Irishrover

Recently became the proud owner of 2002 C32 with 25K miles, and naturally had to join this forum to get the skinny on the vehicle. Absolutely love the car, but have an irritating vibration/shudder that is difficult to describe.
Seems to be worse when the car is cold, and starts when the speed reaches 40mph. Once over 70mph it isn't noticeable. It's hard to say if it is a vibration or a shudder as I feel it in both the steering wheel and the seat of my pants. Also seems to cycle/pulse every 1&1/2 seconds or so and the cycle doesn't increase as the car picks up speed.
After speaking to an ex-mercedes mechanic, I have replaced the rear rotors and pads as he seemed to think, after inspection, that could be my problem. It did improve the situation somewhat but has not resolved it to my total satisfaction. By the way I also put on two new front tires and had them professionally mounted and balanced by the best shop in town, so wheel balance is not an issue.
Any insights, ideas or comments would be greatly appreciated Many thanks in advance!

Eurocharged Rick

do you have aftermarket wheels?

Irishrover

No! Wheels are stock.

Bif powell

Welcome to the MFing club! MANY MANY MANY of these cars have this problem and sometimes replacing the drive-shaft seems to fix it. I've had this since I bought the car and figured I could just get it balanced/aligned and be good. Nope - it's worse when it's cold, and sometimes will go away, but not always. This is a common and vexing issue. If you stumble onto something, PLEASE let us know, there are many of us that have tried to track this down, but the dealers generally shrug and tell you to go F yourself. There are other threads about this, but here is one. STF.

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...ight=vibration

Bobby Dazzler

Transmission fluid tired maybe?

Had mine changed and it dramatically improved the rough idle when cold issue.

(Something to do with torque converter slipping)

Irishrover

Thks for the replies, and also the interesting previous threads on the subject - most useful.
Unfortunately, car is out of warranty, so I will talk with a local ex-Mercedes mechanic I use to see what he thinks.
Now that I have something to work with I think I will try the following in this order
1. Replace transmission fluid
2. Replace the transmission mounts
3. Replace the drive-shaft
Have strong suspicion that due to the cars high torque output, the problem will be with the CV joint between the drive-shaft and the differential. Sound like a design flaw.
Will keep you posted.

Thanks again.

Jon Winter

Change your fuel filter.

SSDaytona

Over the last month, I have been having a similar problem, except when I am at a steady speed I have a strong "hesitation" and vibration which I feel through the seat of my pants. If I accelerate from 60 to 65mph easily, the car will have a lot of hesitation. Mine is an '03 with about 40k miles on it. I just took it in for service and they said the Touque Converter is bad and will need to be replaced. Might want to look into the same.

Take care,
SSDaytona.

AWDman

not sure this would apply but i had 2 mitsu 3000GTs where the mounts holding the drive shaft went bad which created a vibration under acceleration.

speaking to MB re c32- they advised a tranny flush at 60k, i will prob have that done in spring at 57k.

pl post any findings or fixes. thanks.

Bif powell

I and others, have tried all of these things with no effect. My torque-converter, fluid, etc... was all replaced to deal with the so-called 'jerk at 1500 rpm' and the vibration at 40mph was not effected. The jerk at 1500 rpm came back too of course - all of us with '02s have this problem - except those who are lucky enough to find a '03 TCU

drallafi

Question about this... Would buying an aftermarket (say, Renntech) ECU eliminate the jerk?

FrankW

no.

the jerk is from the torque converter locking up. the ECU only changes the fuel mapping.

the OP's problem could be glycol contamination in the gearbox.