wub
Senior Member
Hi all
I've recently bought a SL500 1998 from a deceased estate, winter renovation project. The car was sold as seen, with a price to reflect that, but the owners had decided to get the car MOT’d at local garage, for peace of mind that they were not selling anything dangerous. So the car drives, has an MOT, but has had very little use the last 10 years.
I trailered it back to my workshop, for inspection and have found 2 things that don’t appear to be working. The roof, which I’ll come to on another post. And the ADS. I have never owned a merc with ADS, so don’t have any experience of it or how to fix it. I am handy in the work shop, renovated many cars over the years, but not sure I can diagnose and fix the ADS with out diagnostic equipment?
The dash light stays on after starting. The reservoir was virtually empty, but the local garage that MOT’d mentioned that they noticed the light sometimes came on and some times didn’t, and after they lowered the car off the ramp, where all wheels had had the pressure taken off them, the reservoir had over flowed? Looking into it, they should have locked the units by the switch, before jacking, which I know they didn’t.
I have inspected the system and cant see any signs of leaks, its dry all around. I have topped the reservoir back up. But the dash light is on, and nothing seems to happen when I press the buttons. Should I hear the pump working? Do i need to bleed the system?
Is this something I can fault diagnose myself and is there a procedure for this? Or, should I go to local merc specialist? Also I read in a few places, that the spheres have a life span, 10 years has been mentioned. I suspect the ones on there are the originals, so 25 years old plus and 120k. is it a good time to just replace the 4 spheres now anyway, at 70 ish each, that does'nt seem to too bad for the parts
If I can do this myself, the plan is, to first get it working with the original spheres in place, so as not to disturb too much, to see where i am, and once that's done, then replace the 4 spheres. My gut feeling is, the incorrect jacking without locking the ADS, by the local garage, may have caused the issue, but I’m in the dark, I need a checking / bleeding procedure, somewhere to start. Any threads out there anyone can remember?
On another note, i was a bit hesitant on this purchase, as the year 10/1998 was i thought, falling into the "rust years", of production, but on inspection, i am amazed at how little, , rust there is, virtually zero! And how do i find out weather is the 119 engine or the later one?
I've recently bought a SL500 1998 from a deceased estate, winter renovation project. The car was sold as seen, with a price to reflect that, but the owners had decided to get the car MOT’d at local garage, for peace of mind that they were not selling anything dangerous. So the car drives, has an MOT, but has had very little use the last 10 years.
I trailered it back to my workshop, for inspection and have found 2 things that don’t appear to be working. The roof, which I’ll come to on another post. And the ADS. I have never owned a merc with ADS, so don’t have any experience of it or how to fix it. I am handy in the work shop, renovated many cars over the years, but not sure I can diagnose and fix the ADS with out diagnostic equipment?
The dash light stays on after starting. The reservoir was virtually empty, but the local garage that MOT’d mentioned that they noticed the light sometimes came on and some times didn’t, and after they lowered the car off the ramp, where all wheels had had the pressure taken off them, the reservoir had over flowed? Looking into it, they should have locked the units by the switch, before jacking, which I know they didn’t.
I have inspected the system and cant see any signs of leaks, its dry all around. I have topped the reservoir back up. But the dash light is on, and nothing seems to happen when I press the buttons. Should I hear the pump working? Do i need to bleed the system?
Is this something I can fault diagnose myself and is there a procedure for this? Or, should I go to local merc specialist? Also I read in a few places, that the spheres have a life span, 10 years has been mentioned. I suspect the ones on there are the originals, so 25 years old plus and 120k. is it a good time to just replace the 4 spheres now anyway, at 70 ish each, that does'nt seem to too bad for the parts
If I can do this myself, the plan is, to first get it working with the original spheres in place, so as not to disturb too much, to see where i am, and once that's done, then replace the 4 spheres. My gut feeling is, the incorrect jacking without locking the ADS, by the local garage, may have caused the issue, but I’m in the dark, I need a checking / bleeding procedure, somewhere to start. Any threads out there anyone can remember?
On another note, i was a bit hesitant on this purchase, as the year 10/1998 was i thought, falling into the "rust years", of production, but on inspection, i am amazed at how little, , rust there is, virtually zero! And how do i find out weather is the 119 engine or the later one?
So thought , might as well replace all the rear suspenion arms and bushs as they all look ancient as well. In for a penny and all that.
