1997 W140 S500 SLS Shock mounts
 

1997 W140 S500 with self leveling suspension. I bought this in November and the suspension was very bouncy. I replaced the front shocks, which helped, then the accumulators for the self leveling rear suspension which cured the bouncing. The ride is now very good, except over harsh bumps I hear a clunking coming from the rear. My understanding is that replacing the upper shock mounts will probably cure the problem.

How hard is this job, and how long should it take for a fairly good DIYER? Also, how do get access to them? It has finally turned really cold, so while I can stand a couple of hours under the car, longer than that is too much for me.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

If it's like the W126, you do it from inside the car when you take out the rear seat.

The noise may be coming from the shock itself. If the car was driven too long with the bouncing situation it usually destroys the shock. Also check the bottom of the shock where it mounts to the arm. I have seen the bushing at the bottom go bad on the shock but I dont think its replaceable.

I replaced the rear shock mounts on my coupe. Easy job to remove the shock assembly but getting the old mounts off was interesting. I had to cut the outer sheet metal "skin" off to get to the metal threaded part that threads into the top of the shock. It's supposed to unscrew as an assembly but the old mounts were so bad that the outer skin was spinning by itself. It fixed a very irritating clink noise when going over bumps.

Will I need to disconnect the hydraulic lines in order to get the shock down far enough to remove the mounts? The car has been in the salt belt its whole life and while the body doesn't show any rust damage, a lot of the under-car hardware does. Getting the lines to come loose without damage is a concern.