W215 Hard Ride

CL500Wizard

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2009
Messages
72
Reaction score
0
Location
West London
Your Mercedes
CL500, 2 x Honda Prelude 2.2VTEC, Honda VFR400 (Bike) ... that's about enough, need to skim
On standard (lowest ride) height, the suspension is very hard with every road bump felt and trim is starting to rattle in a few places now too. However, with 1 setting up, it softens up for about 30 minutes of driving (with over-bump stability as well) and then changes to hard. Going to standard height from setting 1, the drive is soft for 5-10 minutes at the most before reverting back. Activating ABC seems to make no difference. Not getting any errors either.

Tyre pressures are 29psi-Front/32psi-Rear so all as per the book.

Im a careful driver to avoid pot holes but the ride stiffness is making the car very twitchy in a straight line or a bend if it goes over any bump in the road or even drain covers.


Need to get my head around this ... what type of suspension is used in this model - Airmatic? What could be the likely problem here?

many thanks.
 

television

Always remembered RIP
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
164,073
Reaction score
367
Age
89
Location
Daventry
Your Mercedes
2002 SL500, 216 CL500, all fully loaded
The suspension on the 215 is the same as on the 230 ABC.

You have one button for the sport mode that hardens up the ride a touch,, the ride height should stay on the lowest setting for normal driving with no LED's lit up .

What size are the wheels on the car
 
OP
C

CL500Wizard

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2009
Messages
72
Reaction score
0
Location
West London
Your Mercedes
CL500, 2 x Honda Prelude 2.2VTEC, Honda VFR400 (Bike) ... that's about enough, need to skim
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #3
245/45/18s all around.

Sports mode button- you mean ABC button? There are ABC, ESP and Ride height buttons. There is Winter/Summer button next to the gear lever.

Drove friend's CL600 and that is a lot softer ride than mine.

sorry for a mb newbie questions, the shock assembly is made up of the shock absorber and spring, and the hydrolic spheres (for ride height and stiffness) are located elsewhere? had a look at the shock assembly and there seems to be no leaks around it, but have no idea where the spheres are - maybe time to get the wheels off and have a good poke around. have a clunking sound from the front to locate too ...
 

television

Always remembered RIP
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
164,073
Reaction score
367
Age
89
Location
Daventry
Your Mercedes
2002 SL500, 216 CL500, all fully loaded
245/45/18s all around.

Sports mode button- you mean ABC button? There are ABC, ESP and Ride height buttons. There is Winter/Summer button next to the gear lever.

Drove friend's CL600 and that is a lot softer ride than mine.

sorry for a mb newbie questions, the shock assembly is made up of the shock absorber and spring, and the hydrolic spheres (for ride height and stiffness) are located elsewhere? had a look at the shock assembly and there seems to be no leaks around it, but have no idea where the spheres are - maybe time to get the wheels off and have a good poke around. have a clunking sound from the front to locate too ...

The suspension consist of struts one on each corner, these struts are Hydraulic/spring construction also know as the spheres. you have a valve block on each corner and a main control unit in the front of the nearside wheel arch
liner. The control box is in the dash.


On the dash you have the first 3 buttons,,the first is ESP and nothing to do with this. The next button is the level adjustment use the car with the LEDs off min heights.
The third one is the sports mode button,and again this LED should not be lit.

The W/S switch is only for the gearbox,,W is a second gear start, and the car will not roll back on hills, S is a first gear start for normal or more sporty driving .

I am already checking on 2 other cars for problems(230's) though I have seen nothing that controls the ride hardness.

I will post back
 

television

Always remembered RIP
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
164,073
Reaction score
367
Age
89
Location
Daventry
Your Mercedes
2002 SL500, 216 CL500, all fully loaded
The only thing that could cause the ride to be too hard is if the running pressure was too high,this can be checked out,,there is nothing else in the system
 
OP
C

CL500Wizard

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2009
Messages
72
Reaction score
0
Location
West London
Your Mercedes
CL500, 2 x Honda Prelude 2.2VTEC, Honda VFR400 (Bike) ... that's about enough, need to skim
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #6
Thanks Malcom

so something along the lines of this but with Spring around the piston road at the top of the assembly:

hydraulic-shock-absorber.gif


http://www.citroenet.org.uk/miscellaneous/hydraulics/hydraulics-1.html article with citroen suspension suggests a use of stiffness regulator. Not sure if there would be such a thing in our cars or the setup is quite different as you mentioned a single valve per corner?



Running pressure too high - what could cause that - the pump or the electronic control module? Can this be checked through STAR?
 
