gsobol

I do quite a bit of cross country driving and have never experienced any sort of vibration either in the X164 or X166 up to now. For whatever reason, after driving from NY to NC through the "snow event" this Thanksgiving, I have started to have a high frequency vibration in the floor boards and the steering wheel. After 12 hours in the car I felt like I was stuck in the ant hill with all of the ants crawling all over my body. It took a good few hours of rest for the feeling to go away. Initially I chucked it up to being tired, although we routinely do 20-22 hours in the car and never felt that. Same thing persisted on the way back from NC. The car performs flawlessly otherwise and no warning came up. Vibration does not appear to be present during idle and it appears to intensify while moving (50+ mph), but it does not feel like wheel or rotor vibration as these tend to be lower frequency and are reactive to breaking (this is not). I'm at a loss. Any suggestions before I take the dealer plunge...

Thanks.

ttoE550

There are lots of possibilities, of course. Is it possible that something on the underbody - panels, aerodynamic pieces, etc. - was knocked loose, torn, or broken while driving in the snow? One of our cars had something tear while driving in snow, and at a high enough speed it would bend backward and scrape the tire. Ours was more like the card in the bicycle wheel. When we stopped to see what was going on, naturally it bent back to nearly its original position. It took a while to figure it out.

gsobol

Nope, nothings loose under the body, already looked. This appears to be more mechanical, more drivetrain than powertrain I guess as it appears to intensify with velocity. I tried downshifting to see if it's related to RPMs, but it doesn't appear so. Weird.

JimBarnhart

Search on bad rotors on this forum, sounds similar to that.

gsobol

Nope. Not the rotors or wheels. I know what that feels like. In either case rotors and pads replaced 3K miles ago, same issue as everyone else. This vibration is much higher frequency. Honestly it sounds like a bad engine or transmission mount. I wonder if anyone else had experienced something similar, so at least I would know how to possibly direct the dealer. I guess I'll have to take it in and have them figure it out. Funny, this evening the vibration is also present while idling. It may be getting worse.

blittle

Just a guess....BUTTT.....the key may be the "snow event"....were any of the roads treated with cinders, salt, or whatever? Do you have the ON/OFF road package? What can happen ( and did happen to me ) is getting some sort of "road junk"from snow covered roads jammed in between the shields and the turning drive shaft OR in the wheel hub assembly.....I've had both issues over the last 3 GLS. You are probably going to need to get the vehicle up on a rack and have someone do a thorough inspection.

gsobol

The roads might have been treated with salt. I will take it to the dealer and see what they say. I'll post the outcome.

gsobol

Dealer replaced engine and transmission mounts, vibration still present.

It's definitely coming from the powertrain (not drivetrain as I have initially thought) as it modulates with the RPMs - speed is not a factor.

There is also a distinct change in the exhaust tune. Sounds more diesel like. Could the vibration be coming from the turbo? harmonic balancer? torque converter? It's definitely something that's a part of rotating mass. Anyone experienced anything like it? I'm running out of ideas of how to explain it to the dealer (unsurprisingly they appear to comeback with the SOP line -> operating within specifications). In the meantime I have to drive the most expensive vibrator...... no, it's not pleasant......

Dreamszalone

I believe Dealer went in right direction changing the mounts, because that's the first step, did you try balancing\rotating your tires? I believe you did as the problem persists for long time, but still asking.

I would recommend take it to a reputed German car Indy shop and ask them to check it, the worst thing with these trucks are you cant run\accelerate on the lift to better diagnose the noise as the 4 matic keeps kicking in.

Anyway I know its frustrating but try an Indy or another dealership, and I have learned a hard lesson the more you take your car to dealership for more warranty repairs the more they f*ck up each time.

Thanks

JimBarnhart

Can you feel the vibration when you hit the RPMs in park?

gsobol

No, it's not the tires or the rotors, as the vibration is present at idle and it's more "phone like". It's more acutely felt from 500 - 2000 RPMs. Within this range it feels more harmonic or resonating. Above that range, it's still there but "more comfortable" to the body. Prolonged exposure induces painful tingling sensation. How the heck do you trouble shoot that??

gsobol

Just a bit of an update.

First of all , I have to give props to the dealer - MB of Rockville Centre, especially to Samantha to stick with me and spear head this. She got in touch with regional MB engineer who came in and tried diagnosing the problem.

The current thinking is that the exhaust vibrations are causing the symptoms I'm experiencing. Apparently the exhaust is so long that it has a tendency to vibrate at certain frequencies. The dealer attempted an exhaust realignment and a steering wheel column replacement - with the column from the diesel version of GL - apparently there is a difference in isolating elements between the columns. All that has helped in terms of vibrations on the steering wheel, but not on the floor boards. Vibrations still persist especially when under load.

Worst kind of problem to have, other than phantom electrical ones .......

jtse

I think i felt it today on my GL 550, 2014, ~6800miles driven.

I was going at 66-68mph. The car vibrated left and right at a high pulsation feeling that is very apparently. Is that would you felt?

