Is my gearbox kippered?

[Mike Buley]

Well, It is funny you should say that Mark. the mechanic that works on my car initially had a look at it, and decreed that the easiest way to repair / replace was to get a second hand prop, with all associated bits, but to make sure the doughnut,and other stuff was in good nick.
The doughnut on mine had approximately half an inch play at the front end and was quite clearly in a bad state.
There also seemed to be a clunk in the rear uj.
Quite quickly after getting the new prop out of the packaging it was obvious the front end that connects onto the doughnut had smaller 'arms' than the original, but was definately from a 300e.
Needless to say, it didnt fit.
So, the mechanic (who is excellent in rebuilding, restoring and generally fiddling until things work) set about messing around with my old one.
Once connected to the new doughnut, it solved the noise......
However, when he took it off initially, a large piece of plastic which resembled a bit of mudguard fell out from underneath. He reckoned that was the problem, but had no idea how it got there.
So far so good, no more scary noises.
The supplying garage for the prop was "the garage" which I am sure you are aware specialises in Merc bits.
Although it was the wrong one, I take back my initial thoughts of regarding them numpties, as apparently on my year of 300te/e there were 2 types, which one depended on the chassis number. Just my luck it was the wrong one. Since I informed them that they had supplied the wrong one they couldnt have been more helpful, they have stated that they will pay the return courier charge, and give me a credit note for the money I have paid (£200). I would have thrown a wobbler if they wouldnt give me my money back, but it just happens that they can find me a set of standard alloys with tyres for £200. Hopefully alls well that ends well. It just seems that at the moment I am the type of bloke that drops toast for it to land face down!!!
Anyway, there we go.
By the way Mark, top explanation of torque....
Best wishes.
Mike.

 

[vidfletch]

Rear Propshaft Coupling

My 88 230TE was making a metallic tinkling noise under acceleration at low speeds. Gearbox and car was working fine though. A couple of weeks later the propshaft and diff parted company because the rear coupling had fell apart. I think the cause though was the lack of a front mounting bolt on the diff! I don't think it had been there for some time and I had only had the car a couple of months at the time. The only part of it on the car was the metal/rubber washer and this was in the wrong place! I think a previous owner must have had problems and they or their mechanic thought they could do without it.

The coupling falling off caused the diff to fall down pulling one of the rear mounting bolts through its bush. Because the driveshafts also dropped the nearside inner cv boot landed on the exhaust ripping it to shreds! New parts required were the coupling, diff rear mounting bushes, diff front mounting bolt and a CV boot.

Euro Car Parts in Edinburgh gave me the coupling which turned out to be the wrong one initially but was not their fault. My car is an early 88 car but it seemed to have the later different 89 model propshaft. Considering the diff bolt had been missing, I think the car has had a new propshaft etc from a later car. The front propshaft coupling looked suspiciously new as well! The diff rear mounting bush was a pig to get out and in without the proper tool! The CV boot was a doddle. The front mounting I ordered from Mercedes 5 weeks ago and still don't have it. maybe thats why mine didn't have it! I used a different but similar bolt which is doing the job nicely. All this took some time because of waiting for parts from Mercedes not because of the difficulty.

The car runs fine now and no more noise! Changes gear more smoothly too. Just loads of other small things to fix on it now.