Three Questions about 560 SEL ('89)

[hbofinger]

Hi,

I have three mysteries I can't figure out for the life of me. Please see the pictures below.

1. Note the silver hose the arrow is pointing towards (dirver's side, center console). It's made of foam, spring loaded, somewhat damaged, now enjoying a Tom Ridge Special temporary fix (Duct Tape, not pictured). What is this hose?




2. In the trunk, on the left side, the is a little opening in the paneling covered by a plastic slide-off somethingoranother. When you remove this, you see this:



The white knob reads (<-Heben Senken ->), German for "raise" and "lower". What is this know supposed to do? And the red thing next to it - what is that?



3. Related: Is she sitting too low in the rear (engine off):



The trunk is empty (except spare), nobody in the vehicle, the accumulators have about 15-20k on them (i.e. new).

I guess my hope is that the "Heben and Senken" knob has something to do with the suspension adjustment, and I don't have to start another project AGAIN. But I know I might be dreaming...

(total mileage 109k)

Thanks for any help.

[bhatt]

Some guesses...

Picture #2 - looks like the manual open/close mechanism for the sunroof. You put a spark plug wrench (it's in your toolkit) on the red thing and turn to open or close the roof. I think the two german words are for 'open' and 'close'.

Picture #3 - yes, it's a little low in the back. Have you changed your rear subframe mounts? My '86 300SDL had 250,000km (150,000miles) and it looked just like yours in the back. When I changed them, it raised back up. Make sure you change the differential mount at the same time -- that made a big difference in mine also.

Neal

[hbofinger]

bhatt,

Thanks! Still wonder about that hose...

I am German, that's why I had hope about the meaning of the "Heben" and "Senken" - it does not mean open and close, but raise and lower. But I think you are right, it's probably related to the sunroof...

How hard is it to replace those mounts?

[y2kimmel]

Looks like the evaporator condensation hose. They're made of cheap crap and disintegrate over time. Good news in MB only harges about $4 for the part.

Troy
1995 E420 82k

[hbofinger]

Here's what kind of got me upset about the rear sag - until a couple of days ago, the car was upright. Then I put my tools in the trunk, took it to a friend, and now it seems not to have recovered from having had the tools in the trunk. What a bummer!

And now I got the A/C working 100%, I thought I would be done for a while...

[Hatterasguy]

Do you have your owners manual? Look in it, picture 2 is how you close your sunroof if the switch won't. Yes, it is sitting low, my SDL sits higher. Does it raise when you start it? Maybe your shocks are going bad? Just a guess.

[hbofinger]

Hatterasguy -

When I rev up the engine, the rear rises. When I drop back down to idle, the rear falls.

Any suggestions?

[bhatt]

I have a 300SDL but understand the basics of the rear suspension in your car pretty well. If it is raising with acceleration, something is definately up with the hydraulic suspension.

I'm not sure if the pump is belt driven or electric, but you may want to have a look at it. Could be a loose belt or electrical connection. Make sure there is enough fluid in the reservoir (use MB fluid only!)

Before you look at subframe mounts, make sure your car stays at the same height it goes to when you rev the engine. That is the proper height of your car. Then worry about other stuff..

Neal

PS. On the sunroof - maybe they call it raise and lower because it is the tilting/sliding roof? Perhaps the "lower" is also open.. kind of like when it is tilted open and you push the slide switch to the rear of the car -- the first thing it does before opening is lower.

[hbofinger]

bhatt (and others)
Just went and had dinner downtown Washington, D.C.

Car came back out of valet parking - completely even, looking great if not sexy on its four wheels.

So it has to be in self-leveling. The tools stretched it out too far (too heavy). It means two things -

1. no immidiate emergency
2. time to diagnose


Since this is a board of brilliant speculators, who wants to have first stabs at this one?

[MikeTangas]

The pump is direct drive off the front of the engine (unless it has the newer style combo steering/leveling pump), any time the engine is running the pump is too. How does the fluid level look?

Not sure if there are any check valves in the system or not. Don't recall ever reading about one dropping when not running. Maybe one of the techs has heard that symptom before.

[126nut]

Don't feel bad,

My 420SEL sets just like yours, even after replacing the rear springs. That was a bit of money for nothing, as they say.

I know, I know, different animals, hydraulics vs. coils but just figured I'd let you know this seems to be a common trait of almost all 126 chassis cars.

Maybe I need to replace the subframe mounts?

BTW, great looking car!!

[mhingram]

the rear is low. there is a check valve in the rear to answer mike it also allows you to bleed the fluid. If it is dropping down over time then there is a leak somewhere. The sunroof unit, the white dial is the dial used to adjust the vertical lift and placement of the sunroof at stop. Very useful if you want to make any adjustments.
m

[hbofinger]

It's got to be in the self-leveling.

Here are pictures of this morning:



and



So she raised herself back up. It must be a bad valve somewhere - if it were the mounts, she'd just sit there.

126nut - Thanks for the compliment! They are great looking cars if kept up. That's why I put all that work into it.

Mike - the fluid level looks excellent. I checked that. Also no leaks around the pump or anything.

Does anyone know about the specifics of the regulator valve on the system? As I said, accumulators are fairly new.

Thanks to all for the other comments regarding the sunroof backup (that's obviously been identified now). I will send the picture of the hose to Phil at Fastlane and see what he sais - I think it is the evaporator drain, though I am very surprised it's partially made of foam!

[neanderthal]

if the rear only sags when the car is not running then some kind of check valve is leaking and releasing pressure as the car sits.

[mhingram]

the regulator valve is in the rear close to the front of the diff if I remember correctly. It is only 2 inches square and is aluminium.
m