Stuck in Nevada (W123) - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Jeremy5848 · #1 08-20-2007, 11:13 AM

Well, the '85 300D and the wife and I limped into Carlin, Nevada, last night and are staying at the Comfort Inn until I can repair the car or get it towed to a larger town with an auto shop.

About 50 miles outside of Carlin, we started hearing the "TICK-TICK-TICK" that has in the past meant "bad CV joint." I couldn't tell which side of the car if was coming from. The noise got worse. It quieted down if I took my foot off of the accelerator. (Didn't think to try the effects of braking or turning while it was ticking.)

We stopped. I looked underneath. Four good boots on four CV joints. No ripped rubber, no splattered grease. No broken-wrist bumps in the boots. The boots were not hot, barely warm, to the touch. Wheel lugs and center axle bolt present and tight. No dangling parts. Puzzled. The left axle is new (you have read of my exciting axle adventures here). The right axle is only a year old.

Got back on the road. No noise for five or ten minutes, then it gradually came back. We tried driving slowly with one of us outside the car, watching and listening. No luck, the car didn't want to make noise in front of us. Every time we stopped for a few minutes, we could then drive the car for a few miles before the noise came back.

We finally got into Carlin about 9 o'clock last night and luckily got the last room in the Inn. About 1:30 this morning (lying in bed, trying to sleep) it occurred to me that the problem might not be an axle after all. What about the flex plate (is that the right term?) in the middle of the driveshaft? I've never even looked at mine. Could it cause the symptoms I've described?

I'm now going to look under the car and at the CD-ROM FSM. In the meantime, I invite your questions and opinions; your help in getting us back on the road is appreciated as always. We are trying to get to Salt Lake where the wife's sister is hospitalized.

[edit] Looked at the FSM. Doesn't look like something I can do on the side of the road.

Jeremy

carnut · #2 08-20-2007, 12:29 PM

Flex disc! Yes, I would look at both ends of the driveline for wear (one at each end) as well as the center support on the driveline. The flex disc is secured by a circle of bolts and would show stress tears in the rubber if faulty or if gripped you should not be able to move the shaft up nor down at all.

charmalu · #3 08-20-2007, 12:50 PM

Jeremy,
I don`t think you are going to find much in Carlin, the next largest
town going east is Elko. And even there as far as Mercedes it`s a crap
shoot. Looking at the map it`s about 23 miles to Elko, but from there it`s
not much to Salt Lake.

As far as the drive line there is the flex disk on each end and the center
support bearing and universal.

I don`t know how good those rebuilt axles are, I have replaced my r/r
twice. it would klunk and tick. but not all the time, it would come and
go. If it is one of the axles, you might be able to limp into S/L and find
a MB shop and or dealer.

I feel for you out in the middle of no where. something about 85 300D`s
and Nevada. we broke the timing chain july 4th east of Winnemucca mile
marker 42.

So I think your choice is Reno or S/L.

Charlie

Jeremy5848 · #4 08-20-2007, 12:59 PM

Thanks for the replies. I called Steve at CVJ. He pointed out that a driveshaft noise would be about three times higher in frequency than an axle noise, since the drive shaft rotates three times for every axle rotation (approx). Since the noise is the same as it was when we first had the noise a year ago, I think it's the new left axle and Steve reluctantly concurs. He says we can drive it and ignore the noise.

We may stop in Elko, have a shop inspect the underneath. I checked the rear flex disk, it looks solid. Didn't know about the front, will check it before we leave.

Once in Salt Lake, we have family with a garage, tools, etc. I can get still another axle from CVJ and do the job there.

More as it happens. I'll tell you about the forest fire later.

Jeremy

SirNik84 · #5 08-20-2007, 01:30 PM

I know Kragen has axles for the 123... but i bet they don't have it in stock. i had the problem with my axle and Garrett was with me and spooned heavy axle grease into the joint. (ask Zack he was there LOL) anyway if you still have the rubber boots intact then my suggestion to you is. get a grease gun and some heavy axle grease (the blue chevron type is best) and cut a slit into the rubber on the joint and pump that thing full of that axle grease. I bet you don't hear it again. you'll make it to salt lake easy.

JimmyL · #6 08-20-2007, 01:36 PM

CVJ certainly appear to be having difficulties lately......

Brian Carlton · #7 08-20-2007, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyL

CVJ certainly appear to be having difficulties lately......

That's what I'm thinking too.............

vstech · #8 08-20-2007, 03:10 PM

yup, first the problems with the "molding issues" on the boots, now there axles are having clunking issues? me thinks they are having QC issues at least! Good thing they have such a great warranty program.

