Hi all,

Cracked open the bleeder on the leveling valve last weekend, I got more than half a pint of suspension fluid came out in form of tiny bubbles. Is this the sea foam like stuff that Mike Tangas mentioned above ? More importantly, does this indicate the begin failure of the accumulators ? The bumper does go down when I push on it; what does that leave me ?

Thanks again,
Frank.

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'86 560SEL | Silver Ext. / Blue Int. | 201K miles (Apr. 05) | 204K miles (Feb. 06)

All those tiny bubbles scream accumulator failure to me. When I cracked my bleeder to drain off pressure prior to removing the accumulators I had so many bubbles the fluid was foamy green.

I also noted that with dead accumulators the rear end reacted almost instantly to inputs at the leveling valve (when operating the lever by hand).

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

Finally replaced the accumulators last weekend. Had the rear end on ramps, only 12 nuts total to remove and replace; but I took me almost two hours - had to take a short break because the dripping hydraulic fluid smells so awful !

I checked out the accumulators by inserting a long 2mm alen wrench to the input line from the shock absorber. The wrench stopped at about 1" inch from the opening of one, but went all the way in on the other So I've been riding on only one air cell. That might explain why it had always feel rougher when loaded with passengers on the rear.

The shock towers are still bone dry; so I just installed new cells. Took the car out for a spin, it rode much better in terms of both comfort and handling!

Thanks all that have made this possible,
Frank.

__________________
'86 560SEL | Silver Ext. / Blue Int. | 201K miles (Apr. 05) | 204K miles (Feb. 06)