull it out and see leak stains at both rear wheels and front passenger wheel.

Tried driving it and got a limp mode error, restarted and drove 200 miles with no errors. And that brings us to yesterday when I joined the forum.

cnterline

Scan the car for codes,don't drive it around with these issues,,if something is leaking fix those areas first,don't condemn you ABC system from the keyboard ?start fixing instead of typing away here,alot of these ABC system problems come from NEVER changing fluid,did this vehicle ever have fluid changed ?

m-svt-amg

I really dont think the fluid has ever been changed. Id really prefer to fix the issues and prevent them from ever coming back than just dumping the system. The car drove perfectly when it was rock solid. I just wanna get it back there.

cnterline

There is a thread on here for changing fluid ,

F1BHP

The roof issue should be solved with the adjustable bolts on the top on both sides. You should be able to find a thread with photos as I have seen it before.

cnterline

What's the issue with the trunk / roof ?
It won't stay open falls on your head ?

m-svt-amg

Thanks, yes i thought the roof was squeaking, but the rear struts could easily be the culprit.

The trunk needs a prop to stay open. My dad was using a golf putter... id rather fix the hoists.

Ingenere

For the trunk, you need 2 struts. It's a 15 minute job.

As for the ABC, it sounds like your car has been neglected. I've had my '03 since new and consistently serviced the fluid and filter and had no issues until this year. I had an accumulator blow, I immediately shut the car off and got them replaced and the fluid serviced..... no more problems.

I've had an ECU tuning business for years and the guys that brought us neglected cars that were 'cheap' ALWAYS had problems. You need to sort this out and then take care of it and the car should be fine.

I feel that the original SL55 will be destined for classic status as the years go buy. With more and more of them falling into disrepair, the good ones are getting tougher to find already. I can't imagine 10 years from now.

m-svt-amg

Having it shipped from phoenix to norcal. I dont feel comfortable driving it here in its current condition, and the cost of a flight+gas+time would likely outweight a carrier's fees.

Can anyone recommend a reputable transport service?

Sad to say, but yes... neglect is a good choice of word unfortunately his response to a warning light is "well its still running for now" and his response to needing service is "i havent been driving it"

I feel obligated to save this car.

Ingenere

I've used Reliable. They do a great job.

m-svt-amg

Thanks! Got an email or phone number for reliable?

Ingenere

http://www.reliablecarriers.com

Thericker

Except for the massive job reprogramming ABC out of ECU to remove any future errors etc..