Pristine

I have a 2000 S500 with ~65k miles.

The front ball joints are making some squeeky sound. Before I take it to the dealer, I want to diagnose the problem and see if there is an easy fix.
I think the mileage is too low for the joints to go bad, so I think it might be because the car hasn't been driven much and the joints need some lubrication.

Can anyone guide me on how I can go about doing that?

Gullwing

Ball joints are sealed and can not be lubed.
The joints could be bad, I have seen plenty go bad before 65K.
Easy fix, probably not.

Pristine

That's what I heard. Thanks for confirming it.

vettdvr

The ball joints are bad. Mine went out at 60,000 or so miles. First time I ever had joints fail that early. Poor design.

paulv

Same story here on an 03 E320 -- passenger's side replaced ~60K miles and knew driver's side was bad -- replaced driver's side at ~ 90K miles. Gullwing is correct in that they can't be lubed, but when my wife got tired of the squeaking, I managed to spray some WD-40 into the boot and it was quiet for another 20K miles. Had an indy change the first one (~$280) and I changed the second one ($75 for the part) with Loan-a-Tools from Autozone.

Regards,
paul...

Pristine

Yes, I'm surprised too that the ball joints went bad so early.

Pristine

Where is the "boot"? I might also try spraying there to see if I can buy some more time.

paulv

You need to have the car up in the air far enough to access the joint. The spray tube that comes with the WD-40 can needs to be soft so you can squeeze it flat. In the image, the thread shaft is up inside the shock mount arm, so you will need to get that tube between the metal and the top of the boot. I used a knife to slightly push down the boot -- be careful -- don't dislodge the metal spring loop, and then saturated that shaft allowing the WD-40 to seep down into the boot and eventually the joint. It's a real PITA but the results bought me a few more Kmiles to get past the winter (my garage isn't heated).

Regards,
paul...

Pristine

Just realized that you have a different car than mine. As others have said, the ball joints in mine are sealed.
Doesn't look like there is any other way than to replace them

paulv

Ball joints nowadays are sealed meaning that there's no longer a grease fitting on the bottom that would allow for periodic application of grease. Anyway, if you wan to save some money, find a good indy to do the job (check out MB Club of America site -- forum has a list state-by-state) since there's nothing esoterical about changing out ball joints that would require a dealer. Good luck.

Regards,
paul...