Today I went into the belt tensioner to fix a non-working adjustment rod. Last time the belt was replaced, I adjusted the tension and it seemed ok. Then a few days later once the belt had settled I needed to readjust the tension, but even after loosening the 19mm bolt, the treads of the adjusting rod stripped. Just took everything out and managed to repair the treads on the rod with a fine file and now the rod is once again tensioning the belt properly.

While I was in there, I noticed that the lower end of the shock absorber (the end that goes towards the tensioning device) was hanging loose. The shock absorber was just being supported at its upper end. On the lower side both the nut and bolt on the lower side are gone, the bushing on the absorber mount was also gone. Don't know what happened there, because I'm certain I reinstalled it correctly when I replaced the belt some time ago. Do these come loose over time just like that? BTW, I looked on the protective tray bellow the engine, but none of the missing parts where there. Would have found them on my last oil change anyway.

I wanted to know what would be correct procedure to test this shock absorber, as mine seems to have only fair resistance when I try to pull it apart, but a lot of resistance is felt when pushing it together. Feels like about 10:1 ratio of resistance. Is this normal, strong resistance only one way, and only fair resistance the other way? This is an OEM MB part, number 103-200-0114.

Would like to make sure this shock is still ok before I embark in trying to find a replacement for the missing bushing on its mount in order to reinstall it. The nut and bolt I've to get anyhow, but not sure how easy it will be to locally find a bushing that will fit.

Thanks in advance for any information.

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W163 ML230 EURO SPEC 1999
W124 300E 1986