E500 tilted on one side.

Maybe anyone can recommend a repair shop in Danbury CT ?

Noodles said:

Have you looked in our Recommended Repair Shops - Mercedes-Benz Forum section?

There are a few shops in that part of CT listed.

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Unfortunately they are pretty far from my home.

Also by my diagnostic, looks like front airmatics will need replacement. I see that Arnott are back-ordered any other alternative?
Is this feasible for DYI?

E-Class Owner said:

The 4Matic strut units are not showing "out of stock" on RMT's website, so a call to confirm from the OP might be a good idea.

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Yes, I called, but they have no cores available so I have to send mine. Also how bad it is to drive it for 100 miles back home. Shock is completely collapsed, but when engine is turned on it goes up. I do not want to have the pump overworked, and eventually killed. ( current one is 1 year old , paid 600 for replacement )

I took the chance and got it home, it was all good. Pull it in the garage and up on ramps on the front wheels. I did not want the shock to collapse,then being impossible to jack it up in order to put on jack stands, and to begin the work.
Got busy with other stuff and forgot about the car, after 48h car is still leveled I would say it went down about 1/2 inch, nowhere near the way it did last) That is pretty surprising. Could it be something else? Also there was no hissing noise that will indicate air escaping.

Can you please point out some write-up on how to properly diagnose. I know that at this age and 140k miles, airmatics are due for change, but if I can get a bit more time that would be a relief.

E-Class Owner said:

The air struts can be tricky. I have had one hold for a couple of weeks and then time next time it would collapse over night. The positive thing for you is that the fronts do not have to be replaced in pairs, so you can replace the offending side now and deal with the other side later. The fronts on mine failed in the 70-80K mile range, so you have had a good run...

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Thanks for the clarification in advance that supposed to be my next question. I would try the faulty one first.
Also, is there a way to test the front leveling sensor first before going for the strut?
Any precautions after installation. Should I lower the car with the engine on ?

How hard is to replace the shock on the 4 matic. Does the axle will need to come out of the wheel hub, or just the upper control arm ball joint is enough?

Noodles said:

The axle does have to come out. You will need a need new axle bolt as the bolt is a stretch bolt and can not be reused.

Basically the caliper, rotor, and axle have to come off the car. You will have to seperate a couple of joints on the knuckle.
Then all of the connectors. There are plenty of them. Take a picture before undoing them and even lable them if needed.

SBC must be deactivated. Also to set the car level after the repair using the MB Star computer is the best way to go.

Doing the job on a lift makes it a lot easier, but it can be done on the ground with jack stands.

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Thanks for the clarification, in this case, I will probably won't do it alone since I have no access to Start Computer. At this point don't even know of is worth repairing because the quote I got was 1800. I won't be able to use the $379 deal from RMT.

Also why the caliper and disc will need to be pulled? Can I just remove the axle nut then plull the axle out?

MY rebuild Front strut came back from RMT. Installed in about 2 hours , car is perfect leveled and does not sink anymore. (prior to the repair car was sinking in about 25 min)

Although I am happy with the overall result, there is a clunking noise on the side i did the repair. I used the proper torque on all screws and tied the bushing related screws on the ground as the manual requires.

I am 100% that all is in place the right way but the noise still exists. What could of gone bad during this replacement?

I did some tests late last nigh to try to diagnose this noise. Here is what I found.
-when I push down on the right fender there is a clicking sound similar to a torque wrench when reaching the set point.
-there is no noise when turning right over small bumps
-over 40mph I can't hear anything on small bumps
Just to mention that sway bar links were changed last year with Lemforder ( not genuine MB) but they appear pretty loose when I had to take them off during Airmatic replacement ( but no play)
My main concern: would it be possible that the newly rebuilt front shock could be the culprit?

After lifting the car and looking at every joint, bushing, screw, nut etc came to find out the the Sway bar link was not properly torqued. I had to use torx wrench to hold the little ball joint in place to apply the proper torque.
What a difference now!!!! car is whisper quiet, the airmatic performs as it should.
Thanks a lot for your support.