ABC help please

[wizzman]

Not particularly hard to drop the rear sub frame, but you will need to carryout 4 wheel alignment afterwards.

Thanks Alex

 

[ajlsl600]

Don’t know yet. While it’s up in the air I’m doing a few other jobs like a bit of rust on the rear arch lips, new bottom arm outer bush, height sensor links and generally any little areas of corrosion on the body or ABC pipes. Today I have just painted the inside of the strut tower which had a layer of scaley rust. Bushes arrive tomorrow so I will fit them and refit the arm and strut etc and see if it cures the fault. I’m actually toying with the idea of getting it inside and dropping the rear frame and giving it a real back end rebuild. Any advice on rear frame drop ? Will replace any ABC pipes that look dodgy and also brake pipes and anything else that I find.

Will keep you posted

Cheers

take a look in p/s wheel arch, i had a seeping pipe in there going to block near accumulator, only misting but on a 10+ yr old pipe so changed it £90 if i remember.

 

[wizzman]

Progress Report !
Ok, new bushes and nuts bolts and s/h strut fitted and yes, the red warning has gone and suspension is working as before. So the fault was indeed a faulty strut sensor on a 4 year old genuine Mercedes strut.

I have purchased and fitted a new rubber bellows on the strut and given the metalwork a bit of a clean and paint so it looks good as new.

Interestingly on the strut I have removed I thought I would take a look at it and disassembled the strut. The bottom saddle didn’t look right so when I took the tension off the main spring to release the saddle I noticed that one of the securing rings ie 1 half ring was missing so the main spring wasn’t sat square. It’s probably nothing to do with the strut failure but a little worrying.

Next is valve block rebuild and new accumulators

Happy days

 

[LostKiwi]

The bottom saddle didn’t look right so when I took the tension off the main spring to release the saddle I noticed that one of the securing rings ie 1 half ring was missing so the main spring wasn’t sat square. It’s probably nothing to do with the strut failure but a little worrying.

That's exactly what was wrong with the strut I gave @ajlsl600 to pull apart.

Good result there even if a bit disappointing on a 4 year old strut.

 

[wizzman]

Hmm that’s interesting. I can’t see it happening under normal driving conditions. I’m just relieved that I am not hunting a fault that could be a needle in a haystack and I get on with the planned maintenance.

By the way does anyone know the difference between the n/s and o/s rear struts ? I know there’s a sticker on them denoting which side but on the bench in pieces I can’t seem to work it out.

Cheers

 

[LostKiwi]

Not 100% but is it the pipe connection on the strut body goes the opposite direction?

 

[wizzman]

Must be the angle of the top mounting bolts maybe

 

[I LOVE MY SL55]

Hi Everyone

Ive recently found myself in almost the exact situation with my car as you describe and resolve with yours, so reading this has been very interesting & informative, so thanks for that

i am curious about one thing tho, and thats the removal/replacement of the sensor from the strut, and how much of a job that would be, it was mentioned by LostKiwi that it is possable to replace only the sensor but requires disassembly of the strut, so either way the strut has to come out of the car, which is a big enough job in its self, but as you said "is it feasible or advisable to just remove the sensor" once the strut is out ?

i realise its been a while since this topic has been used but im hoping some of you are still around or if anybody knows that would also be great

Thanks

 

[Craiglxviii]

Internal plunger sensor replacement IS possible for the struts on an SL R230. However the part no. isn’t listed so would need sourcing afterwards.

 

[wizzman]

Hi, I am thinking back to what Alister said about removing the sensor requiring strut disassembly but I seem to recall just releasing three sort of spring clips and pulling the sensor up and out of the strut. Have you tested the ohms reading between the three terminals on the sensor ? My faulty one had no reading across any combination but the s/h one purchased had a similar reading to one of the other posters so it put my mind at rest a little. As always on an SL when removing a strut a multitude of other jobs requiring attention crop up. Good luck and let me know how you get on

Ian

 

[Craiglxviii]

There are two sensors per strut. An external one, that is a separate part, and an internal plunger type that the strut needs stripping to access. There is also a cable harness which can be awkward to release.
Both the sensors measure the same thing in different ways- one generates centre of mass to corner angle (declination) change, the other generates strut height value change.
Sorry, I didn’t measure any values at the time.