Progress!

That last remaining vibe turned out to be motor mounts. I pulled the mounts today and they were 1cm shorter than new ones. Completely collapsed.

I pulled the transmission mount and it was torn. There’s no way of seeing inside it till you pull it from the car. The internal web was completely broken. This was likely my vibration at 2100 rpm.

The car is super quiet and smooth now. A lot of the gear whine is gone. And the vibrations and rattles it would excite elsewhere in the car are now absent. We went for a test ride today and my wife fell asleep. It’s that quiet now.

Unbelievable. The modern (or modern to me at least) Mercedes is amazing when restored with new mounts, drag link, tie rod ends, idler bushing, greased ball joints, new tires and alignment. I’m really happy with this car.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles