Leaking Front Struts

[OliverK]

thanks

[carloslameiro]

Detcomm, good to see that the ABS and ESP error warnings were easily fixed. I too turned my car's front wheels to left and right with the engine off, to check the bellows, and didn't get the error messages - but good to know nonetheless. Did the pressure in your brake pedal come back? Did you get the pump to work again?

[Detcomm]

Originally Posted by daisound

Joe,
I replaced both seals myself and passed the test of 32F outside from the evening. This morning , when I start the car, the compressor not even run at all. That means no air has been let out. The car has been at prefect height. The dealer gave me a deal to replace two struts for $1850 plus tax down from $3200 because I bought more than 10 new cars from them in last 2 years for export, but I turn it down because I think I can fix it myself after reading this forum.
This afternoon, I took out the driver wheel to inspect the plastic bellow, remember from my post above, the mechanic told me the bellow should be attached to its lower holder if the airmatic system is working fine, he is right, the plastic bellow was attached to lower holder and tight due to the vacuum created by raising the car and dropping the driver side suspension. If you ever see the plastic bellow is off its lower holder when you rotate your tires, that means your struts are bad. This should apply to the rear struts too. Actually, the seals and the plastic bellow is working in connection with each other. Exactly, how they interact with each other, I am not able to tell you.
To answer you question:
You do not need the Star Diagnosis to discharge the pressure. When you follow the procedures in this forum, the air will be let out slowly once you loose the plastic pipe nipple from the brass stem that goes into the struts cap. Wait until all the air is gone before you completely remove the nipple.
It takes about 30 minutes to take out the epoxy from each cap. It takes another 30-40 minutes to replace the seals. But I was screwed for 2-3 hours just to figure out how to remove the brass stem from the cap. I tried to buy a socket to remove the brass stem but it was not for sales anywhere.
I will sell you the tool for $65 plus the freight $15, totaled $80. I will help you remove the seals just like Dbenz02 help me.

hi daisound,

you mentioned "If you ever see the plastic bellow is off its lower holder when you rotate your tires, that means your struts are bad. This should apply to the rear struts too. Actually, the seals and the plastic bellow is working in connection with each other".

Is this something you are sure of? I replaced my compressor and relay and the bellow on my front right came off in the process. Now that strut sinks all the time and will not raise at all. It's a massive leak which the compressor cannot do anything with. I will order a new strut since not only the bellow is separated but the bottom part where the bellow attaches is loose also.

Can you please tell me more about this issue if you have any more info? thanks

[Detcomm]

Originally Posted by carloslameiro

Detcomm, good to see that the ABS and ESP error warnings were easily fixed. I too turned my car's front wheels to left and right with the engine off, to check the bellows, and didn't get the error messages - but good to know nonetheless. Did the pressure in your brake pedal come back? Did you get the pump to work again?

hi carlos,

yes the brake pedal seems normal now. my pump does not seem to work unless i do not hear it. It started once today while messing with it and it ran really loud for short time. I think it's because it cannot fill that strut with busted bellow. i will order a new reman strut for $399. It comes with new redesigned seal. Once i am done installing it, i may take it to the dealer for a hight check/adjustment unless it seems fine.

I wonder if the new pump will run really loud if there is a huge leak like in my case busted bellow. I will not bother with new seal even though i have the seal and tool since the bellow is an issue. The pump is brand new from mercedes dealer. (not reman) i doubt it would be bad, My other 3 struts are fine and raised to normal height.

thanks for your kind help

[carloslameiro]

Originally Posted by Detcomm

"If you ever see the plastic bellow is off its lower holder when you rotate your tires, that means your struts are bad. This should apply to the rear struts too. Actually, the seals and the plastic bellow is working in connection with each other".

Is this something you are sure of? I replaced my compressor and relay and the bellow on my front right came off in the process. Now that strut sinks all the time and will not raise at all. It's a massive leak which the compressor cannot do anything with. I will order a new strut since not only the bellow is separated but the bottom part where the bellow attaches is loose also.

Can you please tell me more about this issue if you have any more info? thanks

hello Detcomm,

I do not believe that a loose bellow necessarily means that the front strut is bad.