DieselAddict · #9 08-20-2007, 06:02 PM

The problem is the lifetime warranty on the rebuilds doesn't include labor and I don't think the warranty is transferable. I think it's better to bite the bullet and buy a new axle instead of a rebuild. The new axle will have only a 1-year warranty, but I'd bet it will last another 20 years and it's probably well worth the extra money.

Jeremy5848 · #10 08-21-2007, 12:55 AM

CVJ Steve's advice to ignore the noise and drive the car turned out to be good. We had no further problems and surprisingly, the noise stopped after about 100 miles and did not return. I called Steve from Wendover to get another axle on order; he was surprised when I told him that the noise had vanished. I may not install the axle here in Utah if the noise does not return. Steve, however, may want the old one back to see what the problem is.

It does appear that CVJ is having a run of bad luck. Then again, maybe I'm acting like a lightning rod.

As an aside, I decided to top out the car on a flat stretch of I-80 just west of Wendover. The NHP was busy with a tractor-trailer incident (the tractor caught fire and burned to the ground

must have been fiberglass) so I was free to stick my foot in the firewall. The old '85 got up to 105 MPH indicated and seemed to have a little left when I quit. Wife said, after that run, 75 felt "slow."

Thanks for all of the support.

Jeremy

Jim B. · #11 08-21-2007, 02:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeremy5848

As an aside, I decided to top out the car on a flat stretch of I-80 just west of Wendover. The NHP was busy with a tractor-trailer incident (the tractor caught fire and burned to the ground

must have been fiberglass) so I was free to stick my foot in the firewall. The old '85 got up to 105 MPH indicated and seemed to have a little left when I quit. Wife said, after that run, 75 felt "slow."

Thanks for all of the support.

Jeremy

It always does, Jeremy. These cars were engineered to run comfortably and safely at their top speed.

Once at about 4:30am, in the 560SEC, headed toward I-5 on my way to Portland, up by Woodland on Highway 113, I was bowling along safely at 125mph while she was sound asleep on the front seat. I saw a pair of headlights far behind me, and not knowing whose they were, dropped my speed to 60 mph and nipped in between two 18 wheelers in the right lane.
Good thing I did, too.

Shortly after that, a CHP cruiser whizzed by. My instincts were working well.

Another time, alone, on I-5 headed to Los Angeles, I decided to probe the limits of the 560SEC. It's lowered, with eibach springs, and wider tires than stock, but unmodified in any way.

It ran at 148 mph without drama, for a little while, then I backed it off.

90-120 mph then seemed like a VERY reasonable, and comfortable and controllable speed, after that.

Unfortunately the CHP doesn't share that view, so it wasn't practical to do it.

Interesting adventure you had, and glad it worked out all right for you.

SirNik84 · #12 08-21-2007, 04:31 PM

Jim B
I know what you mean about I5. I was kipping along at 95mph on I5 and came up on some trucks just before i went around them the trucker tapped his brakes. so i slowed down and passed him at 70. and sure enough there was a CHP just ahead that i couldn't see because of the truck. I gave the trucker a big thumbs up thought the sun roof.

dc88168 · #13 08-22-2007, 11:09 AM

Serveral monthes ago, I found a leaking inner boot on my left axleshaft.
Instead of replacing those unrealiable rebuilt axleshaft from Kragen (and now I know CVJ Denver's rebuilts have problems too), I went for the easy way out.
I replaced the boot with a split (screw-on type) boot. I put a lot of grease inside the boot. It is holding nice, no leak and no noise. The original shafts are supposed to last life time, as long as there are oil or grease inside the boots.

David
_________________
1985 300D Turbo

DieselAddict · #14 08-22-2007, 01:01 PM

Where did you get the screw-on type boot? I couldn't find it when I needed it. The only one I found was the one that's glued. It looked so weak that I didn't even bother trying it out.

Dieselkraut23 · #15 08-22-2007, 01:26 PM

you can drive non stop as though nothing is wrong....your cv shaft is stronger then you think....and if you want to pin point it pay attention to the road and when it makes noise straighten the wheel as bast you can and try not to hit any dips or bumps and if it goes away its the cv shaft...if when you make sharp turns the clunk gets louder or or changes noise then you know what it is....ALSO IMPORTANT...im sure you have good shocks, but a common thing that people do is they will have a bad cv joint and replace it with out replacing the thing that caused the joint to fail in the first place TIRED SHOCKS!....beware or you will be buying cv shaft after cv shaft.

Also the rebuilt ones are just a guessing game...its kinda like buying a cheap dvd player they are all made the same just some died before others.