Any W140 S class (91-99) specialists around?

[sarangimaster]

Need someone who knows the self leveling system well, been mucked around by other mechanics and need someone who knows what their doing.

As close to london as possible

 

[carat 3.6]

Whats wrong with it?

 

[sarangimaster]

Alot of things have been done so I'll try to break it down as much as possible.

When I got the car had a low rear end and really bad clunking from bumps. First mechanic was clueless, replaced tandem pump and accumulators, cost $$$ and fixed nothing.

Then went to mercedes specialist, he replaced self leveling valve, that solved sagging rear end and clunking but soon after overall ride was rough.

Went again to specialist, seemed that the valve broke again, causing the ride to go harsh. But i've been told the valve has nothing to do with harsh ride. The mechanic said valve will keep breaking if struts are not fixed.

Can't see whats causing rough suspension in the back, seems like car isnt absorbing the road well. From what I can guess is badly installed accumulators/pump, might be air in the system.

I think the self leveling is working OK, ill confirm tomorrow, but need a specialist in this area to see whats going on.

 

[bolide]

Sounds like the rear spheres have not been replaced

Where in London are you? There are plenty of Mercedes specialists and they should all know the hydraulic suspension. It's hardly complicated

I had a W124 Estate recently that felt out-of-sorts. With the car in the air we jacked the rear wheels individually and found one was slow to return to full droop and came down jerkily. The bottom balljoint had seized. We replaced the leg & balljoint and both spheres and the car was happy again

Nick Froome

 

[bing]

call Martin at Finch Motors in Brentford. Sound and Honest guy - he looks after my E500 and he has a 140 himself among other mb's.

FinchMotors

 

[grober]

These might help you understand things a bit more?

V12 Uber Alles, Changing the Rear Struts in a W140 Mercedes Benz

V12 Uber Alles, Repairing a Broken Self-leveling Valve Linkage in a W140 Mercedes Benz

 

[EDZ649]

SS Motors at Weybridge are pretty clued up on this sort of stuff IIRC.

 

[Dieselman]

Sounds like the rear spheres have not been replaced

I would go with that.
Nobody replaces the spheres on Mercedes until they burst. Regassing before they get that bad would save replacement and restore the ride quality.

 

[jaymanek]

Definately spheres...replaced loads and your symptoms match up.

 

[millo777]

The OP does state that the accumulators have been replaced.

My W140 has also recently started clunking from the rear, and I had the spheres/accumulators replaced a few months ago so I'll be following the thread to see what the outcome is.

Have you had all the bushes checked? there are quite a few that could potentially cause clunks, such as the trailing arm bushes, rear ARBs etc

I haven't had a chance to have mine looked at yet as it's not a daily driver it's not a high priority.

The only MB specialist I've used in London is Klasse in Fulham (Dawes road), who were very good, but I haven't lived in that area for a few years so haven't used them recently.

Grateful if you could report back when you find a cause/solution as it would be most helpful to others.

 

[sarangimaster]

Thanks for the help guys.

The problem is not clunking which I did have and was fixed by the self leveling valve. But it's more of the car not absorbing the road and me feeling all the bumps.

My accumulators have been replaced but by someones who's not a specialist. Therefore im thinking he has not replaced them correctly, I heard you have to take all the air out of the system while your installing them otherwise its a harsh ride? I might get accumulators replaced again!

The 2nd mechanic (specialist) done a check on all the bushes and says they all seem fine.

Thats one problem. The 2nd mechanic (specialist) replaced my self leveling valve, but then it broke again. I got it replaced but he says it will continue to break due to the struts. I don't think it has been broken again, although would like to check the self leveling system checked out by another mechanic.

I'll look into all those that you have recommend, if anyone else knows any mechanics which have experience in w140's and self leveling system let me know!