OP
C

CL500Wizard

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2009
Messages
72
Reaction score
0
Location
West London
Your Mercedes
CL500, 2 x Honda Prelude 2.2VTEC, Honda VFR400 (Bike) ... that's about enough, need to skim
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #8
"the four spring struts are equipped with microprocessor-controlled plunger cylinders which almost completely compensate yawing, pitching and rolling movements of the vehicle body. The computer receives information about the relevant driving situation from the various acceleration sensors, then compares this with the data from the pressure sensors in the spring struts and the level sensors in the steering control arms. The ABC system translates this information into control signals, which are implemented as precisely metered oil flows by hydraulic servo-valves on the front and rear axles. When oil flows into the plunger cylinders, these adjust the tracing point of the steel springs integrated into the spring struts, generating the forces necessary to counteract movements of the vehicle body.

Under pressure: body is stabilised within fractions of a second

Owing to the constantly available hydraulic pressure of up to 200 bar, ABC is able to stabilise the vehicle body practically immediately - within a fraction of a second. The system operates in the vibration range of up to five hertz, the range which causes pitching and rolling movements on uneven road surfaces, side-roll on bends and the typical body dive experienced during braking. Higher-frequency vibrations and wheel damping are the responsibility of passive twin-tube gas-pressure shock absorbers, which can be configured for excellent comfort"


This article on ABC states damping is done by passive gas shock absorbers. another article on wiki states the shock absorbers are a parallel assembly. If there are gas shocks in this, then the stiff ride height may just point to the hard ride experienced from these as they have either failed or require adjustment. how would these gas shocks be linked to the hydraulic system?

sorry for all these questions but if I could see a the detailed diagram of the parts/assemblies somewhere I wouldn't be asking too many of them ;)
 

television

Always remembered RIP
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
164,073
Reaction score
367
Age
89
Location
Daventry
Your Mercedes
2002 SL500, 216 CL500, all fully loaded
Well I cannot post them up here but I can Email them to you
 

television

Always remembered RIP
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
164,073
Reaction score
367
Age
89
Location
Daventry
Your Mercedes
2002 SL500, 216 CL500, all fully loaded
The only adjustable thing is the pressure,, nothing else can be changed..my car rides very well
 
OP
C

CL500Wizard

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2009
Messages
72
Reaction score
0
Location
West London
Your Mercedes
CL500, 2 x Honda Prelude 2.2VTEC, Honda VFR400 (Bike) ... that's about enough, need to skim
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #12
I think a visit to SAM is unavoidable now. local indie said that the system needs a rodeo + fluid & filter change first before doing anything else. also said STAR would only detect if there was an issue with sensors or the struts, but not the pressure as pressure can't be changed!!!! WTH! but if a sensor wasn't working, I should get the "get to workshop" warning ...
 
OP
C

CL500Wizard

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2009
Messages
72
Reaction score
0
Location
West London
Your Mercedes
CL500, 2 x Honda Prelude 2.2VTEC, Honda VFR400 (Bike) ... that's about enough, need to skim
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #13
Another observation .... in a quiet work car park yesterday, adjusted the height up to max, and then dropped the car to standard. on downwards movement, there was a hissing (pressure release) sound coming from the rear. repeated this max up and max drop procedure 3 times in total and the hissing sound was there all the time.

since ABC is a sealed system with no air in it, there should be no sound ... correct? and the rears are sitting about 10-15mm lower than the fronts which doesn't look normal.
 

television

Always remembered RIP
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
164,073
Reaction score
367
Age
89
Location
Daventry
Your Mercedes
2002 SL500, 216 CL500, all fully loaded
Correct no sound and I have just been down to check, the fluid only is returned to the system
 
OP
C

CL500Wizard

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2009
Messages
72
Reaction score
0
Location
West London
Your Mercedes
CL500, 2 x Honda Prelude 2.2VTEC, Honda VFR400 (Bike) ... that's about enough, need to skim
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #15
Thanks Malcolm for everything. will give all the pipes a proper inspection for leakages this weekend and check the ABC oil levels as well. will report back with pics if any leakages are found.
 

television

Always remembered RIP
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
164,073
Reaction score
367
Age
89
Location
Daventry
Your Mercedes
2002 SL500, 216 CL500, all fully loaded
Thanks Malcolm for everything. will give all the pipes a proper inspection for leakages this weekend and check the ABC oil levels as well. will report back with pics if any leakages are found.

It is an odd one,,the fluid all pump out very quickly with a leak,,and I do not think that it will be. the filler cap is the round tank highest up over the power steering one,, two levels cold and warm
 

WE HAVE NOW MOVED: 8 Hazel Road, Woolston, SO19 7GB
Service, Repairs and remapping service
Any queries, please do not hesitate to contactEmail@mbsofsouthampton.co.ukor alternatively you can phone Colin or Dave on 02380 445820, out of hours numbers are 07787913313 or 07907631681.
Top Bottom