W124 wagon owners unite

Several posts in the past have mentioned a creaky rear supension in the wagons. Mine has it too. So far I'm living with the annoyance, but would love to fix it if there's a remedy. Anybody do a DIY fix?
Thanks
Steve

[jcyuhn]

Hey Steve -

I fixed this on mine in the last couple of weeks. It
ain't completely perfect, but the payoff was well
worth the effort.

In my case, about 95% of the noise was from the bushings
which locate the rear sway/anti-roll/torsion bar.

Most of the rear suspension is mounted to the rear
subframe, which is isolated from the chassis by rubber
insulators. Not so with the rear sway bar. It mounts
directly to the chassis; hence any noise it generates
can be much more directly transmitted into the body.

To test, put the rear of the car up on jack stands.
Remove the rear wheels. Remove the 17mm nut which
secures the sway bar to the upper end of the sway
bar links. Do this on both sides and you can move
the sway bar by hand, simulating what occurs when
you drive over a speed bump, for example. Mine graunched
like crazy - it was amazing how much noise it made.

Repair is trivially simple. Remove the two 13mm bolts
which secure the bushing retainer in place. Pull
the bushing off the bar - it's split, so doesn't even
need to be slid off the end of the bar. Install new
busing - I used some silicone grease. Reinstall
retainer with 13mm bolts. Repeat for other side.
If it takes you an hour, you've had too many beers

I purchased a kit with two bushings & new 13mm bolts
for less than $5 mail order. In fact, I have a spare
kit, as I didn't realize one kit did the entire job...

- Jim

Thanks, I'll get after it this weekend.
Steve

[Ron Johnstone]

Jim,
Many thanks! This sounds like the unknown problem I have with my 88TE. Lots of "road noise" with a light load in the car, but quiet when fully loaded. It's been driving me crazy!

[jcyuhn]

Ron -

Don't know if Steve & I vs. you are talking about the
same thing. We're specifically talking about a creaking/
graunching noise from the rear suspension when both
sides of the suspension move together - as when driving
over a good sized dip in the road, or perhaps a speed
bump.

I too notice the car seems quieter with a full load
than empty. When unloaded, it has a "boomy" character
to the noise coming from the rear of the vehicle. I've
always chalked this up to normal station wagon character.
When empty the road noise and such seem to echo around
the car. Loading it up with people and/or "stuff" seems
to muffle and/or dampen all that echo - it seems much
quieter.

That said, it's still a pretty decently quiet car. Even
with just the wife and I in the car, we never have to
raise our voices to carry on a coversation, even at
high speed.

[Ron Johnstone]

Thanks again Jim,
Yes, the noise is well described as "boomy", although it also seems as tire noise is getting through. My 300SD is very quiet in comparison and no other station wagon I've owned has ever sounded like my TE. There ought to be a fix out there somewhere.