Removing ABC rear valve block on W220?

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V

V8 Supercharger

Active Member
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Jun 5, 2013
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471
Location
Leeds
Car
W221 S600 V12 Bi-Turbo
Hello all

Thought id start a new thread for this. As some of you who may have seen my other thread regarding the rear shocker, it seems we might have been looking at the wrong thing and it might actually be the rear valve block thats the culprit.

Well, rather than chase down a shocker which i cant seem to get hold of i think il try and clean the valve block first and see if that helps.

As far as i can tell the valve block is just infront of the rear passenger wheel, there are 4 hose pipe connections, 4 electrical connections and a couple of nuts and bolts and thats about it, well obviously not as easy as that sounds but thats about the basics of it. Is there anything i need to do, especially in order to contain the fluid in the system?

Thanks. :thumb:
 
It is very straight forward to do. Just undo the pipes slowly to release pressure. No need to use the bleed nipples as they are often corroded and liable to snap.

We had one leak recently. £1300 IIRC for the part.
 
Removed the valve block, cleaned it quite thoroughly, put it all back together again and then tried the rodeo. But before the rodeo i made sure there was enough fluid in the tank, topped it up.

Naturally the back end of the car was nearly touching the floor, so after topping up the fluid we started it up, kept an eye on the fluid and waited for the back end to rise. It did not rise . . . . not even after 5 minutes of idling. So i hit the raise button and then it all raised, fluid went down a little bit so i topped it up again and let the car idle.

But i think i must have got a bit too ambitious filling it up because when we did the rodeo after about a minute into it the fluid started leaking out from the reservoir dip stick, quite a site that was.

Now im letting the car rest for a while but now if i start the car up and raise it with the interior button all the fluid goes down to the bottom of the tank, so i topped it up and dropped the car via the button again. All the fluid i just topped up came straight back out of the top.

So not quite sure what it doing here but somethings not right? All i know is that its better to have too much in it than to let it run to the bottom.

Shall i just do another rodeo on it as im guessing it will only leak out enough fluid from the dipstick as it deems necessary and not empty the whole system out and run the pump on air?
 
Vilus said:
Search and ye shall find....
Click to expand...


Search i did, and find i did not
frown.gif


But i found a fair other threads on the US sites and they were quite helpful.

Rebuilt Rear ABC Valve Block Today - MBWorld.org Forums

Removal was actually quite straight forward, only requires a 17mm spanner and removal of 5 hose pipes. Then about 3-4 nuts and its out in your hand.

We reckon we lost approx. 1.5 litres of fluid in the process.
 
V8 Supercharger said:
Search i did, and find i did not

But i found a fair other threads on the US sites and they were quite helpful.

Rebuilt Rear ABC Valve Block Today - MBWorld.org Forums

Removal was actually quite straight forward, only requires a 17mm spanner and removal of 5 hose pipes. Then about 3-4 nuts and its out in your hand.

We reckon we lost approx. 1.5 litres of fluid in the process.
Click to expand...

You have an air lock. It needs bleeding.
 
Is there any particular method to set the correct level of fluid before starting the rodeo?

For example, have the suspension in the High position, car idling and the fluid at the lower mark on the dipstick etc etc?

I dont want the fluid level to be too high as it will start coming out again, but yet dont want it to be too low so as to run the risk of getting air into the pump. I will be keeping an eye on the fluid the entire time the rodeo is running but just could do with a starting point?

Thanks.
 
sunny_amg said:
V8,

I hope its all going well, any news yet of the fix?

Can't wait for me to get this problem.........actually I can.
Click to expand...


Sorry, i should have updated this really.

We left the car parked as it was overnight, without having done a full rodeo, to see if either the car or the fluid level would drop. In the morning both things were at the same level.

Adjusted the fluid level so that it was right in between the HIGH and LOW markers on the dipsticks and then did 2 full rodeos.

Car has been fine since, no dropping or sagging in any corners and the fluid level has stayed the same throughout.

All in all, i was looking at approx. £700 for a shocker (that i could not even find) and the labour aswell. In the end, managed to do it ourselves for about £50 by just cleaning the valve block.

Iv worked on the ABC system on this car a few times now and every time we finish with it i think . . . . "its not exactly the complicated monster that everyone speaks about" . . . . or maybe i just havnt had a big enough break down yet, which i hope not to :D
 
Congratulations on sorting your problem. The American forums are particularly strong on problems like this as they have a higher number of members with these high end models with their associated systems. A couple of things- not sure if later models will have valve blocks that can be taken apart and cleaned and expensive block replacement may be the only answer? Other thing to know was where you got your fluid from. An MB part no for the litre? bottles would be nice for other folks contemplating this fix unless you used something else?
 
