Sounds complicated.

In all seriousness is it just if the fluid is below the whole it is low? I havent used my finger as a dipstick before.


Last dumb question. Which side is the filler plug facing?

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1993 Benz-190E-2.6 liter

It's on the passenger side of the differential. I just changed the fluid recently on the 190 and the SLK230.

Maybe after this you will want to change your user name to "Dipstick"

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1993 190E 2.3
2001 SLK230
1971 LS5 (454) Corvette Convertible

Thanks. Only my friends call me that.

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1993 Benz-190E-2.6 liter

Before doing anything else, have your friend take off in the car and watch the rear wheels real close. I had my wife take off in hers and I could see a lot of movement in the right rear wheel when the sub-frame mount went bad. It made a hell of clunking noise when taking off, then smoothed out.

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1993 190E 2.3
2001 SLK230
1971 LS5 (454) Corvette Convertible

That is really interesting because that is how his is.

From a stop you have hesitation, slight grind, clunk then smooth going

I dont even know where the sub frame mount is. I will look that up.

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1993 Benz-190E-2.6 liter

Well, you need to isolate the problem. Does the above start happening before the rear wheels start turning?

After I saw my wife's 190 right rear wheel moving around at take off, I jacked up the right rear, removed the wheel, then used a 2 x 4 to lift up on the suspension. I could see movement/play in the sub-frame mount. It was obvious that the rubber bushing was toast.
It was hard to replace but I got it done in one afternoon.

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1993 190E 2.3
2001 SLK230
1971 LS5 (454) Corvette Convertible

flex disc not mounted correct, should be aligned in proper recess.

I have a few updates but before I get to them I really wanted to thank everyone in this thread for their help.

1. My buddy was so frustrated and worried about all the things this issue possibly could be that he just wanted out of the car so I bought it from him this weekend. I now own 2 190e's

2. I finally got under the car with the correct jack, jacks tands and a light. Visually both flex discs looked fine. I was stumped and concerned what could be the problem. I started playing with the drive shaft and noticed some slack but not a large amount. When I went to the rear of the car I didnt notice any slack but I did notice slack from the front. So I went back to the front disc. While visually it looked OK I noticed when I turned the drive shaft 2 of the (15mm socket) flex disc bolts were moving. I hoped I could just tighten them and the problem would go away but the problem remained although it seemed lessened. The bolts still seemed to move even when very tight so my guess is that the flex disc is bad. I'm going to hope that is the only thing causing this problem. It was changed around 61,000 miles ago.

3. When in the back looking at the differential there are 2 round wheels on each side. I dont know what they are called. 1 side seemed totally straight. The other side did not seem as straight. Do you know what the wheels are called? Would 1 not being 100% straight be a major issue?

4. Would I be better off ordering a Lemforder or a Febi Bilstein front disc?

Thanks once again. I guess I will order the front flex disc, attempt to change it out myself and hope that was the problem. It probably is. Would seem a bit coincidental for that not to be an issue since it is 2 of the 3 bolts that are moving.

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1993 Benz-190E-2.6 liter

ps2cho,
Thanks for the explanation. That makes me feel more confident that the disc is the problem. I ordered a new Bilstein disc 15 minutes ago.

Pop & Blow Thanks for the tip. Sounds like that could indeed be the problem.

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1993 Benz-190E-2.6 liter

OK the good news is I got the part.

Bad news is the tranny cross-member bolts seem to have been put on by the incredible hulk. I'm having big trouble getting them off. I dont have an impact wrench. I used to use a long torque wrench for leverage in the past and that worked well but that wrench got up and walked away one day. Any advice on how to get the tight bolts loose? Should I go buy another torque wrench or some sort of breaker bar?

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1993 Benz-190E-2.6 liter

Crap crap crap.

One of the tranny cross member bolts just snapped off like butter when I used the breaker bar. I'm afraid somebody went crazy with an impact wrench and the other 3 might snap off as well. I just hit the outside of the bolts with liquid wrench (I should have used that in the beginning) but I dont know if it will help at all. I'm desperate for some help here!!!

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1993 Benz-190E-2.6 liter

OK I got the tranny crossmemeber bolts off but when I did I wasnt even sure if I was going about this the right way so I put them back and figured I will try a different way tomorrow. I think I'm going to try to remove the rear disc and then the front. Maybe after I remove the rear I can slide the drive shaft backwards a couple of inches to allow me to change out the front disc.

The disc bolts on are so tight and even when they come a little loose they are a pain to keep undoing. Is that normal? Also when you went to loosen your bolts did you use a box wrench in back on the nuts?

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1993 Benz-190E-2.6 liter

Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't it remove a certain amount of guesswork and suspense if you just used the FSM?

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1988 California version 260E (W124)
Anthracite Grey/Palomino
Owned since new and still going strong and smooth
MBCA member

Past Mercedes-Benz:
1986 190E Baby Benz
1967 230 Inherited from mom when she downsized
1959 220S Introduced me to the joys of keepin' 'em goin'

There are only 10 kinds of people in the world--those who understand binary and those who don't

The online manual I have isnt very specific for this job/car but if you know of something that is I would really appreciate the heads up. Thanks in advance.

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1993 Benz-190E-2.6 liter

Slowly I'm making some progress. I got all 6 rear flex disc bolts off. Looks to be a Mercedes replacement part. I doubt it is original because it is in really good condition. Even with all 6 bolts out it seems stuck in there. Any hints on how to get it out after the bolts are removed?

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1993 Benz-190E-2.6 liter