I have a 1992 300 TE wagon with 133K miles. The rear shocks look to be the orginals, bellows are busted and bumpstop on one is gone. Do the shocks have a useful life after which we can assume they are dead. They do not appear to be leaking.

I've changed the fluid and filter and bled the system. I'm fairly confident they are not functioning properly, the car rear end does not raise at all at anytime under any circumstances.

I've read about the accumulators and I'm going to check them. Will I be able to tell if they are leaking or would they have leaked out some kind of inert gas and I would,therefore, not be able to tell.

I'm not opposed to replacing the shocks, even though they are expensive, if that is what it takes to make the system work properly.

Any other suggestions on how to diagnosis or test system?