Newbie - Just got myself a 2004 SL55 AMG

[00slk]

Also does anyone have experience with this seller/seals: -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-...807574?hash=item1a20584d56:g:vVoAAOSwal5YG-7Y

I believe there is some one on the forum who can supply the rubber seals for the valve bodies?

 

[John Laidlaw]

I believe there is some one on the forum who can supply the rubber seals for the valve bodies?

Indeed - it's Craig....

 

[J4JAV]

Well I must say you and I must be alike :lol:
I too do a lot of research regarding part numbers and have uncovered genuine parts for a fraction of the main dealer prices. One example; AP racing brake caliper service kit over £400. £14 for the same kit as these calipers were the same as Disco 2 rear calipers
Though sometimes I have found after market bits much more expensive too than the genuine part
In regards to the skipping or kick to the side when you drive over a pot hole or drain cover it sounds like rear suspension bushes have worn. We had the same issues with our 320SLK they were the lower outer bush that was at fault.
Keep up the good work

Yes we must be indeed! I haven't found Mercedes to be any cheaper just yet, but then again time will tell... hahaha

Changed the ABC fluid all out today, flushed 12 litres through the system, fitted a new rear bleed screw too from the donor ABC pipe and now we have a fully working ABC system without any faults on STAR!

Also fitted a new bottom tensioner with pulley and it has made a massive difference but unfortunately that tensioner pulley noise was hiding a noise from the AC compressor pulley, checked it all out and the bearings are pretty much naffed so ordered a new clutch/pulley for the Denso AC to make that V8 engine super quite and smooth sounding again! Also ordered a magnetic filter for the ABC, so will be a busy weekend again providing the parts arrive in from Germany on time!

Been doing the maths tonight and surely the costs do add up! Spent a fair bit so far but still worth more than what I have spent plus I know the car is 110%, so it's peace of mind more than anything.

The only annoying thing now is the skipping/kick the side. Do you happen to know if these lower outer bushes were complete or was it a press in job?

P.S good news on the valve blocks! Checked them both out and the car has revised valve blocks fitted front and rear! The part numbers on both are from 2009 and there is no evidence of leaks from after I cleaned it all up so I am assuming that was the leak from when Mercedes did the valve block change from the older part number, it has a full MB history right up to 154k miles, so someone has been spending a fair bit on this car! :-D

Cheers!

 

[00slk]

I remember removing the lower wishbones and taking them down to the local engineers who pressed out the old bushes and pressed in the new. However these bushes I carefully sourced at a good price and supposedly good quality German after market parts weren't that good and the car started the old skip again within 8months :sad:
You maybe able to do this job easier than I did on the SLK as I dropped the entire rear suspension and diff out so I could rust proof the under floor and paint the parts.
Keep up the good work and the feed back, it's a great read

Peter

 

[Craiglxviii]

Did someone mention my name?

I had the same rear pipe replaced as you mentioned and yes it did require the rear subframe assy to be dropped out complete. Not as big a job as it looks, maybe 4hr labour from what I recall. My pipe took exactly two weeks to arrive by the way. Be warned that that pipe is a combination flexi rigid, and is prone to hidden corrosion of the steel part AND stretching/ sagging of the flexi part. It's also bolted to a bracket that's prone to corrosion too

We have had the Febi fluid mentioned a few times but MB only recommend Pentosin CHF.11S, which is what MB themselves resell.

I have the o rings sat on my bookshelf, the kits are the same for front and rear valve blocks. PM me for details if you're interested.

Where have you fitted your magnetic filter incidentally?

 

[Pullman]

Word of warning

Quote "Lastly the one thing I do want help with is taking apart the front valve block, as I really want to trace this leak and replace all the seals whilst I am at it before it goes into get the ABC sorted at the Indie, can this be done without STAR and will the system be under pressure when I jack it up and remove the components? I have seen many guides but all have conflicting information. I will probably tackle this on the weekend at home and don't want to end up messing it all up, I assume the fluid lost can just be replaced at the reservoir end and I do not need to bleed anything after fitting the new valve block seals/washer?"

