300TE (1988) is bouncing around

A Bostom dealer felt that the rear hydropneumatic shocks need replacement. Car has 130K miles. I dont trust dealer for several reasons. Anyhow, the car is bouncing like a Lincoln Town Car and it is interesting to note that the spring factor is identical on both sides of the car. This points me towards a self leveling system failure as opposed to that of both rear shocks (whats the probability of simultaneous failure of both rear shocks anyway??). I hear it might be the air cell. any comments thoughts ?? How much or how difficult to replace this component if it is the culprit ?
thanks in advance
farrukh

[MB STARS]

Farrukh

Is the rear shocks are leaking fluid ???
if not I will go for the air cells first...I
have seen lot of air cell go bad cause vehicle bounce like rabbit.


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MB STARS Master Guild Technician,12 years MB tech
5 years independent shop owner

[Benzmac]

The air cells are called accumulators I believe. You should have them done first.

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Benzmac:
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
SERVICE MANAGER FOR 14 BAY FACILITY
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 8 YRS
PARTNER IN MERCEDESSHOP.COM

Benzmac is on the right track. The accumulators are most likely the cause of your concern. Although the control valve must not be overlooked. Your dealer should be able to perform this diag. for you. Dont forget that this system is under pressure and due caution should be used when working with it.
Good Luck.

Thanks all.
Some questions !
1) How many accumulators are there ?
2) How long does it normally take to replace it/ them (trying to estimate cost of repair) ?
3) What is the function of the accumulator?
Thanks again and regards
farrukh

[Michael]

I'd bet that it's the accumulators (there are two...one each side). Both my brother-in-law and I have '88 300TEs, and a short while ago his accumulators went. Car bounced like a pogo stick. Because he couldn't get a straight answer for a while, he put off the repair. Bad move, because all that suspension movement appeared to have prematurely aged a couple of rear suspension pieces that required replacement too. The repair cost wasn't too bad on the accumulators, so I'd jump on this right away.

It's highly unlikely that your rear hydro struts are bad, by the way, especially both of them. My mechanic's never seen a 300TE strut go bad, and mine are fine at 145k miles as are my bro-in-laws at 260k. Good luck!

Michael
'92 500E
'88 300TE

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How can you estimate cost of repair without a diag. If you want a estimate for a repair that you know exactly what parts that you want replace a simple phone call to your service advisor at your local dealer will get you a estimate of parts and labor. Note that when you so this the estimate is for replacement of the part only not for any diag time if your diag does not correct the problem. There are two accumulators on your car. No I will not make a guess at the labor time.

ATTENTION CORKY :
Thanks for your input and feel free to provide none.
Why do you deem it difficult to estimate the cost of replacement of an accumulator ? After all, labour hours are found in an MB service manual and the cost of the part is easily determined. Hence IF this is my problem, I can estimate what it would cost to fix.
Given your extensive engineering background, I am sure you'll be the first to point out that most engineering subsystems usually have some common failure mechanisms. For example, in the case of a hydo suspension, the symptoms I have described might be the result of accumulators and/or struts. While this does not constitute a diagnosis, it does allow some evaluation of the range of financial expense required to address the problem !

You should really try to think outside the box instead of being irate

[Bill Wood]

We're not going to get into a flame war over what a Tech will or won't answer. It is solely up to each Tech's discretion if they answer a question on the Shop Forum at all. Benzmac is the only Tech here who "works" for MercedesShop. Corky is a highly respected professional Mercedes Technician who is giving up some of his own personal free time to help Mercedes owners. We're lucky to have him and his insights. We fully support him if he chooses not to answer any question for whatever reason.

Let's move on...

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Bill Wood - Webmaster
MercedesShop.com, LLC