I'm sort of interested in a 00 E320 4 matic wagon and the rear pic seems to show the car leaning to the left and kind of low overall. Did these have rear self leveling?

If so, was it hydraulic or air?

The car is a repo, state safety inspection expired, bad battery , claims ~ 100 K miles. There are a few running and driving cars listed in the $3500 range and they want nearly that much for this one. I'm thinking $ 800 for a winter car.

Yes, hydraulic. Probably needs new nitrogen spheres for a start.

Thanks

Was the rear suspension the same on wagons and sedans? I'd be real tempted to use sedan springs with a thick spacer and call it a day given the intended use of this car.

Install both spheres, flush and replace the hydraulic fluid in the SLS pump in the engine compartment (with ONLY Mercedes fluid) and you'll be good to go for another 100K.
However, I'd crawl under the car and look at the rear struts. If they are leaking, skip on down the road and find something else.
Anziani
'97 CL600 52K

This.

Spheres aren't expensive, the fluid isn't that bad either. Spheres, fluid, and lubricating the linkage on the valve made all the difference in the world on my SLS cars. However the hydraulic rams usually cost more than the car.

__________________
68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

Spheres are around $90 each and the fluid is around $20 (as I remember). Pelican Parts is a good place to start.
Anziani
'97 CL600 52K

Spheres ( hydraulic accumulators ) control ride quality, these act as air springs giving the self leveling some compliance. These won't affect a car sitting low or leaning to one side like the one in question.

I'm not specifically looking for a W210 MB wagon but given it is a 4 matic car I'd be interested for sub $ 800 then using it as a salt car. ( The bank is asking $2,900 in an attempt to recover a bad loan, if this goes to auction it will bring nothing. ) There are some nicer cars in the $ 3,500 range but that misses the point of a low $ car that needs big $ in shop repairs but can be made to run for low $ through alternate methods.

The 2000 model year are pretty bulletproof. I'd snag it fix the SLS and enjoy it. Our coupe saw engine trans went to 145k before it was totaled. Barely did anything to it in the 50k we owned it.

__________________
2016 Monsoon Gray Audi Allroad - 21k
2008 Black Mercedes E350 4Matic Sport - 131k
2014 Jeep Wranger Unlimited Sahara - 62k
2003 Gray Mercedes ML350 - 122k

SL,

I have one, and they are bullet proof..

The ride will never super soft like a car with just plain shocks, but I'm fine...Understand that...

If it is leaning towards one side, most of the time it is a leaky shock, yet for the "SLS" cars on the "rust belt" suffer from rusty hydraulic lines at the distribution block, or at the leveling valve at the unibody structure near the half-shaft axial's.

If both wheels are low in the rear, then the self leveling arm could be rusty broken.

regardless of the problem, the SLS is easy to troubleshoot, but replacing the a leaky shocks is $$$ as they cannot be found used, the W140 SLS shocks do not fit...

Here is what may be a problem withe rust belt cars....

Hydraulic fluid line leaks - proactive replacement? - Mercedes-Benz Forum

My two-cents, Move to the west, pay more taxes, and deal with the earthquakes...

Enjoy,

Martin

I've done some research.

SLS wagon rear shocks have a 2 bolt lower mount and the sedan has one. Both have a stem on the upper. It looks like the lower control arm is different in the lower shock mounting area but converting this to a single bolt won't be difficult.

While I'm capable of fixing every system on a car, there comes a point of not being worth it to spend big $$ for no real gain. Especially when I have a 97 E320 sedan parts car sitting here.

I'm going to try to look at the car sometime this weekend.

I had one of these. Run.

The hydraulic cylinders (they aren't shocks) are expensive. If the car has been in snowy or wet conditions, the lines rust and become difficult to remove. And if you can see this problem, there are others that won't be so easy to deal with. When you are looking at the car, lift up the rubber moldings on the doors. Water gets trapped underneath and the door frames rust. Another common rust problem on the wagons is the area below the rear wiper, and around the license plate lights.

Looked at the car on Sun, it was behind the bank building so I'm guessing it sold, the CL ad was down and I've been too busy with other stuff.

It wasn't so bad, some rust starting where the front bumpers hit the fenders, some rear wheel opening rust starting , some undercoat pealing on the underside. The rear was low and slight tilt to left. Looks like the exhaust would not make it another winter, state safety inspection expired a year ago.

I'd still call it a $ 800 run through the salt car after rear springs and shocks from a sedan were transplanted.

I understand on paper they don't necessarily have to do with leveling but in my experience on 3 SLS cars they all sat more level after having the spheres replaced. Maybe that's indicative of a failure of rams or the control valve but it was not an isolated experience for me.

However it was never excessive sagging, just the rear was lower than the front.

__________________
68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

You did hit on a key point. If a leveling valve is leaking internally, a good sphere would offer a reserve of pressure keeping the car up. The longer it sits, the more the system leaks off and the car sags.