I Don't know how that thing comes apart. so I think I'm gonna go read the directions I don't want to break it. Okay, so the picture is pretty much. tell me to take the old line out and then stick the new line in the new unit.

So we're just gonna do that opening. Z Hood I've had delivery while I was out are not. This is what we want. This is an air suspension system component for Mercedes.

That's right, we're back on the Mercedes It hasn't left since last time we touched it. It's still here hanging out. We had to order the parts in the warehouse they've showed up. We're ready to get going.

Let's get this thing back up in the air. Let's pull that left front wheel off and get the strut changed and uh, and then we can see this thing reach. It's a normal earth ride height because this low rider look is just not uh, not conducive to a well-oiled sure I'm an engineered piece of Machinery The rack is still set from yesterday, so uh, let's get going. Time is of the essence.

Moving on up, green subscribe button in action. there's that bag dump Again, triple ride height. We're ready to rock and roll. Let's get to it all right.

Let's get our wheel studs pulled out of. there should be a 17 millimeter. That is correct on clicks. Now see we've got studs.

We do not have lugs. That one stayed. We just go one in two ways. They either fall off and take the uh, the studs out or uh, they don't come off at all and you gotta hit them with a hammer.

I Think we're uh, we're coming up on option B with this one. Yeah, so what we're going to do is I'm going to take one more stud. We're going to thread that ever so slightly that way when I break this thing loose, it doesn't fly off and hit the floor and bounce and damaged and stuff. and I use the term Hammer Loosely We're going to use a rubber mallet not hitting the rim wheel.

There we go. A couple little love Taps and she comes right off. now. Grab it, support the weight, pull that stud back out.

There's one more in there somewhere. Got it? Move through the Matrix on that one. Okay, let's see what we get here. Alrighty, got the new unit right here.

Looks pretty fancy. We've got the little connector up at the top for that. Airline Down below, we've got another connector I think that's for uh, the ride height sensor. Nice looking unit looks like it's made by Continental So that's got to be uh OE quality or or higher Okay I Accept this.

This appears to be the correct unit. Let's go ahead and get this old one unbolted and get the new one installed. Okay, so it appears to me that these bottom uh or this bottom Fastener is a 21 millimeter. get that guy pulled out.

So far, so good. Yeah, let's just see how easy this is gonna be. Okay I think I'm gonna go ahead and disconnect this sway bar link too. That'll give me some extra throw on this lower control arm that way.

I Don't have to force this thing in and out. Now we've already run into our first instance of Uh conflicting engineering see: I need to get a tool on that But unless I want to do this manually I've got to take this tie rod off in order to uh, put a socket and a tool on that Fastener right there. Conflicting Engineering: Now that backing plate is going to present a little bit of a problem here because it's kind of in the way. if I try to get a tool on that, it's just going to hit the plate.

So we're gonna have to introduce the Uh the half inch wobbly. I Don't very often use half inch wobblies I Don't often use half inch Drive tools to begin with. They're large and bulky, but this situation is going to call for it. Oop flashlight, gravity.

Hang on here. Come here like get out of there. Come on. Oh, get out of there.

What is this there? Got it? there? It is here. Let's go ahead and get the uh, this ball joint press in there or tie rod separator. It works for both, but we're using this guy on the tie rod taking care to not tear this boot right here I Think it's gonna push down on this little stud not going to damage the threads and it's going to push that stud out of the steering knuckle and then the tie rod will become free. Okay, 19 millimeters of wrench action and we can get this press going here.

Puller: same thing I'm out there. it goes. That was violent and let's just double check our threads. make sure I didn't break them.

Good to go. Okay, now our knuckle's a little flippity floppy. We can get to that uh, that sway bar link right there and that should allow everything to drop down quite a bit. coming in Wobblies Again, perfect.

Is it gonna come out? Pry bar action foreign against this thing moves more good. So what I'm gonna do here I think is I'm gonna pull the suspension down and then we're gonna try to sneak the bottom section of this uh over and see if we can't get it to clear this lower control arm and that's uh, that feels like a negative. No, can't do it. Let's go.

