HELP! Intermittent Shudder Coming from the Rear
 

OMG, my baby is falling apart! Today, about 1 hour into my drive down to Philly from Hoboken, NJ, I noticed that the car would intermittently shudder (feels and sounds like you briefly ran over a patch of rumble strip). It would happen sometimes when I changed lanes (only left to right) and sometimes while cruising between 75-85 MPH. The vibration only happens intermittently and was very difficult to reproduce.

The car seemed to have less of these vibrations when I had the trans set to "S" mode instead of "M".

What do you guys think this is? I haven't hit any big potholes or run over anything. Do you think this is a problem with the tranny or diff? I hope not, the car now has 53k on the odometer and there's no extended warranty...

:nix:

Oops I remember such experience before. Drive it several more days and you will feel the vibration coming from the center of the car. It is not the differential. Your tranmission is shot! :D Take it the dealer to check the coolant and transmission oil mixture. I am sure they will have to replace the broken radiator and cooler parts and your tranny. Should get this done in two weeks since they have to ship the new tranny from Germany.
Don't worry you are still under warranty, aren't you?

Aw man. But thank you for the advice JLee. OK, I guess there's a lot to do... This sucks, I don't have the warranty anymore since the car now has 54,000 miles on it. This is NFG. HELP! Does anyone know of a good independent shop out here in Northern Jersey? Otherwise, I'm gonna have to take it to the dealer! Aaargh!

glucose in transmission or something, its going to be expensive, why don't you buy an extended warranty from the dealer, and than take it in!!! i have the same problem, but i haven't even fixed it or sent it to the dealer, w209 2003 seems to have these problems, not enuff for a recall.

Dealership/MB may still cover it...take it in asap before you add more miles!