algis

Had the identical problem last night. No shaking in the steering wheel. Vibration in rear got so bad I thought I had a flat tire and had to pull over on a crowded expressway coming from Ohare field in Chicago. Looked for the flat tire but nothing. Started driving at the minimum 45 mph and the vibration went away completely. Have not driven the car since and will be looking into it. Similar to the wheel bounce I got on a wet pavement upon hard acceleration one time- attributed it to the ESP. I will post to this thread if I find the problem.

tradin1

Can ball joints cause this? Have the same vib at around 60 except I can feel it slightly in the steering wheel. Happens with my hre's and my stock rims!

Schweinhund

I was thinking about the 80mph vib the other day. I was wondering if it might be the trunk resonating in the airflow. Just throwing it out there.

02E55

I have the same vibration at 55-60mph. Did anyone find the problem?

CALLISTO

I FOUND IT FROM THE DRIVE SHAFT ITSELF.
THE SPLINES HAS TOO MUCH PLAY.
STRANGE SINCE THE VEH HAD ONLY 50K MILES

Skullnick

[quote=algis;4308699]Had the identical problem last night. No shaking in the steering wheel. Vibration in rear got so bad I thought I had a flat tire and had to pull over on a crowded expressway coming from Ohare field in Chicago. Looked for the flat tire but nothing. Started driving at the minimum 45 mph and the vibration went away completely.quote]

I am new to this forum and have been searching the cause to this exact issue with my 2001 E320 (4matic) tirelessly for the past several months. I have done all the front end work (and some) mentioned here and on other MB forums... My indy mechanic has 40 years experience with these cars and although a visual inspection shows them to be in very good shape, he still believes its the flex disks/hanger bearing. IMO, with only 113000km (approx 65K miles) on the odo and seeing in this thread what everyone has done without positive results leads me to believe that I will most likely be blowing my money away with the new flex disks/hanger bearing. Balancing the drives shaft seems more and more the logical cause of this vibration... Has anyone here remedied this issue by balancing the shaft?

I have owned in the area of about 34 different cars since 1982, and only one car gave me this exact problem; 1981 Datsun (810), at the time it was a known issue with the very short drive shaft in the rear... It got out of wack very easily due to the amount of torque being transfered... The correct remedey wasn't to balance the shaft but to replace it with a much beafier shaft... I know this is not the case with the E320 but the symptons mirror what that maxima was doing.

I love my e320, for what they cost used now a days I consider it to be the best ride money can buy. I maintain mine religiously knowing that this vehicle can last a very long time if taken care of, but I am at my wits-end with this issue and I hate to be throwing money at it uselessly... So hopefully someone can shed some light if they fixed this issue with the drive shaft balancing.

Your response are greatly appreciated.

Fabio D

Try what i said before. is cheap & maybe solve your problems. check ALL bolts (one per one) in the rubber flexible discs in the shaft, we have here one E50 W210 someone in other workshop replace one bolt (only one) and the wheigt is different than the others producing a big disbalance in the entire shaft. Just check & if is possible replace all the bolts with a OEM news

Anyway sounds logic to me too some play in the driveshaft support/bearing can be the problem

PD: you sure guys about proper 100% wheel balance?

Fabio Daniel

Schweinhund

I have had a lot of experience with driveline vibration issues on fox chassis 5.0 mustangs. The cause was almost always the driveshaft. Spline play accounted for the variation in the speed the vibration would occur, but it would always occur. Reindexing the shaft to the trans output shaft would definitely affect the characteristics but it turned out to be a problem with shaft design itself. Even having the stock shaft professionally rebuilt and rebalanced was not the solution. The solution turned out to be an entirely new driveshaft produced by Ford Motorsport. By simply installing this beefier, lighter, and stronger aluminum unit, the problems simply went away.

I suspect that the driveshaft is the problem but as far as a solution, I cannot specifically say.

Skullnick

In your opinion, would a slightly worn-out propellor shaft (center) bearing or loose flex-joint(s) be enough to cause the drive shaft to get out of wack and in need of re-balancing or replacing?

Schweinhund

Absolutely. The shaft an universals are probably OK. Although I have not messed with the E55 shaft system, the "flexible discs" are a spot I would look first. They have the greatest diameter and, along with the damper, the greatest rotational mass.

nicobaires

I changed both the flex discs and center support bearing and no change. I still have to re balance the shaft though

Skullnick

Nicobaires, as Schweinhund mentioned in one of his earlier posts, with this sort of problem everything really needs to get checked, I agree with him whole heartedly... there is a boat-load of different causes that can contribute to the same vibration, in your case it may very well be the balancing. This is where you get to test your mechanic's patience...LOL, my mechanic has put my w210 on the lift at least 15 times changing and inspecting components for this issue, thank God he's my cousin ;-) I have become quite obsessive over this issue and have been analyzing it for the past several months, my w210 isn't an AMG however from reading many threads across many w210 forums, I know this is a common issue within the e-class family.

