Talk to me like I'm not a mechanic

I have a 2002 C32 with about 42k miles. On c32life.com there is a post about a guy who had a vibration between 30-50 mph. I have a vibration also in this range that is more pronounced if the car is sitting for a while - and it's really only noticable in this speed-range (original post will be at the end of this mbworld post). I went on a trip for a week and it was much stronger. As I've been driving it for a few days it SEEMS less-so. It seems rythmic and high-frequency. About 1/2 second of high-frequency vibration in the wheel, then 1/2 second of high-frequency vibration in the pants, back and forth, back and forth. Sure seems like it COULD be that or alignment?...

On c32life this guy's problem was a leaky CV joint and the drive-shaft had to be replaced. The idea was that this vibration was caused by lower-than-adequate grease from the leak, and as it heated up it sloshed the grease around the vibration went away. He gives information on how to see if you have this problem, but with all my miles, even if I had this problem, will there be any grease to see?

I took my car in for this a few times and they say there's nothing out of the ordinary of course.

Now I recently had some seal from the tranny to the drive-shaft start to leak and go bad, replaced under warranty. Could this vibration over the 40k miles of the car cause this to go bad early?

Also, where is there a CV joint back there that I can check on? Is there some key words I can use when talking to the SA to have them take me seriously? I'm sure I'm my SA's worst nightmare at this point, I've had this car in for about 10 things since I got it - all legitimate warranty items that were addressed by replacement (seat heater, mirror drifting, front-sway bar links, on and on) or body-work (had some orange-peeling on the roof - body shop fixed under warranty)

Also, how likely is it that this is some kind of flat-spotting? That seems like such an unlikely things to have happen - I've never had any car have anything like that, but I've never had a car like this. How the hell do you deal with flat-spotting if that's the problem...different tires? I had this with my winter-set as well. Which maybe not coincidentally were also Yokohamas. These are EVS AV100 I think it is, and the winter set were ice-guards.

Anyone else having this problem?

Thanks!

Here's the C32life article:

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NO MORE VIBRATION...long

Posted by Nick on April 1, 2002, 1:32 pm


Well it seems the saga of tire vibration at 30-50mph when car/tires are cold is over. If you have this problem (and many seemed to) then this is the procedure you need to follow...

1- Isolate the tires overnight in order to eliminate any flat spot questions by putting the car on a lift with the wheels suspended and the tires off the ground. You need to do this after the vibration has dissipated (drive the car). If the next morning you do not have the vibration problem then it is a flat spot, get yout tires checked by the manufacturer through the dealer (there is a fix for that too). If the car still vibrates go to step two.

2- Replace your drive shaft. Yes the whole thing. C32 driveshafts (like all C-Class) is a 2 piece affair. Talk to your dealer and have him call AMG for the warranty procedure. Had mine done and no more vibration, took the whole of half a day and mow gone are the bad vibes.

The culprit seems to be the CV joint, it leaks and run low on grease and vibrate until the remainder of the grease heats and expands. It is not a serviceable part.

You can also tell if you have a problem by removing the aluminium shield that covers the driveshaft and seeing if there is grease on the underbody (refer to the old picture I once had posted a few weeks back) -note from Bif- there is no picture up on this old site now-

if you need more info send me an email and I will try to help

good luck.

--------------end of c32life article-------------

Thanks again, Bif.

 

not to discourage you, but unless you have an SA that has your best interest in mind and is willing to troubleshoot some things, you are probably out of luck. my uncle had this exact same problem on a Ford Expedition and he took it in 6 different times before he finally sold it. after he sold it, the new owner took it to a different stealership and they replaced the drive-shaft and the vibration was gone. he couldn't believe it...

 

Hi my friend my has the same vibration like a 45mph or 60mph, so I dont know if maybe would be the new tires or the same issues that your car.

