Very strange ABC suspension problem

[mercedescl500]

Haha, i was stumped untill I realised there was no speaker under the grille!!! Im pretty confident with getting it out now though...

Ordered three sensors from ebay Germany (cant be bothered to faff about with Mercedes, last time I gave them my VIN they swore blind it was an ML until i showed them it parked outside the dealership) worked out at around £50 for all three (09, 07, and 05).

It shouldn't take long to get them all in. Just be careful if you must drive your car, there is absolutely no warning if it will raise or drop or even do both on opposite sides. Be careful budd. And the speed at which the struts move will not always be at the normal rate. The suspension will be rapid like when you activate a strut with STAR. HTH.

 

[m2287]

OK cheers, Ill use the Mrs diesel for a while :/!!!!!

 

[mercedescl500]

OK cheers, Ill use the Mrs diesel for a while :/!!!!!

You'll hate it !

 

[m2287]

Thinking about it, it definitely makes sense that this is the cause of it, I dont sit in traffic often and it happened when I had done around 25miles on the motorway, and then had been sat for a fair while in a jam so the sensors are possibly overheating (especially the ones under the bonnet)..

 

[mercedescl500]

Thinking about it, it definitely makes sense that this is the cause of it, I dont sit in traffic often and it happened when I had done around 25miles on the motorway, and then had been sat for a fair while in a jam so the sensors are possibly overheating (especially the ones under the bonnet)..

Correct. I had a similar scenario.

 

[m2287]

OK so I have changed all three sensors... Drove the car around it was fine, thought id replicate the whole sitting in traffic situation so after a 30ish mile drive, parked on my driveway for 30mins to see if the error came back up.

22mins later, the blue ABC light came on, but the suspension didnt move at all, it stayed exactly where it was. I turned the car off and on again and the error vanished, the suspension worked as usual and after another 30mins, it still hadnt come back up.

Bit miffed as to why the error came back up but at least the suspension didnt drop on any corner and it cleared straight away. I might give the struts and height sensors a pressure wash as they might be dirty or something.

 

[m2287]

GREAT!!! Went and moved the car off the drive to load it up today, suspension worked fine.
Started it 2mins later and it's stuck on the lowest setting with a big red abc warning light on :/!!!!

 

[m2287]

Rear valve block off... Found that one of the o rings which goes between one of the solenoids and the metal block was split so I'm going to try and find a replacement tomorrow. Fingers crossed this is the problem as the internals of the block were immaculate, no metal particles anywhere!

 

[Dieselman]

A good find, well done.

 

[Alex]

Rear valve block off... Found that one of the o rings which goes between one of the solenoids and the metal block was split so I'm going to try and find a replacement tomorrow. Fingers crossed this is the problem as the internals of the block were immaculate, no metal particles anywhere!

Do you have a good source for the O rings? I'd like to stock up as well!

 

[m2287]

Ok NOONE could do me a similar o ring today, i was told by some specialist that I was dreaming if I thought I'd find one! Thought what the hell, the split is only tiny and I have nothing to loose so I put the solenoid back in the block and applied some sealant around it, the specialists agreed that they thought that would definitely be more than sufficient to seal such a small split.

I put everything back together, opened the bleed screws to the rear wheels and left the rear of the car up on axle stands.

Checked the abc reservoir and it was 3/4 full. Started the car and let it run with the suspension on the lowest setting for a couple of minutes, then pressed the raise button once. As soon as I did this it came up with the blue abc warning and nothing happened, I turned the car off. Then I checked the reservoir again and it was empty so I filled it up to around 3/4 with new fluid. Turned the car on again and repeated the same procedure, this time the red light came up so I switched the ignition off and checked the reservoir again, now it was overflowing! Not massively but a bit! No fluid came out of the bleed screws.

Anyway I've given up diying it, it's going to a specialist ASAP.

 

[m2287]

Do you have a good source for the O rings? I'd like to stock up as well!

I didn't find the special shaped ones but tool station had boxes of different metric o rings for around £10, they looked the right sizes to replace the ones on the solenoids. The internals of my block and the o rings looked fine on mine so I didn't bother replacing them.

 

[Dieselman]

I put everything back together, opened the bleed screws to the rear wheels and left the rear of the car up on axle stands.

Surely the wheels need to be under load for the system to divert fluid to the rams?

 

[V12]

The little backstreet, run down warehouse unit Specialist is the place to find.

Near us we have a company called Solent bearings that stock all these little bits.

I used to repair a lot of american imported machines that used non metric sizes for loads of little bits and pieces.
Even the extremely rare bits, they always got them next day for me.

 

[m2287]

The little backstreet, run down warehouse unit Specialist is the place to find.

Near us we have a company called Solent bearings that stock all these little bits.

I used to repair a lot of american imported machines that used non metric sizes for loads of little bits and pieces.
Even the extremely rare bits, they always got them next day for me.

That's where two of the plumbers merchants directed me, a random tiny unit on an industrial estate, I was surprised they were even open to be honest!!!

 

[V12]

That's where two of the plumbers merchants directed me, a random tiny unit on an industrial estate, I was surprised they were even open to be honest!!!

Don't forget about that place. A goldmine for sure!

 

[m2287]

Surely the wheels need to be under load for the system to divert fluid to the rams?

I'm not sure, this is what it said to do on a thread on Benz world... Do you think it should be done with the wheels on the ground? Getting to the bleed screws this way would be next to impossible (unless I took the wheels off and put the bottom of the disks on wooden blocks?!).

 

[Alex]

I believe you can start the car to push the fluid around and bleed it that way too (with the bleed screw open).

 

[m2287]

I believe you can start the car to push the fluid around and bleed it that way too (with the bleed screw open).

Is that with the car raised up or on the floor do you know? Cheers.

 

[Alex]

I don't think it would matter as there's 185 bar pressure in the circuit. I didn't try it though but that what I would personally do.