Been a long time reader and was always able to find the solution to any problem with my 98 ML320 already listed until now. The problem is that everytime the weight of my car shifts either fwd or backward (from braking or accelerating) I hear a series of irregular clicks from underneath the car that sounds like the noise that a rusty nut makes as it breaks off a bolt. It's not the suspension as shaking the car does not produce it. It only happens when the car is moving and the weight is thrown forward or backwards.

I brought it to my local mechanic and they had absolutely no idea. They took off all the mounting bolts and apparently a bunch of water poured out from the ones near where the car is having the noise (car has been through 2-2.5 ft of water before) and they think that might be the reason but could not definitively say as all the bushings for the bolts looked fine and the bolts themselves weren't very rusty. The best solution they could come up with was to take out the mounting bolts and shave off the ends so that they could be further tightened onto the body. This seems like a bogus answer to me so I took it a mechanic friend of mine. By sticking his head down under the car he thought that it might be the torsion bar running parallel to the driveshaft that is making the noise but, again, he's not sure. The noise seems to be coming equally from both sides of the car and is extremely hard to pin down. Any suggestions as to what this might be would be greatly appreciated.