Sorry to butt in, the bleed screw ( at least on my CL ) is on each hydraulic line just as it goes under the body next to each shock, it has a hexagonal body and a small bleed nipple word of caution they shear off extreamly easily, pressure should be released prior to doing any works on the system, as for the shocks there is a company in Germany who are an outlet for the Arnott refurbished units in the states these cost £510 per side and are a doddle to fit. When it came to bleed mine I filled the resevoir to the appropriate mark started the car and opperated the manual lift to its first position shut down the engine topped up and raised to the second position, once the car was lowered to normal ride height then the level was again checked, the suspension was raised a good 30-40 times this seemed to do the trick.
 
Last edited:
PStock,

Could you post more details of the company in Germany so us guys with ABC problems can get in touch with them.

Cheers for the info mate.
 
sunny_amg said:
PStock,

Could you post more details of the company in Germany so us guys with ABC problems can get in touch with them.

Cheers for the info mate.
Click to expand...

I havnt got the details to hand mate, but i think its that same company in the ebay link you posted in my other thread about the shocker, i know they also do refurbished ABC struts at £500 a piece.
 
grober said:
Congratulations on sorting your problem. The American forums are particularly strong on problems like this as they have a higher number of members with these high end models with their associated systems. A couple of things- not sure if later models will have valve blocks that can be taken apart and cleaned and expensive block replacement may be the only answer? Other thing to know was where you got your fluid from. An MB part no for the litre? bottles would be nice for other folks contemplating this fix unless you used something else?
Click to expand...

Not 100% sure here, but i think most of the ABC components started getting changed/upgraded in late 2007.

So if your valve blocks are from prior to this date then theres a good chance you can just clean them and get away with it. However if they're after that time then your looking at a hefty bill.

Although iv said that i worked on the ABC system a few times now im by no means an expert on it, and theres still risks that i wouldnt take, like using the wrong fluid.

So it was over to MB for the correct fluid, at first they could not find it, but then they finally got the part number and it was all sorted. After a lot of faffing about looking for the part number it turns out that the number was written on top of both the power steering reservoir and the ABC fluid reservoir :wallbash:

The correct fluid is "Pentosin CHF11S" and MB sell these in 1 litre bottles, cost is around £18/litre and the part number for the fluid is A001 989 2403.

Iv seen a few motor factors that stock "COMMA CHF11S" fluid at about £10/litre but iv not really felt too comfortable with that for some reason. Iv nothing against COMMA or their products but its just something im more happier paying £18/litre to MB for knowing that its the proper stuff, when all along the COMMA stuff is probably exactly the same thing.

I must be going mad!!! :crazy:
 
pstock said:
Sorry to butt in, the bleed screw ( at least on my CL ) is on each hydraulic line just as it goes under the body next to each shock, it has a hexagonal body and a small bleed nipple word of caution they shear off extreamly easily,
Click to expand...

Your not the first person to say this, apparently there are a few others with the same warning about how fragile the bleed nipples are.

Raising the car off the floor for about 30 mins tends to release the pressure just as well iv found.
 
Sunny AMG
Sorry for the delay
Spezialist für Luftfederung KFZ Auto SUV Transporter Ersatzteile airmatic pneumatisches Federsystem,Audi A6 A8 Q7 Mercedes airmatic W211 W220 W221 W215 W216 W218 W251 W164 W166 X164 X166 W230 W906 W638 W639 Porsche Cayenne Panamera Tesla Land Rover I
The company is Miessler Automotive very helpful people in the W215 section they had several shocks available mailed them my VIN and they identified the correct ones for my CL as for the fluid I did use a different one to the MB £18 bottle after speaking to several peeps in the know I went for Triple QX Hydraulic power steering fluid this is a full synthetic which meets the requirements / specifications for MB 345.0 from ECP but this is the same stuff as CHF 11s

There is a core price of €200 per shock but you obviously get this back when you send your old shocks back. My problem was a broken spring so changed both rear units, as previously mentioned the bleed nipple WILL shear off this will cost after a bit of bartering with your local MB dealer about £160 per side, however the rear subframe will need lowering to fit, not a big problem just another couple of hours of your time.

Hope this helps
 
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V8 Supercharger said:
When ever your ready mate.

When. Ever. Your. Ready. ;)

Which lets hope is never :D
Click to expand...

Hi V8, i'm based in Leeds too. Who do you use in Leeds for your ABC related issues.
 
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