Uh, let's let the car down. We'll go up top and and unbolt the top of that strut and maybe it'll move around enough where I can have, uh, some more access to things. Actually, there is one more option before we go though that route Let's uh, let's try to pry bar this down at the upper control arm and then I can maybe get enough space to squeeze that bottom section over. Let's see.

Oh yeah, yeah, this is gonna work I Like bright ideas. Okay, that bottom is free. Move back my pry bar. let's go check it out.

Yeah, see that now it is clear I moved it over and uh, the control arm went back up. so that's clear. Uh, let's go ahead and disconnect this uh, electronically at its connector. We don't want to break that.

Uh, moving forward here I can't even see the oh, it's zip tied. Okay, hang on C zip ties are changing the world. They even go on Mercedes that's fancy. Okay, we're disconnected there, disconnected here and I'm assuming I'm probably gonna have to take this fender well off to get to uh, the connector inside.

Or at least pull it back some. Let's do that next. Plastic 10 millimeter nut. I think that's plastic? Yeah.

Can I reach in there? Not a chance. No worries, we'll just pull the rest of the paneling off. We'll get in there. it's just layers of an onion.

A little bit over here too. off to our right bottom panel side panel now. I think I can get in there. Yeah, that's a negative.

I can't uh, can't reach the connector because it's like right here and there's stuff in the way here. So I do have to pull this whole inner fender. well out. more wobbly is to save the day.

Love the wobbly bits. Okay, that's one. oh there's one up there, way up high and another one adjacent to it. Hey, that's the word of the day.

Jason yay not a Json but adjacent okay, inner Fender of Mercedes plastic stuff's falling out I don't know what that's from I didn't break but the contrary I'm trying to Unbreak it. Let's see here: I don't like fender well liners there sensitive. There we go. Got it? It's out.

Okay Connector? Where are you you are I think it's that one. Yeah, look at that. It's in the back. Hey, there was no way I was gonna reach in there and get that thing.

You're never gonna happen. How's this disconnect from this little bracket? Oh mosquito, nobody move. He's right there. He's right there.

he's gone. Gotcha evil creatures spawns of Satan I'm sure they serve some kind of ecological purpose, but uh, bothering me is not one of them. I am not a food source nor am I interested in assisting the in the reproduction of uh, of venomous and uh, annoying little creatures. All right.

Anyway, hey, I've got the connector off. uh, let's let this down and get the top bolts out of there and uh and we'll go from there Mercedes Coming down all the way down. Okay, what we're looking for Okie Dokes What we've got here are the three nuts that secures the strut to the strut. Tower We have uh one electrical connector and looks like that is uh, our Airline from the pump that supplies the uh, the airbag inside of the strut.

Okay, so the picture is pretty much. tell me to take the old line out and then stick the new line in the new unit. so we're just gonna do that. Oh it's leaking air I Hear it I Don't want to cut this because it might end up not being long enough.

Yeah, that thing is still pressurized so it was holding some air. Apparently not enough to uh, hold the vehicle up I See how this works? It's got like a compression Union in there. See that? The way this works is this little collar right here. Zoom There you go.

That little collar right there fits around the line and then this fitting will meet that collar. See how that works. When you tighten down the fitting, it will push that collar and compress it, creating a friction creating friction and the seal between the line and the collar. And that is how the connection is made to the unit right there.

It's called a compression fitting. We are not allowed to use those on brake lines. They still sell them for well that fit brake lines that people still use it. but we're not supposed to be repairing brake lines, but these types of fittings.

Fun fact: Now the picture and the instructions tell me not to, uh, remove the fitting that's already installed on the unit. It appears all that I've got to do is insert this hose into the new unit. So what I'm going to do is recover these fittings right here just in case that doesn't work out and I have to use these and or disassemble the new unit. which I hope I don't have to.

