Towed car now car shaking!

[celika]

Hi, iv Been coming to this forum for a long time now, got a lot of help and DIY tips so thank you very much. Just created an account today to see if you could help me.

My c220 w203 2002 automatic stopped the other day, first time this happen to me. The fuel was quiet low and me being new to this issue and now having internet to check what the issue is and how to solve it, I get it towed like a manual car (on neutral) to the nearest mechanic. They cannot read the codes so they tell me to take it to Mercedes. Got it towed again. This time the guys who tow the car really shook the car, stopped at red light and the car in front of just accelerated and it felt like i hit something when he took of, did not drive slow at all like we talked about. Paid £55 for a diagnostic and they still can't tell me what the problem is. He tells me I should put fuel in it, so I put about £35 fuel and the car starts. At this time I'm ****** off of myself for being so stupid and not researching

So I drive home and the car just starts shaking and rattling at lower speed, whilst on neutral and it's even worse when I drive about 50 and start hitting the brake, once the car goes below 10mph it starts shaking but at higher speed e.g. 20,30,40.50 etc the car runs perfect I think the shaking is coming from the engine not 100% sure though

Some say it's the ball joint arm or the engine mount. Hope it's not expensive jo


Please help me on this.

Thank you very much

 

[balge]

I would check your handbook, mine (W124) says it's only safe to tow at 50Km/H for 120km - 30mph for 70 miles.
Does the engine shake in neutral?

 

[guydewdney]

Really, really, bad thing to do - tow an auto without disconnecting the prop shaft. I suspect thats new gearbox time Im afraid. You might have a claim against the tow company (who should know better - and should use a 'spec' lift on the rear wheels or dolley etc etc. RAc / AA might help your claim?

 

[grober]

Is the car petrol or diesel--- if petrol it sounds like one of your ignition coils has gone. If the car still shakes when stood still in neutral its not the gearbox.

 

[jaymanek]

Also sounds like something else... I would get it diagnosed properly, id bet the fault you have now is related to why the car stopped in the first place and nothing to do with the tow.

 

[BillyCR]

Very Rare for any company to tow an auto these days, normally its a flatbed only, anyway I suggest you check the transmission oil level if you can, but as above sounds like you had a problem before the Tow

 

[V12]

How many miles did they tow it? I doubt it's your problem.

Could be a weak diesel pump and the extra fuel helped the supply?

Did MB give you a print out from the diagnostic they ran?

 

[celika]

Hi everyone thank you very much for all your replies. I really hope it's not the transmission.
The towing was about 5 mins. The shaking is kind of worse when reversing? Also iv had it looked at by two mechanics today who told me that one of the injectors are gone which is causing the shaking and rattling. Could this be the problem? I would have thought it would be a engine mount or ball joint arms

Yes Mercedes gave me a copy of the result but it's about 5 pages long. Most of them are things like fog light, battery flat and even changing the comand 2.0 and installing a after market stereo is a fault

The shaking was not present when I left Mercedes, I drove around for about 10 mins to see how if there was anything different (performance, transmission etc), just before heading home the shaking appeared

 

[celika]

Also, yes the fuel really helped,iv been told that the shape of the tank is "U" shape and that it needs enough fuel to level ( sorry if it's incorrect, the employee at Mercedes told me this)

 

[V12]

What faults are under CDI on the print out?

1 injector out will cause it to run on 3 cylinders which will give plenty of vibration.

 

[Sp!ke]

as others have said, if it was missing on one or more cylinders (plenty of possible causes) then it would likely shake.

I take it all the plug leads are in place?

 

[celika]

Under cdi it says common rail diesel injection mb number 6111537779

 

[guydewdney]

I take back the gearbox statement, five minutes dragging will be fine, it implied that the journey was much longer.

 

[V12]

Under cdi it says common rail diesel injection mb number 6111537779

That's the ECU number. No faults listed under it?

 

[celika]

Yeah there is glow plug failure cylinder 3 which I tried to replace all 4 glow plugs but the 3rd one is stuck and i did not want to force it out

And also electric suction fan open circut

 

[E270 Owner]

Also, yes the fuel really helped,iv been told that the shape of the tank is "U" shape and that it needs enough fuel to level ( sorry if it's incorrect, the employee at Mercedes told me this)

Sounds like you fuel pump is faulty

If* it ran out of fuel about the 1/4 tank mark this is the pump not returning enough pressure to allow the venturi to cross feed the saddle tank on the filling side,
adding a gallon/5 liters will allow the car to start again, but the passenger side tank will be full and not equalize into the drivers side tank.

Unfortunately unless they diagnose the fuel pump pressure and associated valves correctly the fault can be missed.


* Common fault.











.

 

[jaymanek]

If its misfiring (rattling and shaking) then yes its very likely one of your cdi injectors is down.

 

[mr. shr]

For reference, can you remind me why you shouldn't tow a benz?
Is it only applicable to auto gearboxes?

I thought the reason for not towing a benz was because they are (mostly) rear wheel drive, and towing a RWD ruins the transmission.

 

[Satch]

I take back the gearbox statement, five minutes dragging will be fine, it implied that the journey was much longer.

Still, could be worse.....

You can't cure stupid - RV drags Pickup 6 miles - YouTube

 

[jaymanek]

For reference, can you remind me why you shouldn't tow a benz?
Is it only applicable to auto gearboxes?

I thought the reason for not towing a benz was because they are (mostly) rear wheel drive, and towing a RWD ruins the transmission.

Its basically because the fluid isn't being pumped without the engine running the torque convertor and hence oil pump, so the fluid in the box overheats very quickly and this can cause damage.