ABC and Steering Woes !!!

[wrightkarl]

Afternoon folks....help !

My 07 SL500 (5.4) is once again giving me grief, serious greif this time.

The car has been two weeks sat in the garage, nothing to suggest anything untoward when I put it away.
Got in today, started fine, noticed ABC on the left display, not red, no warning symbol, so rasied the rise height up and down, nice and swift, then reveresed out noticing no powersteeering, oh crap now what ! So got car out and stopped engine to see my girlfriend pointing at the pool of fluid and trail of fluid I'd left reversing out, oh **** !
Opened bonnet and a quick check with engine running again showed the initial problem, the pipe from ABC pump to (I assume !) power steering has two pinholes and was squirting ABC fluid everywhere. For all the mess it made there was still some fuid in the resevoir so not run empty, yet !
So here come the questions to anyone who knows...

Whats the part number of the hose (I'll show it in pictures) ? I'm hoping I can replace this myself.

And more importantly, why did the hose fail ? Why I ask is that even with the hose leaking there was fluid in the res, so why wasn't the power steering working at all ?? Have I a power steering problem that caused the hose to fail ??

I can't drive the car obviously and can't run the engine for more than a moment so this is something I need to fix in situ (My garage is very small, car only just fits)

So help to anyone who knows these systems

Thansk

Karl

 

[LostKiwi]

If you go to MB (or phone MB Grangemouth, quote the forum and get their discount), give them your VIN number and they'll sort the correct part.
Hoses age and will die. It's just luck when. If the pressure was low at the power steering box the power steering won't work properly. Given it was pumping oil out pressure will be low.

 

[gassed up]

If the MB price is prohibitive then remove the hose and take it to a local hydraulic hose/plant repair company. They will re-use the banjos, unions and steel components and replace the flexible hose. This sort of thing is their bread and butter and I've saved fortunes in the past with this tactic.

 

[Philedge]

Opened bonnet and a quick check with engine running again showed the initial problem, the pipe from ABC pump to (I assume !) power steering has two pinholes and was squirting ABC fluid everywhere. For all the mess it made there was still some fuid in the resevoir so not run empty, yet !

And more importantly, why did the hose fail ? Why I ask is that even with the hose leaking there was fluid in the res, so why wasn't the power steering View attachment 53358 working at all ??

If its a pipe going to the power steering, it wont be spurting ABC fluid as the power steering uses different fluid to the suspension. Did you check the ABC reservoir or the power steering reservoir level?

 

[ajlsl600]

hydraulic pipes have a life ,they get hot/cold /pressurized/depressurized . frankly on a 10 yr old car you have to expect it . its a B on these cars as replacing all is an expensive proposition and in some cases almost impossible. in one case without removing engine or re routing the replacement and leaving the old .

on my background hydraulic pipes on ten yr old earth moving machinery would be one of the biggest,if not the biggest cause of machine downtime.

 

[John Laidlaw]

^ as above, which is why there has been a huge increase on the ‘Pirteks’ of this world.
Rubber hoses are vulcanised (baked) and they degrade over time as the baking process continues through pressure and temperature combinations....

 

[wrightkarl]

If its a pipe going to the power steering, it wont be spurting ABC fluid as the power steering uses different fluid to the suspension. Did you check the ABC reservoir or the power steering reservoir level?

Now you've got me... I thought these used a single pump for both. I'll have to look again, the fluid was the dark green/black that I associate with used ABC fluid.
I'd seen this image on line and its looks identical to the hose thats burst, its supposed to be the steering hose, so at least that makes sense.

 

[LostKiwi]

I thought these used a single pump for both.

Single pump body, 2 pumps internally.

 

[wrightkarl]

Single pump body, 2 pumps internally.

Ok that makes more sense, do both use the same fluid resevoir ?? I'm not being lazy, the garage I rent to put the car in is a 15 minute walk away,... and I'm working from home

 

[LostKiwi]

Ok that makes more sense, do both use the same fluid resevoir ?? I'm not being lazy, the garage I rent to put the car in is a 15 minute walk away,... and I'm working from home

No. Two reservoirs. Power steering is a round one, ABC is a rectangular one.
In the pic the two arrows show the reservoirs. Power steering on the right.

 

[wrightkarl]

No. Two reservoirs. Power steering is a round one, ABC is a rectangular one.
In the pic the two arrows show the reservoirs. Power steering on the right.
View attachment 53392

I feel totally stupid now ! How the hell didn't I see that yesterday..... best get to garage and have another look, thanks for pointing out the obvious :¬)

 

[Philedge]

If youve got an ABC light on the dash and lost your power steering then have a close look at where the oil is coming from. Maybe the drive belt is slipping if its got oil on it, but a fault on both systems suggests theres something wrong with the tandem pump.

 

[gassed up]

If its a pipe going to the power steering, it wont be spurting ABC fluid as the power steering uses different fluid to the suspension. Did you check the ABC reservoir or the power steering reservoir level?

Don't both pumps use CHF Pentosin?

 

[Flyinspanner]

@gassed up the same type of fluid is used in both systems, (pentodin) but they are separate closed systems, with two pumps in the same pump unit.

 

[Philedge]

@gassed up the same type of fluid is used in both systems, (pentodin) but they are separate closed systems, with two pumps in the same pump unit.

+1
hence the term Tandem Pump

 

[wrightkarl]

Update eventually. The pipe is a discontinued by Merc, thanks a bundle, so its been repaired by Pertek and everything is back up and running. However the pump (i think its the pump) makes a pretty horrible noise, more so when warm, its pretty quiet when cold. I'll have to post seperately on this I think.

 

[Craiglxviii]

Update eventually. The pipe is a discontinued by Merc, thanks a bundle, so its been repaired by Pertek and everything is back up and running. However the pump (i think its the pump) makes a pretty horrible noise, more so when warm, its pretty quiet when cold. I'll have to post seperately on this I think.

Buy direct from MB for £580 with a 2 year warranty. Best deal going.

 

[wrightkarl]

Buy direct from MB for £580 with a 2 year warranty. Best deal going.

Thats actually a good price, thanks for the pointer. The bigger issue for me is can I DIY it or have to give it to garage. Depe4nds if it needs access underneath ??

 

[LostKiwi]

If you're spanner competent you should be able to DIY. Only issue could be bleeding the ABC.