KAROZZA

I have done a few of these over the years & not many have been successful. My left front sags over around a week & the last time I did it, it improved as it used to sag after a few hours prior to overhaul. Strangely, if memory serves me right, I even switched over the locking valves in one overhaul, but the car still sags on the same side.

Would like to ask if any have been quite successful doing these & maybe which brand seal kits have been used? I have a couple of extra valve block so might try again as I'm thinking of replacing the large accumulators as preventative service.

latemodel21

When I rebuilt mine (5-6 years ago?) in my 2003 SL55, I used the seals suggested at the time, BUT one thing I did additionally was to add some extra preload to the springs that hold the valves shut when the car is off. If you look at the circled springs in the attached pic, these are the guys that I stretched a bit (to increase seat pressure when car is off). Since doing that I have had virtually zero sinking of the car even when sitting for months.
Hope that helps,
Chris

KAROZZA

Hi Chris, how did you stretch those springs?

latemodel21

Been quite a few years since I did it, but I seem to recall that I stretched them by hand (you could always do it carefully with some smooth-faced needle-nose pliers). I measured them before I started and then carefully stretched them until they were (IIRC) 20-25% longer (free length) .

Cheers,
Chris