Self leveling suspention???
 

Is it possible I have self leveling suspension on my (new to me) 1995 E300 Diesel? There are sensors attached to the strut mount on the front shocks, the strut mount tops are oily(shocks leaking?). I will take some pics today.
What you guys think? Oh and there is a hydrolic fluid reservour in the engine compartment.

If its a Wagon, there should be SLS on the rear.

I dont think saloon-cars had SLS.

The hydraulic fluid reservoir is prolly the power-steering fluid...

if you gotta a hyd resivouir then u prob gotta SLS i would think

It's right next to the power steering reservour. The car does have ASD, well I will take pics today in the evening. SLS is the only feature I can think of that would require sensors on top of the struts... shocks are bad I need to replace them, car feels like a boat:))

Most likely the "sensors" are connectors of some sort ABS etc, hydro-pneumatic shocks are basically sealed at the top and would more likely leak from a connection or a shaft seal, the hydraulic fluid reservoir is also necessary for ADS vehicles which are fluid pressure operated. If the center of your instrument cluster contains a small square or rectangular window about 3/8”long and high which should light up with ADS when you start the car then that is what the hydraulic stuff is probably for. If you did have front SLS you would also so some fluid connection to the front struts, some accumulators some where up front there and some sort of level sensing hydraulic valve/s attached to the front suspension and the body somewhere.

But anything could be possible if the car was ordered from the factory and enough was paid for what someone wanted it equiped with.!

SLS is for the rear on wagons mostly, some of the Euro 123 sedans had SLS as well, but it's pretty rare in the US to find a sedan with SLS. Also the SLS controls the rear suspension not the front. I doubt you have SLS. Also I've never heard of the SLS using sensor, it's all mechanical, but I'm not nearly as familiar with the newer MBs as I am with the older ones.

It's odd for an SLS failure to cause a wallowy ride. The usual failures are sagging or a rock hard ride.

Sixto
87 300D

Bad accumulators can a cause really bouncy ride.

Agreed. The strut transmits every change in the road surface to your seat when the sphere goes bad. The difference is when a conventional shock goes bad it's like there is no shock in that corner and the car wallows, whereas when a sphere goes bad it's like the shock in that corner goes absolutely stiff because it can't compress.

Sixto
87 300D

The clip is just to hold the ABS and brake wear sensor cables. The oil means that strut is dead and needs replacing. It's not a hard job, but make sure you brace the control arm and are prepared for some fun breaking the top nut loose.
There's a great writeup in the DIY section of this very website.

Thanks guys, so no sls thankfully!
All 4 shocks are completley shot, I brought this up with the dealer I bought it from and he areed surprisingly, to pay for all 4 corners, parts only ofcourse. He will be sending me the shocks.
From doing some reaserch sachs-boge or billstein is the struts/shocks to get.

Both are supposed to be OEM but I always go with Bilsteins Comforts on 124 and 201 cars and Heavy Duty on 126 cars, for best all around ride.

I just removed Billsteins and replaced with Sachs and it wallows a little now :(, but it could also be rear bushings, thats my next project.

What is wallowing? My 240 is pretty squirrely when its windy. I rebuilt the front end this summer and it's helped some. But It's not as steady as I think it should be.

Sounds like rear subframe bushings are next up for you.

Sixto
87 300D