S320 CDI problem, worst two days of my life (Spawning from faulty alternator).

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Kuth

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Joined
Jul 6, 2015
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Car
Mercedes-Benz S320 CDI 2001
This weekend my girlfriend and I were headed on holidays in my new car I bought for £1200, an S320 CDI (2001), when the car just cut out when I put the boot down on it. Red lights flashed in front of me saying power problem, battery problem, not able to start.

I did my research and found out it was a faulty alternator regulator.

So I got a new alternator and began to disassemble the car to change it - after a lot of hassle, my dad and I eventually got the alternator out (after taking out all sorts of pipes and bolts, turbos, water pipes, water bottles etc) and we got the new alternator in.

We reassembled the car but had A LOT OF TROUBLE getting the little retaining clips on that hold the turbo pipes in place, but eventually got it in and started the car up. The alternator fixed the charging problem and it was charging the battery again, but when I took it for a drive and put the boot down the car vibrated at the front very violently, the entire radio and dash shook, and it had a fraction of the power it had before we began our butchering session.

Long story short - I made a balls of the mechanicing and somewhere along the line I have forgot to put in a pipe or something and it has resulted in the car being bloody worse off than it was in the start - has anybody ever had this problem before? Or has anybody any advice? I am desperate, made the mistake of doing the mechanicing myself but now I need to rectify and get this car going half reasonable again.

Many thanks,
Kuth
 
Buying an S Class for a grand, you can expect problems as I'm sure you were aware, but I'd suggest you get it professionally diagnosed before further damage is done.
 
It came with a full Mercedes service history up until 2013 and was driving perfectly until I messed it up and made the mistake of doing the mechanicing myself
 
Last edited:
Just systematically remove everything you took off to do the alternator,then
reassemble with a reference (manual or diagrams).
 
Was the vibration there before replacing the alternator?

I would check the mounts in the engine and the diff are OK as the vibration could be a result of the front and back of the prop no longer being in alignment.
 

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