But regardless, I'm saving these at least till the job is done. I mean I'm I'm trying not to be a pack rat. I'm not going to hang out of this forever. but once this is uh completed, come here.

then I can get rid of this stuff. but until then, I'm saving it. Okay So we've got three 13 millimeter size nuts. pull those off with a little mini impact.

These do not need to be super tight, they're not really load bearing, they just hold the assembly into position and then the gravity of the car kind of presses against the strut so it can't really go anywhere. Just these just keep it from falling out. Speaking of which, I need to give it the little reach-around treatment uh, right arm so it doesn't fall out Loose when I take it Loose see how it's kind of moving down as you get a little heavy so don't let them surprise you or get a healthy helper to hold on to the bottom side while uh, while you take the top side loose or you hold the bottom side and get your Healthy Helper to take the top side loose. Either way.

Anyway, let's back up and go and fish this guy out of its hole. All right back down inside the wheel. Well again, we can't really see much but uh, we can feel it I Just can't really get the get a camera in that little hall right now. So oh, dropped a knot and we're just gonna give this thing some some wiggle action and hopefully it comes out which I don't think it is I'm I may have to pull this control arm off.

Yeah! I don't have to space it. get that guy to come out of there. That's why this thing calls for three something hours. Oh no, got it.

Twist Did what I wanted. Okay let's go do the parts comparison thing and make sure this is gonna fit exactly. We'll get our new guy installed it now. The destruction did tell me to check and make sure that this little bladder right here was inflated.

These come pre-pressurized and that one is inflated. This one is not inflated so we definitely, uh, have an internal failure of this unit. Um I would like to chop this open and see what happened, but there is a 300 core charge on that so I have to send that back. Um because I can't charge the customer an extra 300 just to keep an old part.

So this thing's got to get sent back in that box. So uh, I'm afraid we cannot do an autopsy on the unit. Uh, let's figure out here if I can achieve the the installation with the same level of uh of Grace and diligence as the removal. Let's see if uh, this is gonna work out here: I'm moderately nervous because if I mess this up I can damage the bag or the sensor or the connector.

there's a there's numerous things that I could do incorrectly here that would uh would be a problem. Oh, or it's not gonna fit because that other bag was deflated and this one is not. Um, here to line up out to the top right here? That's uh, that's my problem now. I need to rotate it so it's one of the proper direction and it's up.

All right. Let's go. Let me reach up on the top side here. get one of the nuts in I don't want it to fall out, you know? Okay, I believe it is secure.

We've got one nut in. uh, there's our Airline I'll plug that in last, that's our electrical connector. I'll plug that in later and I need to line this thing up that's actually supposed to go there. Oh yeah, let's correct this little flaw right now again.

I'm kind of giving it the reach around treatment. Okay, there's one of the nuts now. I can take this one off, put that guy into place, put this one back on. Okay, let's go back down below and get the bottom of this dry.

onto the uh, lower control arm down there. move them back up. Okie doke. So uh, we're looking good here.

We have good clearance I just need to kind of pry uh, the uh, the suspension system down a little bit and then get the base of this strut lined up and uh, we should be good to go to install the bolts. Okey-dokes Here we go. We're going back in with the pry bar on this upper control arm. I'm gonna pry it down actually.

I'm going to pull it down first to get pry bar clearance. that's going to go under one of the control arm bolts now. I'm going to pry the unit down and once it's low enough down here, at the bottom, I will slip that little bracket or slip the bottom of the strut over its little mount and uh, and then we're in business here. Snippets That's exactly what I didn't want to do I'm afraid this thing will slip and I'll gouge the uh strut or something like that.

And we don't want to break this strut because it's a remarkably expensive. come on. Almost there we go. We're going in now.

Got it? Awesome! And the strut survived without a scratch. Woohoo! Okay, let's see there we go that lines up right in there and I can put the bolt back in. Let's see what we get here. a little bit more down.

Get in there please can't see it from the other side. Hang on, you're gonna go in or what? All right. The answer was uh yes. Okay, that's in nuts going on.

Let's uh, untangle or unroot our uh little sensor wire here. We'll run that and plug it in. Get that thing uh, squared away and out of the way. There we go.

Let's see where this thing goes. We're gonna go I forgot the way it went I believe it went up and connect it in here somewhere. Hang on. Here's what we're gonna do.

run that through and then uh, I'll connect it to its bracket and plug it in and see that one plugs in there. That's uh. let's make sure the plug's correct first. so that's a big yes.

Okay this went I think it was. it was just hanging out in there. it's broken I think it Clips in right here. this went here I believe.

So I need to clip this little guy into which side was it this one? Yeah, super weird connectors. thank you Mercedes it goes in sideways I think and then you gotta like twist it I think or that's just different and before this comes out. yeah, that's probably what it is. Hang on I need to modify this connector by removing this little base bracket looking deal.

Hmm yeah. I mean the thing moves. How does it come out? Hang on. I Need a I need a fry driver? Here we go.

Miniature screwdriver. There's like a tab in there. You see that it's hard to see there's a tab in there. Trust me on that.

There we go. Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's see if this thing clips into this little bracket which is broken. No, maybe from this side? Yes, Sure. Possibly.

Come on. go in there. Cool. All right.

Good. that's in now. Let's plug this guy in next. it's gonna go like this.

Let's get a seat. I'm not getting clicks out of this thing. There's no positive feedback loop to tell me I'm doing a good job. Okay, that's gonna go there.

and I think there were some zip ties involved earlier. Okay, that's good to go right there. That's how we found it. Everything's decently.

uh, it's secure. Connected. Connected. connected, connected.

Yeah, Okay, push that up. Some negative: so I can't push that up. Maybe I can pry the sway bar down. and yes, kinda sort of interesting I need to pry that down a lot more.

Go on please. with your Mercedes-ness get in there. wiggle it in there. we go.

Okay, that's that's in a little bit. Let's get the nut on there. good. Ah I have no space.

Click All right. Got that one. Let's get. Uh, let's get the control arm.

uh bolt next 21. Where's that 21 wrench? So on the chart where it's supposed to be? All right. We're coming in on the other side here. We're gonna hold, uh, hold that bolt in place and get this guy torqued.

Click, cool beans, and backing up a little bit. We can go ahead and get the uh, the tie rod put back into position. Yep, definitely in the home stretch now. so long as there's not a an additional problem with this car.

I Don't think there is. Well, let me let me rephrase. There are additional problems with this car. What I meant to say was I hope there's no additional problems with the air suspension on this car.

that was loud. click Okie Dokes: We're coming back down again and then uh, we'll put those three top nuts in I actually got new ones with the strut. so I'm going to take the old ones off and replace it with some new units. Come down but not all the way down because I still don't have a wheel on that other side yet.

There we go. Okie Dokes: We got a handful of some new nuts. We're going to replace the old nuts. Speed: Okay now.

I Can uh see what's up with this uh hose right here? I Think we just stick it in there and shove it in all the way to the bottom after this plug comes out. The direction said so and that is connected. There we go. Easy peasy.

We'll clip the clip in and uh, and yeah, that's that. struts. Complete Sweet. All right now we need to test it.

So I'm gonna go ahead and throw those uh, fender well panels and stuff back in. We'll get the wheel back on and we'll let this thing down. Stand by all right guys. Moment of Truth It's about to make contact first Contact and we're sitting low because the bags are dumped All right.

Let's go ahead and stockings the engine. Let's see if this thing comes up. Yeah, look that side's already sitting higher. Check that out because remember that bag already had air inside of it.

So starting the engine. Careful, don't break the door. Begin engine starting sequence now. Ring Vehicle: Rising It's good.

Moving on up. Come on. vehicle. check the other side.

It's coming out slowly, but it's coming up all right. Check that out. Foreign height besides of the appropriate ride height actually, that actually looks a little higher than the other side. See how much space we got? Check this one over here.

now that's similar I Think with this little power cord, just uh, gave us an optical illusion. You can measure it later. except the problem is I threw my tape measure in trash because it's junk. a hump.

