flparishesnativ

Hi All,

I just joined this evening, made my new member posting, and now need some help in troubleshooting, if you would.

I have a 2008 e320 Bluetec diesel with 106k miles. All service has been performed by the dealer, as I purchased it with the CPO program. Now that the warranty it out, I plan on working as much as possible on it myself.

Earlier this evening I was driving my family to dinner and needed to step on the accelerator for some speed. As soon as I punched it, I heard a loud pop and then the entire vehicle began shaking and vibrating loudly and violently.

My first thought was that it may be a glow plug that blew. I do not have a check engine light on or any other trouble indicators on the dash.

IF I run the codes, will it show if anything is wrong, without having the check engine light on?

How can I test the GP's? Just use a voltmeter and check the ohms for resistance?

The vehicle seems to shift fine and starts with no problem. It just shakes the drivers seat badly and is real noisy inside the cab now.

What other questions can I answer to help start pointing me in the right direction?

Thanks, in advance.

Oh...this is my daily driver, which means I have to drive my old pickup until I get this fixed!!

mtrevelino

I cannot help you too much, but it is not the glow plugs. It sounds like something in the turbo pump/system.
Mike T.

Plutoe

I agree I doubt the cause is a blown glow plug or glow plug control module and remember regarding the engine---no CEL no faults.

Are you saying the car is not drivable----will it start---while in N or P can you rev the engine??-----you are not giving us much information except for a pop noise

edwinwalke

I had a similar experience on my E320 CDI. Shaking and knocking -- It was a failed injector. Is yours knocking badly as well as shaking?

flparishesnativ

Thanks for the replies, all.

I broke down and took it to the dealer. I paid a $75 diagnostic fee for them to tell me I need to replace the motor and tranny mounts. Ugggg.....

They wanted about $1400 or so to do that job.

While there, I had them check my breaks...yep...need that, as well. Brakes and rotors, they tell me. Another $1200 or so for that job.

So....I'm fairly handy with a wrench, but have never had to replace mounts. Sounds like it's labor intensive, but maybe do able. Thoughts?

More to this. I bought this car, a CPO 2008 E320 Bluetec, with 20k miles. I have used the dealer all the way up through the end of my warranty at 100k miles. I now have 106k miles and this is happening. My service "advisor" is out this week, so I plan on waiting until next week and seeing if she can help with this. Is it wrong for me to gripe and moan, or will it do me any good? I really have a hard time with MB not taking care of this, especially with my giving them all this $$ over the years for regular service.

Oh well....I guess I'll see what happens.

flparishesnativ

Turbo and engine were working fine. Just have a terrible shaking inside the cabin.

flparishesnativ

Vehicle is drivable. Starts and drives fine. The vibration smooths out above 1000 RPM.

There was no CEL or sensor of any kind alerting me to an issue.

flparishesnativ

No knocking. The engine sounds good. Just the vehicle shaking.

flparishesnativ

Isn't this something that the "inspections" during scheduled maint should have checked for and caught? Motor and Tranny mounts going out does not seem like a minor item.

mtrevelino

They should have caught the motor mounts as they tend to leak fluid when they go bad. I am not sure about the tranny mount. All these items is something a indie could do and save you a lot of money. I would go with genuine MB parts.
Mike T.

isstay

They were ok when he bought the car but he did put 86000 miles on it in some period of time. At the end of his warranty he probably can had car inspected and if something found (like leaking motor mount) will be fixed, but he didn't. You can do maintenance and they check ok and next week if you check them they can be leaking, not to forget that scheduled maintenance is done only once every year, so it is up to OP to check his car in-between.


Brakes are regular consumable so it is normal to be worn (I am on second set disks all around and third set pads upfront, second on the back and I have 97000 miles) but 1200 is little too much, I think.

Plutoe

Ask the donut girls at the dealership if mounts are apart of extended warantee??

Brakes---you got almost 90000 on the originals--quite whining--you own a MB.

PS: you aint seen nothing yet--sell the car!!

isstay

On the rear yes - pads lasted 75000 discs were ok.
Front discs 75000 miles with two sets of pads.



Do not listen to him, just learn how to maintain it and do some repairs. Both thinks you car need now can be done by you if you have garage and some tools.

Shadow5501

Motor mounts are covered by the Mercedes CPO warranty. BTDT, several times. The dealer likely should have caught it a long time ago. The engine mounts are fluid filled and typically start leaking a very long time before they fail.

If you don't have a warning display for brake pad wear, then you really don't need brakes yet. The car has sensors on the front and rear pads to detect when you are nearly worn out. Given that you have gotten to 106K on the original brakes (do you ever use them!), I bet you can squeeze quite a few more miles out of what remains.

flparishesnativ

I need to find a good indie here in north Texas.

flparishesnativ

Never saw any leaks in the garage, and have never had that issue with any other vehicle I have owned, so I never thought of it as a low mileage maint issue.

flparishesnativ

Yeah, they were coverd under the CPO. I'll ask my regular advisor when she gets back on Monday.

Nope, no whining here about needing brakes. Second set since I've owned it. Just feel like >$1000 for rotors and brakes seemed a bit high. I have replaced many brakes on my own, so I know a little about the process.

Nah...won't be selling this car any time soon. It's a diesel and will last many more years. I just need to find a reliable indie.

flparishesnativ

Thanks. That's the info I was looking for on the mounts. It just didn't sound like something that would have failed with no warning.

Brakes....I should have specified that this was my second set. Is there a brand that is better than another, from what you've seen?

dtrentr

I like the Akebono pads and the ATE Premium rotors. The rotors have a groove in them that tells you when they need replacement. I have no brake dust.

Plutoe

MB puts wear electronic sensors on their brake system---therefore you get a dash notice when due--forget about the grooves they don't have anything to do with wear sensing.

Shadow5501

Depends on your definition of better. There are trade offs between how long the pads last, how well they stop the car, how much dust they make, etc. I did all four corners of my bluetec earlier this year using Bosch pads with the stock pad compound. About $100 total for the parts - but no rotors needed, the car had about 55k miles at the time.

No idea if the quote on motor mounts is reasonable or not. Even if the parts are $500 at dealer pricing, they are still charging you about 5 hours labor. Seems like a lot for mounts. I know people do their own motor mounts on the e55 all the time. About $250 for parts (mail order) and 3-4 hours at home in the garage to install. I can't imagine why a bluetec would be significantly different.