Yesterday I dedicated the entire morning analyzing this issue one last time. It was a relatively warm sunny day in Montreal (30°F) and it hasn't snowed for almost 2 weeks so the roads were very dry and clean. I took a 2 hour drive on a smoothly paved back country road and the findings now lead me to believe that my indie mechanic is probably right on the issue stemming from the flex disk and center bearing, here are my symptoms in detail.

1) I warm up vehicle for 5-10 minutes before I start to drive.
2) In D mode I slowly and gradually build up speed until I start feeling the vibration at approx. 37mph (60kph) I increase speed till the vibration peeks at 40-42mph.
3) The vibration is a mid to high frequency type... (similar to a washer at the peek of a spin cycle), the vibration is limited to the floor, seats, center console and at times it even feels like the droning effect of when all windows are closed except one rear window, while driving at highway speeds.
4) The vibration dissapears once I exceed 50mph (80kph) and is non existant from there on.
5) At the beginning of my 1 hour drive I alternated speeds every few minutes from 60mph to 35mph just to see if the vibration changed in frequency. I also switched to tiptronic mode, coasted in neutral at times, went up/down steep grades while coasting, took my corners agressively, etc... and no effect on the vibration, it felt consistent all the time.

6) Here is the interesting part and why I think this issue has to be looked at on an individual basis and closely be scrutinized. After 30 minutes into my drive the vibration was barely noticeable but still there. By the end of my 1 hour drive it was even less noticeable... to the point that for most drivers it would not be an issue.

7) After 1 hour of driving I stopped over for an extended lunch at a restaurant right off one of the exits for approx 2.5hrs. When I was ready to leave I repeated exactly what I did when I left my home earlier that morning (steps 1 & 2).

The vibration was back exactly as it was when I left that morning and for the past several months. One thing to note though, I can remember back this summer the duration of vibration sometimes was short lived or not as noticeable but always made itself appear.

In my case, I have reason to believe (someone correct me if I am wrong) that if it were an out-of-balanced shaft the issue would not subside after driving for a while. My indie mechanics theory which I now am convinced on, is that the rubber of the flex disks and in the center bearing housing has aged over time and is much harder than when new, and gets even harder when it gets colder. The lack of flexibility in the rubber added with the slight wear probably makes the vibration more pronounced when cold and starts to lessen as it gets warmed-up after a while from the spinning and movement.

Hopefully if anyone has the same symptoms with their w210 after replacing the front rotors/pads, brake fluid, ATF, L+R front shocks/rubber shims/coils, upper L+R tables/ball joints, L+R lower ball joints, L+R front tie rods, Shifter repair kit, rear upper bushings and inspected wheel bearings and all other linkages that are prone for looseness, they may also conclude that the problem is isolated to the rubber components of the propellor/drive shaft.

Sorry for the long read but hopefully through these discussions, trials and errors we can isolate most causes of these sort of drive-line vibrations that in some cases can even help MB techs who'm sometimes cannot agree on what is/are the cause(s).

Thx,

BTW; I forgot to mention, twice in the past several months the vibration got so bad that it felt like a flat tire in the rear... the first time it disappeared almost instantly when I let go the gas fromm 65mph and the second time was one month ago, I stopped over on the side to see if it was a flat, nothing there so I figured I had snow/ice stuck along the inside of the rim because the problem went away... Since this happened only twice I am not sure if it's related to the same issue.

Schweinhund

Nice detailed account Skullnick. The rubber flex discs sound suspicious since:
1. Rubber does harden and shrinks as it ages
2. Rubber is harder when it is cold
3. The rubber would heat up slowly over time when driven from the flexing, resulting in better damping and consequently less vibration until it got cold again.

This being said, in my experience, its all still a guess. FWIW, the driveshaft may have internal damping. Something I am unsure of. It it has gone bad, the vibration conditions can change randomly.

It is completely understandable to be very focused on solving this issue. These are well engineered cars and silky smooth for many miles and years so when something like this comes up, it is obvious something is amiss. These cars should go fast, quietly and smoothly.

