Correction! Me again! In removing my strut mount again, to check whether my Bilstein top mounts were snagging with the OEM strut cap on full compression, as has been suggested (mine ok but a quad nut on top of the damper not a hex, so maybe different damper on the 300-24?) I realised that I must have put my wooden chocks under one/both the suspension arms to stop drop, as without them if you do undo the threaded nut on one side it does drop more than the one centimetre, as I proposed above! (About 7cm, so the thread, inconveniently, drops below the cap top!). Sorry for the misinformation. Still good to raise both wheels off the ground though, as it gives maximum room to remove the strut mount without the anti-roll bar compressing the damper from the opposing wheel, and useful to remove the road wheel too, as easier to manipulate the strut in and out of the top mount.

The rubber top spring seat comes in four thicknesses, from 8mm in 5mm graduations, demarcated by 1 – 4 small rubber tangs on the seat rim. The ride height can be altered by changing these. NB. By changing to a seat 5mm thicker or thinner , for example, it raises or lowers the ride height by several times this amount, as the wheel is 3 – 4 (?) times the distance from the fulcrum of pivot than the spring!

When doing this I found it useful to jack the front of car completely off the ground and use axle stands on the mounting points under the car by the front jacking points. This allows both wheels to drop the suspension as low as it can go, improving access under the wings. One mount can then be removed without further ado, as the anti roll / sway bar and the other shock mount will prevent the loosened shock mount side of the suspension dropping more than a centimetre (not enough for the strut thread to drop below the strut mount hole.). This all makes: removing the old strut mount, replacing the new strut mount, and the replacement of the bump stop and dust cover (if the latter two are necessary) very easy indeed. CAUTION : with both front wheels jacked off the ground do not attempt to remove both strut mounts at once, as there will then be nothing holding the front suspension assembly in the air! (Unless you support at least one side of the suspension with a jack).

Did mine last week prior to viewing this. Excellent explanations, photos and descriptions. Nb. My Bilstein replacement springs had an extra half turn on the coil which meant that there was snagging at the top with the compressor plate on the cup mount when the plate was placed according to my photos of the plates positions on the old springs. Not a problem, but had to recompress the spring with the top plate slightly differently placed to avoid snagging.

Hi, i will be doing my flywheel and clutch replacement on a sprinter 313cdi from 2000 (model 2000-2006) in a few days, i coundt find any information, accept yours, so thank you for this. Only i would like to know what the tightening specs are for the bolts of the flywheel and clutch? I don’t know at how many NM? I contacted Mercedes but even they couldnt (or wouldnt) tell me because they say the car is to old and they don’t keep the information.

Thanks for your help!

Hi Steve can I just say it takes time to read these and get back to people with advice.. For this I would like thank you for all your time and effort! You have helped us all no end!
My question is on my recent purchase of a CLS 320 CDI auto 2008..
I have fitted a new Bosch Injector to one that was chuffing and had a lot of carbon built up around it..
I gave my vin number when I ordered it and was told this was the correct injector for the car.. I’ve now fitted it and everything seems fine. My only worry is a comment somebody made with regarding mapping the Injector to the Ecu? I haven’t done this and it runs fine? I just wanted reassuring that was all? I too used the Honder copper washer and followed all your advice on here!

Thanks Steve

Thank you for the great info! Have exactly the same problem all be it more going into 2nd when cold. I’ll be giving it a go!

That was a great explanation and helped me fix my lights. Thanks so much 👍👍

Hi Steve,
Thanks for this page! My 2001 SLK door locks died today and I believe your diagnosis is spot on. It’s the drivers door that has the audible hiss comming from it. The trunk and passenger door still work as advertised after a wait. As was said here I can here the pump running longer then usual till it times out. This car is like new with only 51,000 miles on it and thus the cabin is pretty air tight and the door takes an extra nudge to close it completely and that extra jaring has probably broken off that little elbow as you have described. When it warms up a little here I’m going to get that door panel off and fix this as you have described. Thanks so much for your help.

Thanks guys really helped