I have a 85 190E with 135K miles. for the last few months, it has developed a rattle from the front driver side - its a clear "thud" when it goes over bumps or potholes. No other problems - steering is fine, no play, no "wandering", no uneven tire wear, the vehicle doesn't drift to any side, everything else is fine.

What could be the possible culprits?

Also, what can be ruled out as the problem?

The reason I ask both these questions is because I want SOME idea before I go to a tech. I showed it to one guy, and he basically wanted me to get everything in the front end replaced, including shockers. Just throwing parts at me. I want to get ONLY the problem parts replaced, not everything. Its a 17year old car, so I am sure the parts are not ALL upto specs, but as long as they are OK, they don't need to be changed. But there must be something that has totally given up, that is resulting in this thud/rattle.

Would really appreciate any insights/experiences.

I don't want the shop to use this as an opportunity to make me spend 2K, and then of course (hopefully!) the problem will be gone, but may be it was a $200 fix to start with.

Thanks.