Fitts07

Hello everyone,

So i bought a 2005 e320 4matic wagon a few months ago. Im chasing down a vibration i have while in reverse or drive sitting still with my foot on the brake.


When i bought the car it went into limp home mode. I flushed the transmission fluid, replaced the filter, conductor plate and the bushing. Refilled with Shell 134. Then i had to replace both of the ABS rings and sensors on the rear axles. This solved the limp home issues, no other problems in the last 3000 miles.


Maintenance wise i have replaced: coolant, sparkplugs, air filters, valve cover gaskets, breather hoses, engine oil and filter (mobil 0w40), front and rear diff fluid (mercedes fluid), transfercase fluid (Mercedes fluid), engine mounts (lemforder), transmission mount (Mercedes), front and rear flex disc (sachs), crankshaft position sensor, good year tires, main battery and aux battery, maf to airbox seal, maf to throttle body seal, flushed the power steering. Cleaned the maf and the throttle body.


When i come to a stop and the car is vibrating i can roll forward a few inches and it stops completely. The vibration is almost not noticeable in C mode (i guess because of the second gear start) but i mostly drive in S. Super smooth on the highway or after i get going.


Also occasionally if i just barely push the gas the car will sort of stumble, like if you are in a parking lot slowly moving around. Its never stalled though, only does it in S mode. I removed the throttle body and cleaned it and the maf, seemed to help some. Maybe thinking the accelerator pedal?


No active codes that i can see with my icarsoft scanner.


Any ideas?

tjts1

Pop it in neutral. Does the vibration reduce or go away completely? Its very likely bad engine and transmission mounts. How many miles on the car?

mtrevelino

So i bought a 2005 e320 4matic wagon a few months ago. Im chasing down a vibration i have while in reverse or drive sitting still with my foot on the brake.

....no other problems in the last 3000 miles.

Maintenance wise i have replaced......engine mounts (lemforder), transmission mount (Mercedes)......

Fitts07

Yea vibration does go away completely in neutral. I can sometimes feel it in park on a hill.

145k miles

tjts1

I'm going to guess engine mounts then.

Since you have the tool one other thing you can check is go to live data under the ECU and check the misfire counters for all 6 cyls. You might have a misfire on one or more cyls.

Fitts07

Ive checked, no miss fires on any cylinder.

I just replaced engine mounts with Lemforder ones and the transmission mount with a Mercedes part.

tjts1

Does the RPM change as you go between neutral and drive? A bad or dirty throttle body could cause it to idle too low in D. I would reinspect those new mounts.

Fitts07

Yep rpm drops a little like it should.

I initially bought febi engine mounts but they were complete crap so i replaced them with lemforder.

cetialpha5

How about checking the driveshaft support? Also vibrations could be the CV joints, the bad aftermarket ones can sometimes cause a vibration. Not really sure how to check if you have MB ones or aftermarket ones.

Fitts07

The axle boots looked decent on the front and back when i was under the car. No clicking. Its fairly rusty underneath from living most of its life in New Jersey.

I wonder if it could be related to being a 4matic, my last newer Mercedes was a 2008 C class 4matic and it vibrated also.

atguru

I agree with "cetialpha5"! I just went through this! I was having strong vibration after replacing my factory Front Drive axles (80k + miles on them) with "new" cheap Chinese ones, because I had a Right CV boot that was ripped, and leaking grease. Immediately, after installation of the cheap Axles, '08 E350 started a strong vibration in Reverse and Drive!

Changed out the Motor and Transmission mounts, vibration reduce a little (maybe 20%). Finally, removed the cheap Axles, and had the original factory Drive Axles rebuilt and reinstalled, the vibration was gone! It's been almost a week - still not vibration!

tjts1

I'm not sure how axles would cause vibration when the car is stationary in drive vs neutral but ok, whatever.

cetialpha5

It's a mystery to us too. My guess is that it's not an exact copy so either it's too long or too short or the materials used somehow caused vibrations. I seem to recall somewhere that mentioned that parts of it were hollow and the aftermarket ones were solid. The outer joint itself is actually hollow, you can just take the nut off and pack the joint with grease through that hole, my mechanic mentioned that other CV joints he's seen, they're solid. Anyway, when they sell an aftermarket CV joint brand new for $100 and the OEM MB one is $1000 and even a brand name rebuilt one is over $300, there's some corner cutting somewhere in that $100 joint that causes that vibration.

jbeech

Chasing down similar problem. On third set of engine mounts in two years. Darn things last about 6 months and then the vibration is back. Lenford are most recent purchase.

Re: CV joints, doubt this is the issue as the darn thing is sitting in your driveway - duh!

Note, I replaced flex disks and mid-shaft bearing/hanger recently. Discovered flat spot in u-joint and and it's not replaceable. Got used driveshaft with plan to machine off the two yokes and weld on replacement yokes (ones for which I can replace the u-joints). Car is on lift to measure and ensure driveshaft is same-same (MB in their wisdom dropped part number for whole shaft for 2005 - replaced with separate numbers for each half - grrr). Anyway, presently have vibration under hard acceleration, which wasn't present before replacing rubber disks and mid-shaft bearing. Used drive shaft is #2114100306 if anybody knows for sure if this fits 2005.

Finally, mine is also a 2005, non a 4-matic but otherwise I suspect we're chasing the same problem. And replacing the engine mounts is a pain in the hind end (tranny mount is easy). Grrr!

Anyway, reach out to me if you want to compare notes at 407-302-3361