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?

Ron,

The accumulators are, in fact, not that expensive. There are online sources that sell tham for ~$110 USD each.

More often than not it is these which fail and you generally cannot tell from looking at them. Unlike the struts which tend to leak when they fail. Because of the relatively low cost I would re&re both accumulators first before replacing the struts.\

That having been said, the usual symptom of blown accumulators is a rock-hard ride and/or clunking as the car goes over a bump. Have you experienced either of these? Is it possible that the adjustable linkage which actuates the SLS valve could have detached from either the swaybar bracket ofr from the valve?

__________________
'94 W124.036 249/040 leder; 8.25x17 EvoIIs
'93 W124.036 199/040 leder; 8.25x17 EvoIIs, up in flames...LITERALLY!
'93 W124.036 481/040 leder; euro delivery; 8.25x17 EvoIIs
'88 R107.048 441/409 leder; Euro lights
'87 W201.034 199/040 leder; Euro lights; EvoII brakes; 8x16 EvoIs - soon: 500E rear brakes
'70 R113.044 050/526; factory alloys; Euro lights

I just got the car about 2 weeks ago and I've not driven it, except down the street in my subdivision; the rear end bounces quite easily by pushing it down when parked with the motor running. Also when I load 250 lbs. in the rear of the wagon it sags down significantly in the rear.



The linkage is connected.

The rear suspension is a Citroen based idea, but with springs.

The car should sit at the correct hight when the engine is off and the trunk is empty. The citroen bit acts like a shock absorber, if your car is bouncing all over the place then I guess that is not working.

There is a self leveling gizzmo, so, if you load up the boot with the engine running then the suspesion should pump itself up to level the car again.