As posted by dko888 in message #93 of this thread, you will see a document that indicates how to re-attach the loose front bellow(s) , holding it manually, while the system is refilled with air by the pump - which assumes there are no other leaks, such as another loose bellow, or an upper seal, etc.

Loose rear bellows may be another story - not sure, but I assume they work similarly.

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220...ml#post3246257

In my case, given two loose front bellows, I went ahead and lowered the car WITH THE WHEELS STRAIGHT, just enough for BOTH front bellows to close without compression (not advised by MB, by the way) and then refilled with air. Once done, bellows stay in place, I believe with negative pressure (they stay in place with suction I think). I lowered the car just enough for the wheels to touch the ground since the bellows appear to recoil upwards, not allowing them to "close" with the wheels raised in the air.

Hope this helps.

With regards, to the height adjustment, it would be good to know exactly how the system actually works in measuring the height - and probably avoiding an unnecessary charge from the dealer. In my case, not having replace the upper seals, and bellows in good condition, I found that I did not need height adjustments since the car raises and lowers well, and a visual inspection indicates everything is okay.

Let us know how your strut replacement goes.

Cheers

[Detcomm]

ok, so i replaced the front right strut with a remanufactured strut from arnott's. The cost was $400 for this strut. This strut comes with the new seal design and new bellow partially pressurized to keep the bellow attached during installation. It uses the original valve, I guess they don't put in a new valve when they rebuild these. I have not done a leak test yet using soapy water. My brand new air compressor is making extremely loud noise, even louder than my old compressor. I also replaced the relay as recommended.

Does anyone think I have a bad new compressor? I bought it from an online mercedes dealer. Compressor is oes, made in Germany. What else should i look for? It pumps air because the car rises and stays up but the compressor does turn on like every 5 minutes and EXTREMELY loud. You can hear it from a block away, i'm not exagerating.

Is it possible that the compressor is loud because there is another leak? Many people had leaks on their struts and their front end sunk but compressors were not always loud for them.

I have not driven the car at all since replacing the compressor and strut.

Please help

[carloslameiro]

Here are a few docs from merz WIS system which should prove usefull to fully understand a lot about the Airmatic system.

[chibenz]

Originally Posted by carloslameiro

Here are a few docs from merz WIS system which should prove usefull to fully understand a lot about the Airmatic system.

Carlos, Good stuff thanks for uploading. Btw hows your front struts repairs holding up that you have done using epoxy??

[carloslameiro]

Chibenz, the epoxy fix is working fine - no leaks on the upper part of the front struts where I sealed with epoxy. However, after a while being parked, the car still appears to have a leak somewhere, since it loses height. I am thinking of checking other parts of the system, including the front struts themselves, in the bellows especially - where any dirt in the bellow "cuff" may allow air to leak if not 100% closed. During driving I no longer get any low-car warnings since the fix - and I have driving for 4 months with the fix in varying road conditions, with sports i + ii settings.

Update: 2009/05/10

Just thought I would update the above message given that I found that the brass valve is leaking at the mid-joint, which is difficult to epoxy - so I have had to purchase these to replace the original brass valves. By the way, the epoxy I placed to seal the original steel cap is working perfectly.

After replacing brass valves, no leaks so far. I advise that in removing and replacing the brass valves, be careful to always handle the valve from the upper end when turning, never applying pressure in the mid or lower section - which is how I believe to have damaged my own brass valves. Also, from removing and replacing the brass valves the original "red-resin" that is on the thread area of the valve may be removed, which is necessary to properly seal the steel-to-steel connection between brass valve and the hole on the upper part of the strut. In the event the "red-resin" is gone, you may try to apply something similar, or if purchasing the sealing-kit (part no. 2203202538) the new brass valves in the kit come with pre-applied red-resin to replace the original valves.

The red-resin can be seen in the pictures originally posted in
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220...ml#post3244659

[Ramunsa]

Does anybody know what should be correct vehicle height ???
Vehicle parked = ????
Vehicle raised = ????

this would really help to trouble shout leaking struts and to see if it needs height calibration. Also does replacing wheels affect vehicle height ???