 

[neilz]

M AND G Motors :: Who Can Fix My Car

Strongly recommended, and he can get a part-time MB mechanic in to solve anything he can't (which he's doing for mine - the central vent unit needs work done which involves dismantling the dash)

It's him I bought my car from in the first place and a damn good deal it was too!

 

[grober]

The spheres are in 2 parts separated by a diaphram. One side has hydraulic fluid in it connected to the the pipework of the system ---the other contains nitrogen under pressure-- it's this nitrogen being compressed that provides the "spring" for the car. They are essentially sealed units and fail due to loss of gas or rupture of the diaphragm with age . If they were recently renewed with new units its unlikely they will have failed so quickly? This further article explains things a bit more. I wonder if you have adaptive damping =ADS? If so there's an electronic component to the system? V12 Uber Alles, Diagnosing the Adaptive Damping System (ADS) in a Mercedes Benz S600

 

[BTB 500]

SS Motors at Weybridge are pretty clued up on this sort of stuff IIRC.

Yes, they specialise in ADS. They did the accumulators on my SL in the summer and I would certainly recommend them.

 

[Setanta]

Hmmm....sounds very similar to what I experienced with my (non-ADS) S600 re the infernal SLS.

I spent a fortune from front to back on the car suspension-wise and while there was a marked improvement, there was always this 'feeling' that it was not quite as smooth as it should be.

Many months after selling it, I met another S600 owner with exactly the same issues and he had went down the same route as me. However, he eventually replaced the rear struts and voila - problem solved. Apparently if the car is driven on stuffed spheres (so the car is sitting high..not low) then the rear struts take a hammering and start to play up. Everyone he had spoken to said that they never played up (they do) but curious on mine since both had been replaced by the previous owner but then he subsequently drove it on broken spheres so perhaps that was the link?

 

[bolide]

How different is the rear suspension of a W140 from a W124 Estate?

Nick Froome

 

[neilz]

M AND G Motors :: Who Can Fix My Car

Strongly recommended, and he can get a part-time MB mechanic in to solve anything he can't (which he's doing for mine - the central vent unit needs work done which involves dismantling the dash)

It's him I bought my car from in the first place and a damn good deal it was too!

And I've seen many W140s in the garage, the owner's a car enthusiast (a Rolls one, though) but they know Mercs very well. And not too expensive (and he/his son/his mechanics do quite a few odd jobs for free for me)

 

[spanner]

Take a look at the list of manufacturers that they list as being happy to work on.
They might be excellent and trustworthy and reliable but any garage that lists just about every manufacturer in that way always causes me concern.
However, it's not quite as bad as a garage that specialises in "BMW and Mercedes".
I always think that one should find an independent specialist whose actually a real specialist in that he/they only do one make of car or even one particular model. That way you can be pretty sure that they'll spot any familiar failures or issues quickly and efficiently and you're not paying for their education.

 

[Dieselman]

I would be happy for a mechanic that liked working on Rolls Royce cars to look at an SLS problem as RR cars used to use Citroen hydraulics for their suspension.

 

[Dieselman]

Hmmm....sounds very similar to what I experienced with my (non-ADS) S600 re the infernal SLS.

I spent a fortune from front to back on the car suspension-wise and while there was a marked improvement, there was always this 'feeling' that it was not quite as smooth as it should be.

Many months after selling it, I met another S600 owner with exactly the same issues and he had went down the same route as me. However, he eventually replaced the rear struts and voila - problem solved. Apparently if the car is driven on stuffed spheres (so the car is sitting high..not low) then the rear struts take a hammering and start to play up. Everyone he had spoken to said that they never played up (they do) but curious on mine since both had been replaced by the previous owner but then he subsequently drove it on broken spheres so perhaps that was the link?

The only way struts can cause such a problem is if they are sticking, if so a flush with either proper hydraulic flushing oil or adding a splash of diesel to the SLS fluid should sort it. Once fixed drain off and refill with proper fluid.



As an aside, if anyone has any old SLS spheres I would be interested in having them to experiment with.