Loads of video help on YouTube with regard to the ABC valve. I replaced most of the seals on my W215 ( see my post ).Got most of the seals from Craigviii but we seem to be having trouble finding a supplier for the blue nylon seals. He supplies quality 'o' rings and not your normal rubber rings.
WORD OF WARNING. DO NOT DISCONNECT ANY HYDRALIC PIPES WHILST UNDER THE CAR !!!!!!. Jack up the body/chassis and with the wheels off the ground and support with axle stands. Start the engine and lower the body to minimum thus releasing fluid pressure in pipes. When disconnecting pipes the reservoir will empty, and will get a bit messy ( remove filter ). The oil is very thin and will clean up with some engine cleaner. Remove the reservoir and clean out. quite an easy job provided certain precautions are taken. Buy quality items, those you are asking about seem to cheap and likely to fail over short period of time. There are also others on eBay but I decided to keep everything in house. Best of luck. Dave

 

[Craiglxviii]

Your fiver's in the post Dave

 

[00slk]

........The only annoying thing now is the skipping/kick the side....................Cheers!

Does the car skip/kick at all the different ride heights?
The reason I ask this is that for the last 4 days I have had mine set on its highest setting and this has reduced the kick quite significantly when hitting the deeper pot holes and ruts in the road. I am guessing something is not right with mine and will have it checked out by Giles. My car has also been fitted with lowering links or I am certain it has as there are small red adjustable rods under the rear suspension
If the car is set at the lowest point it doesn't ride nice and does jump and kick like a mule over our Fenland luxury roads

 

[J4JAV]

Craig & Dave, thank you for the advice. Luckily did not have to replace any seals, car already has the revised valve blocks both front and rear fitted by Mercedes. The leak was probably left over fluid from the previous ones/when they changed it over, already mentioned a few posts ago ;-)

We did the full ABC flush, I used the Febi stuff, it is marked as CHF11S on the box and ended up using 12 litres of it! The MB specialist I took it too bled all the screws for the ABC system to ensure it was all more or less filled with new fluid.

He also made me buy x2 ABC filters, and will change with another new one next week as he reckons any left over stuff in the system will clog to the already new filter. At £16 a filter I cant argue with that, better than a new ABC part I suppose.

Also did not end up changing the ABC hose as the leak was from the bleed screw. So we fitted the correct bleed screw from the donor ABC pipe and will end up trying to sell this pipe to recoup some cash!

As for the magnetic filter, not fitted yet but will be fitted to the pipe going into the ABC filter in the engine bay. I hope this is the right place? Well that is what the instructions tell me! haha

 

[J4JAV]

Does the car skip/kick at all the different ride heights?
The reason I ask this is that for the last 4 days I have had mine set on its highest setting and this has reduced the kick quite significantly when hitting the deeper pot holes and ruts in the road. I am guessing something is not right with mine and will have it checked out by Giles. My car has also been fitted with lowering links or I am certain it has as there are small red adjustable rods under the rear suspension
If the car is set at the lowest point it doesn't ride nice and does jump and kick like a mule over our Fenland luxury roads

Hi Peter, mine does it in all the height settings! Actually after the ABC problem fix it has gotten worse to be honest. The left rear strut was a little starved of ABC fluid (according to STAR) due to the bleed screw leak that went to it - with any pressure the fluid was literally pouring out. So I assumed after the ABC fix it should be okay again. But no, it is worse and kind of dangerous.

Ever since the ABC fix there has been no warning lights. The left strut was 100% starved of fluid as when idle and raising the car it would go up on the right side first and then even itself out, now its perfect and both sides raise at an equal level at the same time.

What I have noticed on mine is if you go over a sharp bump at slow speeds the rear of the car sort of bangs, like a metal to metal sound. The front is very smooth, especially after changing the control arms.

The MB indie (38 years experience with MB Huddersfield - so I am kinda taking his word for it haha) tells me he reckons it is the rear lower bushes as you mentioned already. He said no matter how hard he tried on the ramp and pit he could not see/feel anything wrong with the bushes. but after removing them from a car last week it was evident - completely worn bush which he did on another customers S-Class! Same part number as the SL55 by the way.

So for the sake of around £25 I have ordered the rear bushes and also borrowed a bush press from a mechanic friend to try and do the job this weekend. I will report back and let you know if it makes a difference.

I am pretty certain it is not an issue with the rear struts as they look new and again as checked by the Indie he said it is nothing to do with the strut. It is most definitely not normal as it is pretty dangerous!

The funny thing is I always expect the kick out now, so I am always ready for it when pot holes/defects are not avoidable. But then when I am back in my A4 daily driver I get kinda surprised as to how smooth and refined it feels! This feeling unfortunately makes me want to get to the bottom of it more and more!

