New car, new problems! any thoughts welcome
 

Hi,
I have just done what i said i'd never do... I bought a car on ebay unseen...please feel free to hurl any expressions of an insulting nature my way. i deserve them all.

it's a 1989 manual 240td, very tidy all round and i was assured several times that there was nothing major to worry about, drives like a rolls royce etc etc. clearly this person has never driven in a roller.

1. the rear (self levelling suspension) is not damping. push the rear down and it will bounce several times before settling. Several knowledgable people have said it's no big deal to replace the shocks, others have said it's not the shock, it's the accumulator. so i have no idea how to move forward on this.

2. there is a serious transmission whiplash, this could be caused by the problem above, however, a mechanic under the car today said that the rubber subframe mounting bush is very worn, and that this might be causing, and certainly not helping this problem.

3. there is a very noticeable graunching/knocking noise when reversing, it doesn't manifest itself much on the flat, but the moment you start reversing up even the slightest incline it gets really quite bad. when we performed a stationary test of this with the bonnet open, the engine seems to be bouncing at least an inch. the gearbox does not do this in any other gear, however see 4.

4. when i accelerate in third, as soon as i start putting load on the engine there is a noticeable vibration which only goes away as i speed up and pass through the 35/40mph barrier. there is no similar vibration in the other gears (perhaps a tiny little bit in early 4th, but very indistinct). what with the bouncy rear and this vibration the car is manifestly difficult to enjoy driving in town. the propshaft seems to have had some work done on it fairly recently as it had new nuts on it. it had about a half-inch rotational play in it, not sure if that is good bad or ugly!

if anyone has any thoughts on any of these issues i would be most grateful as i am going to attempt to get a full or partial refund, but need to understand as much as i can about these problems to ascertain just how much it is going to cost to sort them out.

I bought the car for £1,200 on the basis that it was reported to be in very fine fettle.

(new rubber subframe bushings £250 plus parts!)
(new windscreen £176)
(suspension ?)
(gearbox ?)

many thanks in advance as always for your help.

S:(

As far as I know the 240D was only manufactured through "85" :confused: Got any pics?

I'm guessing you need new "pods" in your SLS, you'l get lots of help on that one. As to the vibration, I would assume they checked all the "visible" things like U joint, ctr bearing. Cant help much there. I was mostly wondering about the "89" part:)

Where are you located ?
I have the same feelings as Stevo...

Did the 240 ever even have SLS?

1. Try reading this Daignosing your Self-Leveling-System, might help you determine what is failing. Sounds like accumulators though.

2. There are several mounts that could be bad and causing harsh shifts. The transmision mounts, the center bearing on the drive shaft, or the differential mounts. It could also be vacuum leaks. I would start with the vacuum system and make sure it's all sealed, before I would worry about the mounts.

3. Not sure about that one.

4. Sounds like you need motor mounts.

Identifying your 240
 

Hi

I'm guessing that as you mentioned a "Bonnet" and not a "Hood" that you are in the UK. The pound sign is a bit of a give away too....

Can you post a photo of the beastie? - model numbers were used on different vehicles at different times on both sides of the pond and advice from this largely North American forum will be useless to you until we have the beastie properly identified.

Also helpful would be the chassis number (starts with a W for the German wagen, for example w123, w126) and engine number (e.g. 606, 617 etc.)

Welcome - we can help with some of this info.

Yes, I had a 5 spd Euro, 240D, with towing package :rolleyes: I swapped out the 5 spd before selling it of course:D

I think he is in england somewhere with prices in pounds. This model was never sold over here in the colonies I believe. Even very few made it here as grey market cars.
Overall except for the cost of possible accumulators what you have experienced on ebay is perhaps typical. In fact could have been far worse. Twelve hundred pounds is approx 2,400 canadian or 2,000 american dollars. At that price for a 1989 station wagon there would be some expected bugs. Getting one for that price with nothing wrong would be a real exception. Almost an unexpected find in my opinion.
If you could negotiate a price correction after the fact it would be unusual as well. Probably impossible at that price here. Nobody likes being lied to I understand as well. That is ebay far too much of the time. Also most of these older benzes are only practical if the owner rolls up his sleeves and does the repairs. Above are needless to say but have to also stress only my opinions. I would guess it would be imortant to know what the balance of the cars general condition is. Some of your problems could be bad motor/transmission mounts or simular relatively economical things. Check to make sure your transmission to belhousing bolts are snugged up as well.

Sounds like you are across the pond from us, so that is why others appeared confused about the designation of your automobile.
We did not have '89 240TD's over here, and I'm really not sure of your chassis in fact.
What I can tell you, is that you need to replace your accumulators, or 'spheres' for your bounce issue with the SLS. I've had to do this on both the wagons I have had. A wise man once told me "Replace the accumulators. It's always the accumulators". Shocks (struts) only seem to fail due to leaking.
It does also sound like you have engine mount issues from some of your other symptoms, as well as tranny mount.
We would love to see pics of your car, inside and out, as we don't get that model over here.
We're just older MB dorks........:dizzy2:

Well, the main question still is the year it was made....
I guess with a guy named 300sdToronto saying that the term bonnet means England that they don't use that in Canada... so Canadian money is described as ' $ Canadian' I guess....
BUT could the pound sign mean it was in Australia ? ( with the bonnet nomenclature also)?

Year of car was stated at the start of second paragraph....:confused:


Purpose of above paragraph, as it relates to thread?? :D
Play nice......;)

Jimmy , I am playing nice...
but at this point I am with Stevo in not feeling comfortable that the 1989 is not a typo....
and finding which country it is in ( if 1989 is correct ) may be important to helping out...

Going to stick my foot in my mouth again. Australia has Australian dollars I believe. But allow I also thought the tooth fairy was real until I found out it really was a dentist with certain leanings. :D I have heard of the model and year mentioned before I think. In a way it is unfortunate they were not sold here.

Gentlemen & Ladies too of course...

please accept my apologies, i meant 250TD, not sure how 240 slipped in, but have only had the car 10 days and never had to write about it.

I am as most of you correctly guessed based on the other side of the puddle in London. I don't hvae the chassis number on me, and it's now a bit too wet and dark to go prodding.
http://i10.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/7f/ec/ae85_12.JPG

As you can see apart from the mechanical issues it's in reasonable nick.

thank you for your suggestions so far, please keep them coming. I'll search for a link explaining replacing the accumulators but if anyone has a good one to hand do let me know and i'll have a good read. how would you rate the difficulty? i've heard it's very messy. (which can be good!)

I'd be interested to know if that 1/2inch rotational looseness in the propshaft is normal?

ttfn

stumbler

correct. as well as canada and about 30 other countries/provinces/parishes/zones/areas/etc.

that is a very nice looking car, btw. hope youre able to repair all thats wrong.