1994 E320 Wagon SLS Accumulator replacement notes
 

Greetings all.

I just tackled the replacement of the accumulators on my wagon this weekend on the gravel pad outside my garage. I gotta clean that darn garage.

Since the center muffler was up for replacement, it was a good time to hit the accumulators.

Basic procedure for each side was;

Remove the screws holding down the deck panel directly behind the rear seat (6)
Lift the panel from the second row seat to insure you have access
Jack the car up - I put it on blocks
Crack the Hydraulic line to the leveling valve
Crack the bolt holding the Strut line on.
Get a container to catch 12 oz of Hydraulic fluid
Remove the strut bolt and let drain for ~3 minutes - careful to retain the TWO copper washers
Remove the hydraulic line to the leveling valve
Remove the three accumulator mounting nuts
From the inside of the car pull the acculumator free
Reverse the installation


Sounds easy enough

Now for the snags

Drivers side.

With the muffler in, its hard to get a direct shot at the Strut line bolt. I almost stripped it. Came out easy after I cut the offending muffler out.

Reinstalling the Leveling line was a bear. Loosen the line at the valve so you can wiggle it easier to get the proper alignment

Follow the suggestion of making a "line tool" out of a closed end box wrench - A 7/16" worked fine for me. I used it only for running the nut out and back - I used a open ended metric wrench to break it free and do the final tightening

Passenger side

All hell broke loose. On the 94 wagon, there is NO easy access to the Leveling line nut on the accumulator. I was only able to get a wrench to make 1/8 turns with my left hand (I'm a righty). The line tool was a godsend here.

The leveling valve bracket is held in by the accumulator mounting nuts making reinstallation fun. I unmounted the leveling valve, removed the line to the driver side accumulator and lossened the line to the passenger side accumulator.

To reinstall the hydraulic line into the accumulator, I could not get one let alone two fingers on the nut sooo...
The largest screwdriver I had went across the top of the differential housing and pushed and held the nut in the hole. I then used the line tool to slowly turn the nut until it threaded into the accumulator. Surprisingly this only took 2-3 minutes of trying.

Once this was tight, I was able to reassemble everything within 15 minutes.

Entire job ended up taking 5 or so hours, grease upto my forearms from the differential, a Hydraulic oil stain on the chest of my coat and a disgruntled wife (I'll only need an hour or so honey).

I don't know if the positioning of lines, axles, mufflers and valves is as tight on other models or years, but best to consider these potential problems under your car before you pull these apart.

The actual "instructions" are simple, execution is the tough part.

The ride is noticebly better!

As the proud owner of a "new" 1994 E320 wagon in need of accumulators, I thought I was well equipped to change them myself after searching this forum and reading up on all the posts. That is, until I got on my back and looked up at the mess that is the passenger-side accumulator area...

I had already purchased the spheres from PeachParts, but upon realizing that this was too much work for me to do laying on the garage floor in the New Jersey winter, I packed it in and took the car to my local independent shop. They do excellent work and the owner of the shop initially told me that it would be a two-hour job.

I just received a voice mail from the shop forman telling me that the previous estimate was incorrect and that this model requires that they drop the rear in order to get at the little bastids, with The Book showing 4-5 hours (at $95 per). He also said that he'd only charge me as much time as it took if his guy could in fact do it quicker.

Can anyone verify that they do indeed need to drop the rear - I would believe it, but I could see how it would be slightly easier to get to that one unit if I had the car on a lift and more room to operate.

Best Regards,
Rob

When doing our 95, I had to drop the axle on the passenger side to access one of the fittings (not sure if a professional would need to do that, but its what I needed). I'm not sure I would do them myself again, not because of any technical difficulty, but the absolute time sucking tedious boredom it takes to get it done. My worst stumbling block was getting the threads of the small pressure lines started (even with the spheres loosely mounted and allowing movement to line things up). I was not about to risk any cross-threading and having to start over. I hope they have a long, long service life :)