 

[alexanderfoti]

I wouldn't bother with the magnetic filter. There is very little ferrous metal in the the ABC system so its not going to catch much that the stock filter wont.

 

[00slk]

.............The MB indie (38 years experience with MB Huddersfield - so I am kinda taking his word for it haha) tells me he reckons it is the rear lower bushes as you mentioned already. He said no matter how hard he tried on the ramp and pit he could not see/feel anything wrong with the bushes. but after removing them from a car last week it was evident - completely worn bush which he did on another customers S-Class! Same part number as the SL55 by the way.........

The only way I could tell the lower bushes were worn wasn't until the lower arms were removed, then you can see the wear. Amazingly I didn't take any pictures of the stripping progress on the SLK or the worn part and how floppy it was sitting on the floor

 

[J4JAV]

I wouldn't bother with the magnetic filter. There is very little ferrous metal in the the ABC system so its not going to catch much that the stock filter wont.

Hmmm, interesting. I suppose the filter does shows the colour of the ABC fluid so isn't it a bit of peace of mind to know it's still green without having to check the filter/dipstick?

I notice not many people in the UK do this mod, it's mainly in the USA. I am in two minds now, do I just return it and save my self around £100 and spend that elsewhere on the car? lol

 

[J4JAV]

The only way I could tell the lower bushes were worn wasn't until the lower arms were removed, then you can see the wear. Amazingly I didn't take any pictures of the stripping progress on the SLK or the worn part and how floppy it was sitting on the floor

Now I am pretty certain it is my bushes Peter! I have just sent a text to my brother so he can lend me his Snap On impact gun lol, going to try and remove them tonight and probably leave the car on axle stands. New bushes arrive in the morning!

I hope it is just the rear lower ones on the control arm!

 

[Craiglxviii]

Hmmm, interesting. I suppose the filter does shows the colour of the ABC fluid so isn't it a bit of peace of mind to know it's still green without having to check the filter/dipstick?

I notice not many people in the UK do this mod, it's mainly in the USA. I am in two minds now, do I just return it and save my self around £100 and spend that elsewhere on the car? lol

Put it back in the kitty for a lower ball joint replacement...

 

[J4JAV]

Put it back in the kitty for a lower ball joint replacement...

Are you reffering to the front strut ones? Which can't be replaced without buying a new strut???

 

[00slk]

Are you reffering to the front strut ones? Which can't be replaced without buying a new strut???

If I am not mistaken the ball joints can be reconditioned????
I have been known to be wrong before

 

[Craiglxviii]

If I am not mistaken the ball joints can be reconditioned????
I have been known to be wrong before

Ian @ Star in Reading, £85 a corner discussed just last week. Or maybe early this week. Very nice guy too.

They even add a grease nipple which the original lacked.

 

[John Laidlaw]

Ian @ Star in Reading, £85 a corner discussed just last week. Or maybe early this week. Very nice guy too.

They even add a grease nipple which the original lacked.

Correct! They can be repaired as discussed - had it done for my SL and great result ( not by Ian though sorry) - that was one of the cheap repairs...

 

[J4JAV]

So just an update on the SL55, rear bushes I have not done yet, bolts would not shift and it seems the job is easier with the rear calipers removed.

The car is currently in the bodyshop to get some rust sorted out, whilst it is in there the owner (a close friend) has himself decided to start painting the whole car and told me not to worry too much about the bill just yet! lol In all fairness it does have a mark or two on each panel, but luckily no dents at all so will look amazing I'm sure when its all done! Should be done by Easter if not then a few days after.

So she's getting a full respray and all the rust sorted too! Whilst the car is with him, I removed the wheels and took them to a refurb specialist, they have aqua blasted them all, powder coated them and refitted the tyres and balanced etc...

Powder coated because it was the only option I could go for to try and get the OEM diamond cut look back, and I think they have done an amazing job indeed. From a small distance they do look diamond cut. I would have had them diamond cut, but then that meant getting them painted anyway and then diamond cut as they were really bad, the inside of the wheels were literally peeling away and scabby! So it just adds to the costs and I am pretty chuffed with how they look.

Some picture below, I really should have taken more pictures of the before ones! You can see the from the before pictures that the AMG logo was hardly visible, they probably had been painted and filled that many times in the past that it eventually nearly covered the logo!

Before





After