Depreciation Road Racer - Mercedes E350

eastsideTim said:

Anyone interested in buying a heavily maintained Mercedes with a vibration issue?

I'll start the bidding at 799.99

That sucks that its still there. I have no idea why, but i feel for you. I had one in the s10 i never found.

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

I hate to give up, but parts are so expensive and my time is running short.  If I was going to just use it as a daily, I'd drive it like it is until the problem becomes obvious, because otherwise, it is really nice.  I just am not sure I want to risk it at 100+ MPH, not to mention how fatiguing it'll be to drive 800-1000 mile days to get out west and back.  At my age and physical condition, I need every advantage I can get, and I know even though it isn't terrible, the vibration will definitely wear me down a bit more on that long of a drive.

I think this just shows late model German luxury cars are not for me, unless under warranty, and those are a probably a bit out of my price range.  Although if I could find a new BMW M2 locally at MSRP, that would be tempting to stretch for.

Ugh.  Nothing worse than going to effort to replace parts that look worn and should be causing the problem and then not solving anything.  Did it get any better at least?

I'd really want to hear some actually independent review before I dropped a hundo on it, but there is a phone app that claims to be able to diagnose vehicle vibrations called NVH for Android.  I think there's an apple version as well.  I know nothing about it other than it exists and is eye-wateringly expensive as phone apps go.  And of course the reviews are about a 50/50 split between "it perfectly diagnosed the car" and "it was worthless".  Alternately, perhaps with a vibration tester you could determine the frequency and that would point you in a direction?

At this point, what's left that could be causing it?  Driveshaft out of balance?  That indexed u-joint?  Rear end?  Wheel bearing?  Transmission?  When you put in the air on dyno mode to run it up to speed, did you have the rear wheels off?  If it was still vibrating when sitting still with just the rear in the air that should rule out anything in the front end, right?

It would be so much easier to find if it was a serious vibration!  It's so slight, it's gotta be something that is just barely out of spec.

In reply to wae :

I think a tool like that has the potential to be useful with regard to the dominant frequency of the vibration, which could give you an area to look at (vehicle speed, engine RPM, driveshaft RPM, rear axle RPM, etc.).  That is assuming it is sensitive enough to pick it up properly, out of all the noise.  What I am certain it can't do is pinpoint it.  A failing u-joint will have a different vibration profile than an out of balance driveshaft (although the solution would probably be the same), and that kind of stuff tends to require a transducer mounted on as near of a surface as possible.  Even then, on a moving vehicle there is a lot more noise, so with good hardware, it can still be difficult to pick up.  There is the possibility there is more than one source, too.

Wheels were on in dyno mode, since it uses wheel bolts, I didn't want to risk a drake disc throwing it out of balance.  Of course, looking back, I could have just tossed the wheel bolts directly onto the rotor.  It turns out the car does actually have a spare, so I could swap two tires out.  Problem is, I am pretty certain spares aren't balanced from the factory, and the newest one is 15 years old, so they could so they could end up inducing more vibration than there already is. 

Everything left to do is more money or time.  I could say screw it, and take the car on the race, but since this may be my last big road trip for a few years, that is a risk I really don't want to take.  Or I could just say never mind to the whole thing, but I also don't want to do that.

At this point, I am thinking of snagging one of the rapidly dwindling supply of 2023 Mustang GTs.  Other candidates include the Camaro and Challenger(which I am a bit afraid of due to its W211 origins, and high theft rate, and size).  Lexus IS is another possibility, new or late model used.  The CX-50 is a good compromise option, but I have a laundry list of reasons not to go for it.  Any one of the dozens of CPO V6 Camrys, ES350s, and Avalons are a "cheaper" option, that would hold their value well if I decide I don't like it after a while.  The local Subaru dealer has a used Honda Accord 2.0T with a manual in stock, too, but eastsideWife would not want to drive it.

I just want something in the fleet that doesn't need attention.  Right now, all 6 cars could use some varying level of work.

Well, here's the for sale thread.  Will see if it gets any interest.  At the price I've listed it, I think it is my biggest loss in shortest time when including all the money I've poured into it in the last year.

I might have missed it in the thread but did the vibration change with RPM or wheel speed? 

So bummed there wasn't success and now it understandably is being moved on....

my dad had a 73 van and replaced the engine, trans, balanced wheels, balanced driveshaft, got it up on jackatands and ran it in every config imaginable including unbolting the flex plate from the torque converter to try and isolate a vibration.  Was never successful. 

peanutpckrupper said:

I might have missed it in the thread but did the vibration change with RPM or wheel speed?  

Seems to be based on vehicle speed.  There is no fluid leaking from the engine mounts, and it doesn't have any bad vibrations at idle, so I think they are at least acceptable.  Vibration amplitude changes a very small amount with engine RPM (downshift two gears on the highway and you can feel it), but the frequency does not change as far as I can tell.

jfryjfry said:

So bummed there wasn't success and now it understandably is being moved on....

 

my dad had a 73 van and replaced the engine, trans, balanced wheels, balanced driveshaft, got it up on jackatands and ran it in every config imaginable including unbolting the flex plate from the torque converter to try and isolate a vibration.  Was never successful. 

Wow, that's quite a bit.  I heard sometimes back then, if the tooling for the bell housing was old enough, it could be out of alignment from the factory, but it sounds like that was covered by the transmission change.  Makes me wonder if maybe there was some sort of damping weight that it was supposed to have, but didn't.

Saw that you bailed on this one. Bummer.
 

Are you still going to run silver state classic this year? Sounds like a fun event!

OHSCrifle said:

Saw that you bailed on this one. Bummer.
 

Are you still going to run silver state classic this year? Sounds like a fun event!

Activated the backup plan, and we are entered in the event!

It's quite the backup plan 

Patrick said:

It's quite the backup plan