I'll find a yardstick. Yeah, there we go. I have a yardstick. All right? I'm gonna let this thing hang out here for five ten minutes and stabilize and everything.

And then, uh, we'll swing back around to it and touch base one more time. You guys wait here. Uh, by the way, in case you're wondering, I did put that panel and that panel back on? Uh, when you guys were clipping? Sure. proceeding.

initiate on a hood closing procedure. Now all right, we're hopping in going for our first test drive after the strut replacement. Uh, quick mental check. Got the bolts tight I torqued the wheels when you guys weren't looking.

Uh, what else did I do? Got the skid panels back up. top. bolts on connectors connected top side and bottom side. I Think we're good to go.

Let's go ahead and back out. Ziato Oh yeah, wipers are fixed. Why do those? come on? When I put it in reverse. No.

hang on. Did I hit it by accident? What is this tomfoolery? Hang on. Hang on one more time. I Don't know what that was about, but it that happened.

Okay, backing up porn. by the way. I've deselected this. uh, this switch right here that had the two two little guys illuminated and I deselected this increased ride height sensor or button right here.

I'm assuming that means increased ride height. it's got a car with an arrow that goes up. That's what I assume. Makes sense to me.

Anyway, let's get out of here. Let us, uh, round the corner of death and we'll go out and put a couple miles on this. Here we go and then we'll re-measure that. uh, that front suspension when we come back.

I Can kind of feel it's got a little bit of a lean to it I can see it. Maybe it's because I know it's there. or maybe it's because it's that apparent. We may need to put in a second strut on this.

we'll see. Perhaps it just needs uh, some more information to uh to set the appropriate ride height ring ring. Here we go now. I Did mention earlier that there is, uh, some other work to do on this vehicle.

Uh, they did want the power steering checked because uh, it seems that there was a some kind of a noise going on. Uh, in the last video, we found that the fluid was low and upon further inspection I I found out that uh, the pump was actually leaking and it had been replaced before. There was like some kind of a sticker on there that indicated to me that that was an aftermarket pump, but it does appear to be leaking. Also, in the future, we're going to go ahead and fix these.

uh, these windows that do not go not go up or down I hit the button and this one came down a little bit. I Gotta force it back up. but uh I am going to go ahead and replace these broken window regulators inside of these front doors. but uh I'm Gonna Save that one for a a future video.

All right, we've gone on bottom so I'm gonna turn around, head back to the shop. We're gonna check that one more time and while we're on the way there. I'm gonna go ahead and take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for watching this video. As always, hope you enjoyed this video.

If you did enjoy this video you know the drill. Let me know about that. Bye tap that like button down below if you did not enjoy this video. If you think I should do that other strut or uh or if you have anything else to say, just let me know about that in the comment section down below.

So again, and as always, thank you for watching and most importantly, don't forget to have yourselves a great day! See you on the next one! Take care everybody! Merry Christmas End of transmission Oh and in case you're wondering, yeah, this thing's kind of fast, but it's not super fast. but it's a little fast, but it needs tires pulling back in. Clicks signal indicating clicks. Yeah, let's go pull over here on flatten level ground and check that ride height one more time.

Yeah, I can see it from here. It still has a little bit of a lean to it, but we'll let our sophisticated measuring devices determine that. Oh, look at that. We came down a little bit here.

We're now 26 and looks like three quarter. That's good. I Like that. and then this side.

uh, now we're still proportionally off just a little bit. Yeah. I Remember I hit the button in the in the front end came down. it's got a ride height little button.

So yeah, we are disproportionately uh, off kilter ever so slightly to the passenger side. I think we can even see it right here. Yeah, based on that, I am inclined to recommend that second bag. uh issue here is this thing does need some tires and it does need a wheel alignment and we cannot achieve a good wheel alignment with this differential or this difference in, uh, in ride height here.

So I will recommend we do that and perhaps you may have to save that that endeavor for a future date. So uh, we'll see, we'll see how this works out. See you guys later. A new transmission.