I live in a state where the speed limit is 60mph and i am almost certain the dealer is not gonna address this issue for me. I wonder if there are any safety concerns?

fabbrisd1

To the OP - although this is late - I would suspect "micro cracks" in one of the wheels - manufacturing defect - I have seen this happen in one/two cases in 13/14 GL's - diagnostic is a wheel rotation from front to rear same side wheels to see if the nature/note of the vibration changes - if it does then swap of wheels front left-to-right, then rear left-to-right looking for more changes - isloates down to 2 wheels - then removal of tires and very/very close inspection of the interior structure wheel in turn.

On 2nd post - if this was individual instance - I would suspect road surface - if this is "consistent" at that speed across different road surface then I would have tore inflation checked and adjusted to spec inside rear fuel filler door 1st - before major action - I have seen this happen is slect GL's where tire inflation has been set "high" - not saying this is what is happening to you - but I have seen this same effect in other cases where inflation was high.

Keep the beat !

gsobol

"Sweet spot" is at 66-68 mph.

Tires/wheels have been rotated, balanced, and checked - result same vibration.

Funny, it occurs at various speeds. It's generally noticed at approx. 67 mph, because it's close to a cruising speed on the highway, where most people do spend more time at constant velocity as opposed to city driving where the speed varies greatly and often. The vibration is most acutely felt around 1,700~1,800 RPMs, no matter what gear.

Road surface actually adds to this vibration feel. Vibration is felt on smooth asphalt surface, but you can feel it more on concrete as additional road surface vibration multiplies the power train vibration.

It's extremely difficult to trouble shoot this, as you become aware of it after about 60~90 minutes in the car (at highway speed), and it becomes really tiring after 3~5 hours. No dealer will send a tech on a 300 mile diagnostic trip. Once you have felt it, then you feel it the moment you get on the highway.

I think it has to do something with exhaust and turbos. Even at idle, there is NO vibration on the engine block, but plenty of low freq. vibrations on the airbox and the air tubes coming from the turbos. Since the turbo is connected to exhaust and exhaust travels under the floor boards ...... just my $.02

jtse

With this problem, i think we need to be very specific as to what tires and rims and conditions to locate this weird harmonic like buzzing interference at 67mph. The cabin is shaking with all passenger feeling a pulsating buzz that would drive u nuts after a minute or so. I can feel it in the steering wheel and the car is micro swinging back and forth like it might fall apart soon. A little faster or a little slower the car is quiet, back to good ole GL comfort. But to the driver it feels crappy as hell because the car is resonating at a very uncomfortable frequency. I will report back with detail specs, i have a stock GL 550, 2014. Temperature was about 80F when it happened, windows all up, ac on.

jtse

Weather for me was sunny. I rarely drive at 67mph because i would get ticket after tickets at that speed. I was in a minor hurry so i maintained the speed today and found it really annoying and noticeable. No way in hell is this a normal occurrence. I tested it faster and slower and back to 67mph, it all came back with pulsation. I asked all four passengers in the car and they all felt it. The whole car is vibrating with shaking at that speed. Finally someone asked me to stop it. So i lowered my speed and it went away.

gsobol

I've never felt any swinging sensation, but vibration is quite unpleasant. Dealer replaced the steering wheel column with a one from diesel and that has help with vibrations on the steering wheel, but not on the floor boards. Passengers do feel what you describe as buzzing as well. It's kind of as if someone has strapped a phone set to vibrate under your feet.

ttoE550

You've probably checked it, but my AC compressor did something similar in my old E550. It was annoying as heck and didn't seem right, but the dealer proved it by turning on and off the AC. Felt all through the cabin, the steering wheel, and the brake pedal.

milfordbill

I have the same issue with a 2013 GL350 BlueTEC. So far, tire changes, rebalancing and reduced psi has not solved the issue.
Thanks for the other ideas. I'll try some of the easy ones prior to returning to the dealership.

gsobol

No ideas. I'm still having issues. Dealer said, not much they can do. Official response: The vibration centers around harmonic properties of the engine and exhaust at certain RPMs and load levels, and that's that.

43221B

You guys need to have your tires balanced on a road force balancer and have the shop show you the exact results before you do any more investigating. The GL is very difficult to balance the tires. I went through several sets before the dealership got a set that was well within spec. Just being within spec is not enough. The tires and wheels have to be WAY within spec to solve this problem. A response from the dealership like, "well, they are within spec" means nothing on these cars.

gsobol

Nothing to do with tires ......

fabbrisd1

gsobol - with copy of the repair ticket in hand - which will also give you VIN# - I suggest a morning call to Mercedes Customer care (800) 367-6372 (they keep normal East Coast working hrs) - and in a very factual fashion report that your dealer has not resolved the issue to your satisfaction.

Please focus on what is on that specific repair ticket - and what you expect as resolution - they will be entering comments into that system as you are talking - so again I recommend outline precise resolution you expect.

For what that is worth to you - Customer Care will start a followup ticket on this issue - - this starts a separate MB-dealer process - Customer Care will contact dealer service management directly within 48 working hours - and frankly you can expect a call from your dealer in 48-72 working hours to bring your rig in to resolve.

Keep the beat !

SFML320

I want to add my .02

Just replaced the original set of Scorpions with a new set - then started to feel vibrations at highway speed, >65mph. Tire center claimed the road force testing results indicated the tires were off round. Got another set of Scorpions but still feeling the vibration, although not as strong.

Contacted a couple of local tire centers and they all said probably not the tires. Now need to go convince the dealer of this issue.