 

My dealer called today and want me to bring my car in for the second check up to make sure they had identified the vibration cause. Last wk's inspection had prompted them to order the tq converter (from Germany) and radiator. (I don't think they did the glycol test.)
I emailed MBUSA's and my dealer's customer service email box directly last wk and indicated about how unsatisfied the service and what if the problem still exist after they replace those parts.
I ask my SA why he called and he said they want to make sure they correct the problem this time since my email had been read by MBUSA and pass down to his service manager. He wants to make sure he fixed the problem before the car go out of warranty (Aug. 2006).
Anyway, I think email to MBUSA and your service dealer will defiantly get there attention.
Will post update later....
ps. by the way, that TSB P-B-27.55/50 is now at "F". The one I printed from here is only shown "A" and "B". That means they have new TSB procedures for this kind of problem.

 

Here is quick follow up on the recent fix.
Dealer had replaced the radiator but only flush the tq converter and tranny after the 2nd inspection which they did more complete tested. I see glycol test kits and time spend on my service invoice this time. So the 1st inspection was only a test drive...my SA apologized for the inconvenience and not doing the full test 1st time.
After the fixed, the vibration still exists but less pronounce. So I bring my car in again yesterday afternoon. SA asked one of the master technician tests drove with me. Even though my car is fully warm up, he did feel a little vibration from the seat and steering wheel. He noticed the vibration is more relate to speed rather then rpm. He will take a look and let me know later.
Also, my air-condition will create some kind of weird noise after the air-condition compressor turn off (after you hit the air-cond. off and keep the fan on) for few mins. I can start hearing a hit whining go with the engine rpm and it sounds like the S/C spinning. Even when the car is idling, u can still hear it. It will go away after 4-5 mins. I also showed this to the technician while test drive. He heard it and will try to find out what happen. He had never heard this before. My other 2001 C320 has no such a problem.
The sagas continue…

 

Update.
Picked up my car today. Vibration has been minimized.
Tech indicated my Tranny mount is defective, replaced. They also inspected the drive shaft and U-joints, all looks normal but did readjusted drive shaft center support and retorqued all fasteners. Re road-test, 40% less vibration, replaced engine mount. Vibration 90% gone. Since my tire is almost gone, will see if vibration disappear with new tires.
For Air-Condition, they going to get me a new compressor...back order.
They located the whining sound and is from the worm compressor.
Just happen one of the technician drives C32 so he place his C32 wheels on my car to do all the test. I guess they did pay full attention this time and try to fix my car right.

 

Have you had your wheels balanced lately? The most frequent cause of the type of vibration you describe is a wheel out of balance. It's not uncommon for a wheel to lose one or more of it's balancing weights. Discount Tire will balance your wheels for free. It's the first and easiest step I'd take to trouble-shoot this issue.

If the vibration persists after your wheels are properly balanced, then you can look into more complex problems.

 

Thanks for those detailed replies. I'm going through with the whole regimen like you did I think. Will update here for sure with results.

Also going to try the balancing action, but I just had new rims put on and balancing was included, but it's something to look into.

 

i experienced this same vibration around 45-60mph (then it goes away) in the steering wheel, but not in the seat. i noticed it after putting on new tires on my wheels, and replacing the washers with H&R 5mm spacers. even on a custom wheel like hre, i would not like to have to run a spacer, because it is not hubcentric, but the H&R coilovers caused a clearance problem. it may be tire balancing, but i think it is also due to the spacer because the wheel is not resting on the groove of the hub as it would normally (without a spacer). i also had wheel locks on and i was told my lug bolts were too short, but after replacing them with longer ones, i noticed a reduction in vibration.

 

Update.
After another day of driving while the car is cold, the vibration still persists but way less then before(like the tech indicated on the invoice, 10% vibration remain and waiting for new set of tires). I had just place my tires order today and will do further test. Since I'm waiting for Air-cond compressor to ship from Germany, I will ask them to look into vibration further.
Cheers!