1999 e320 front suspension issue
 

Hi guys,

My 99 E320 has no suspension play when pushing down on the front left side. There is travel (up/down) on the right side. There is also what seems to be a loose piece under the floor that hits at/near the drivers left foot. I believe the strut is ok and the spring may be broken. The car has 110K on it, so I am wondering if I am on the right track. The car drives straight but any small bump is felt in the car and the car bunces up and down,

Any help wold be appreciated.

I believe ....
 

that you may have a bad or loose shock. That car does not have struts. Have the front shocks ever been replaced? If one is bad get a new pair of Bilsteir heavy duty ones installed. Also, take a good look at the spring perches. There's a lot of info on the forums about a known problem with those.

Thanks OKC329!
 

Thanks for the suggestion. I have only had the car four months. After looking at the postings on Spring perches I determined that in fact the left front spring perch had rusted through! After calling the MB dealership they research and verified the car had the recall (Canada) done in 2001. They directed me to the dealers body shop where they fixed both front perches at no charge and in 2 days! The car rides better than ever.

Did they charge you anything to repair the spring perches?

Originally Posted by mikek
Thanks for the suggestion. I have only had the car four months. After looking at the postings on Spring perches I determined that in fact the left front spring perch had rusted through! After calling the MB dealership they research and verified the car had the recall (Canada) done in 2001. They directed me to the dealers body shop where they fixed both front perches at no charge and in 2 days! The car rides better than ever.

I guess I should have had my coffee before reading it...missed it the first time. I find it very interesting that M-B in Canada will fix these failed spring perches under a recall but in the USA it is a "catch as catch can" policy.

I guess MB Canada anticipated more spring perch problems surfacing because of the more corrosive (salty roads) driving environment vis-a-vis the U.S. Perhaps its all about probabilities.

On the other hand, the harmonic balancer recall in the U.S. was not duplicated in Canada as far as I know (someone may be able to confirm or debunk this for me).