hey friends,

i was driving the 85 today home from work and i noticed:

- light whirring sound at low speeds from right front wheel, same sound as wheel turning with slight resistance from brake pad.
- brake pedal pulsations (feels like warped rotor) on hard highway speed stops (NEVER happened before)

Discs are new within 30k.
Front calipers are new (not rebuild) ATE's 30k ago.

Tomorrow I'll take a closer look. I'll check for a sticking RF caliper and/or debris in wheel area.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Greatly appreciated. I dont see how the brakes could pulsate suddenly.

thanks as always,
dd

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'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car

I just went outside and took off the RF wheel and spun the wheel around. Both front sides have the same amount if resistance and make the same amount of noise. Nothing spectacular or notable.

Im going to do the same to the rear wheels and see if I can uncover anything there.

The mystery deepens.

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'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car

Guide rod mounts?

Mine are shot on the '85 and it does this. The pedal itself doesn't pulse that much, but I feel it in the front end. Hopefully get a chance to swap in the front suspension from the '84 soon. Maybe this long weekend coming up.

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'85 300TD "Puff The Magic Wagon" - Rolling Resto
'19 Mazda CX-9 Signature - Wife's sled
'21 Morgan 3-Wheeler P101 Edition
'95 E300d - SOLD
'84 300TD "Brown Betty" - Miss this one
'81 240D "China Baby" - Farm grocery getter

Try pumping the pedal a few times before you do the spin test, if the car has been sitting for a while a sticking caliper can release a bit.

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1996 s10 zr2 with a 6.5 turbo diesel
1996 c2500 suburban with a 6.5 turbo diesel
1981 300sd with a turbo 617
Monte carlo figure 8 car

A deposit of pad material could also cause a shaking as you describe.

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83 300TD (need rear wiper assembly dead or alive)
84 300SD Daily driver
85 300TD almost 400k miles and driven daily.
98 E300D *sold
86 300SDL *sold and made flawless 10 hour journey to new home.

Were antilock brakes ever an option on that year/model? Sounds like antilock activating when it shouldn't be. I've experienced that once or twice in my lifetime in the 300SDL at LOW speeds but I can't make it reproduce the problem more often than about once a year.

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~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL

DieselDan:

Did you ever figure this one out?

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Charlie

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'66 VW 1300 96K miles
'97 E300D 239K miles
'85 300D 203K miles (sold Sep 2012)

it self corrected - went away. no further action taken by me other than watching it.

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'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car

Mine just started doing this, so I put it up on a lift and checked the guide rod bearing/bushing and found the source. It makes a knocking noise above 50 mph and a slight turn to the right or left. My idler arm bushings need replacement, but the noise is from the GR mounts.

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Thanks,
Mark in NC

"Spark plugs?...We don't need no stinking spark plugs!"
1985 300SD "Der Silberne Schlitten" 420,000 mi


Wish these were diesel:
2003 Ford Club Wagon 130,000 mi