Skullnick

You hit the nail on the head Schweinhund... Fast, Quiet and Smooth are the main reason's why I purchased this vehicle in the first place.
I never considered the driveshaft's internal damping causing this issue due to the mileage on my w210 being so low but the mere fact you bring it up leaves a question mark in my mind so thanks for the tip... I will definitely bring that up the next time I visit my mechanic.

nicobaires

Skullnick,

I had the same symptoms of when it feels like you have a flat tire or something got caught in the tire. Once there was snow on the road and I figured it was ice on the inner wheel or something. I pulled over several times and couldn't find or see something. It was dark and I had the kids in the car so I had to go home. After approx. 8-10 miles it went away on it's own.

The slight vibration was still there though afterwards. 8 months down the road, end of summer, I experienced the same hard vibration. Pulled over, looked around, shut the car down and took off within 5 minutes and it was gone. That harsh vibration hasn't come back since but the little annoying one is there still.

I replaced the rotors, pads, ball joints, front shocks,sway bar links, flex discs, center bearing and a couple of other things as well that I can't remeber right now. i also have two sets of wheels/tires and swapped them out and it's still there. Had it on the lift a bunch of times at different indy's and the tell me the front end is tight.

Now my steering wheel shakes a little bit, enough for me to notice it. If i have a friend in the car i ask them if they can feel the vibration and they can't, but i can and it drives me crazy.

Next i need to rebalance the driveshaft, replace the bushing thats in the rear of the driveshaft and maybe the wheel bearings. the wheel bearings have no play that i can feel but who knows.

I've come to learn to live with the vibration for now.

I also want to change my tires cause they track funny

Fabio D

Some guy tell me about one cupper bushing between the torque converter & the gear box union.. weare in this bushing gets some play in the torque converter causing vibration too

Fabio Daniel

Skullnick

Nicobaires... I share the same sentiments as you, and I too have learnt to live with it but at some point patience & persistence pays off. IMO in situations like these I always make sure that the vehicle is safe to drive first, then with patience I begin the process of elimination. To a certain extent it's guess work... But the more people you speak with the more you get to understand your specific problem... In your case you already did the flex joints/bearing so balancing may finally solve the issue, or as Fabio D mentioned the possibility of a copper bushing.

I have learnt to keep a log for my w210, never did I do this for any of my past 30+ vehicles That I have owned... But then again, those cars were not engineered with the complexities one faces with owning a merc. A log book has saved me considerable money on labor at the indie shop.

I would also like to add that in the process of solving my vibration issue I also tried 3 sets of different tires, 2 sets of oem wheels (18" AMG monoblocks and 16" oem e320), and multiple rotations along with many rebalancing of wheels.

02E55

I Replaced rear flex disc,center support bearing, drive shaft and no change. Did anyone found a fix for this?

Skullnick

Just for the heck of it I decided to reset my transmission to factory specs a couple weeks ago and the vibration has somewhat changed from the very first drive... so it's still there but much less pronounced, but now I am really stumped

And to complicate matters even further you still get a vibration with a new driveshaft? Did you have the transmission mount looked at?

Schweinhund

It is almost certainly a "dumb" part, not a transmission

Schweinhund

Has anyone determined if the driveshaft has internal damping?

Also,

In one of my hyper caffeinated states where the world seemed to move a little slower, I was cruising above 80 and was getting the vibration slightly. I then hit a swooping depression which loaded the rear suspension for a second or two and the vibration came in much stronger then backed off as the suspension geometry resumed it's former position.

This points me to wanting to look at the numerous links on the back suspension.

What I might try if I ever get some time, are coil spring lifters. They are cheap plastic blocks that lock in between coils and make the spring stiffer. I would then take the car out and see if this changes the vibration. If the higher geometry affects the vib, then I would suspect a link.

Schweinhund

On the other hand a link would cause a vib that is affected by te road conditions. A rotational vib would always be there regardless if road condition.

Skullnick

My vib is always there, no matter the condition of the road... it goes away passed 50mph. You got me thinking though about the rear suspension, the rear of my car sags more than it should, but then again the vib comes and goes always at the same speeds and I can feel a sort of oscilation in the vibration that actually fades in and out with perfect timing... it's hard to explain.

Schweinhund

Yeah, I think it's a rotating part. I wish someone could open up a driveshaft. Mine feels like its coming from the back.

Skullnick

I have a bud who owns two large scrap yards... maybe I will see if he has one and get it cross sectioned. If you haven't seen this thread yet http://www.mbca.org/forum/vibration-drivelinerear-end it makes for an interesting read on this vib issue... the guy at the top of the post (Bob J) describes my vib to a "T" but if you continue reading the entire thread till the end it gets quite interesting. There are some very interesting theories/possibilities... the one that caught my attention is the rear diff.