Saggy rear end

[JonnyCJ]

The rear offside on my wife's E220 CDI W212 keeps dropping overnight, so much that the wheel sits well within the arch. It goes to normal height when the car is started and drives fine.

So far my indie has replaced both rear struts/bellows (under warranty) and the valve between the compressor and both bellows (at my cost).

The suspension keeps dropping on the offside only.

They say they have eliminated any leaks on the pipework and are scratching their heads as to what's next.

It's getting expensive...

Any pointers or ideas would be very welcome !

Thanks

Jonny

 

[John Laidlaw]

I would still have suspected a leak or fracture in the pipes or hoses somewhere, quite difficult to detect sometimes, as the routing often rubs on the sub frames causing the issues.
Apologies if you already told me Jonny, I’ve a memory like a sieve, but which Indy are you using?

 

[JonnyCJ]

Rob & Steve in Hoylake. They reckon they've done a test on all the pipes and it's not them...

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Fractures on pipes are quite common and difficult to find I would replace the near side air pipe to the bellows before spending any more on it

See comment #16

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/index.php?threads/w212-air-suspension-dropping.162667/

 

[John Laidlaw]

Rob & Steve in Hoylake. They reckon they've done a test on all the pipes and it's not them...

I wonder how?

 

[JonnyCJ]

Thanks Malcolm, John - not sure how they’ve tested the pipe work but I’ve just emailed them Malcolm’s link.

Very helpful and much appreciated !

Cheers

Jonny

 

[JonnyCJ]

Looks like it's finally sorted. The drop was getting quite quick and therefore it's been much easier to diagnose the leak.

Turns out that there are 2 x plastic pipes zip wired together. They were rubbing against each other and what started off as a micro leak became much bigger.

MB Wirral are therefore replacing the whole of the rear pipework and unions and putting it back together how it should have come from the factory.

I can see exactly how it couldn't have been diagnosed before, as the two pipes were touching and the leak could well have been downwards and therefore hidden.

 

[John Laidlaw]

Glad it’s sorted now...