W211 estate judder.

[Smiley]

Great news for you mate!

Depends who is paying. A new t/c is not going to be a cheap job it is going to hurt.
If it were my car I would want to know if it has the Valeo rad and if it does I would want it changed anyway; the risk is just too high and costly.
I would also want some proof that MB have done the glycol test and it is negative.
Sounds like you still have some negotiation to do with MB.

 

[gIzzE]

One other thing to consider.
Have you owned the car from new?? Do you know if it has been remapped?
The tuner I use said that quite a few E's don't take too kindly to an over aggressive amount of torque on a remap, you get this judder at low revs.
Easy way to test is hold it in 4th at say 20mph and slowly press the throttle, between 1000 and 2000rpm the judder is there, then it disappears as you pass 2000rpm.

If you have had a remap it may be worth getting the tuner to lower the torque on it.

 

[glojo]

I'll breath a sigh of relief when you hear some good news but at the moment it looks like you have no news. If this isn't radiator related then how much will it cost to replace this weak link? I ask this simply because it might be an extremely cheap investment.

John

 

[Geff]

There was swarf in the atf filter. Which means wear somewhere. I am the 3rd owner, so don't know to much about what went on with the car before I owned it. Although it has a full history with MB. There was a rumour that it was chipped and then denied by the previous owner. So who knows. The Glycol test according to the dealer is clear. But I have asked them to check the rad make. I have not driven a straight 6 320cdi before so not sure how quick they are. But it had to be changed manually when towing as the judder was very pronunced at lower revs.

 

[Geff]

Hi John. About £1600. Not cheap but better than £4500.

 

[glojo]

Hi John. About £1600. Not cheap but better than £4500.

Ouch and sadly I agree.

Good luck with this issue

Regards
John

 

[Buggerlugs]

Hi Geff,

FWIW, I reckon a good indie Trans Specialist should be able to supply and install a recon. torque converter for around £600 inc. Torque converter clutch failure causing shudders and judders under load is quite common.

Also, to confrim the diagnosis, find a specialist with a Star system, one of the diagnostic functions of the Star is that you can turn off the torque converter bridging clutch temporarily and see if the problem disappears, I imagine that your dealer would've done this already though. HTH.

 

[Satch]

There was swarf in the atf filter. Which means wear somewhere. I am the 3rd owner, so don't know to much about what went on with the car before I owned it. Although it has a full history with MB. There was a rumour that it was chipped and then denied by the previous owner. So who knows. The Glycol test according to the dealer is clear. But I have asked them to check the rad make. I have not driven a straight 6 320cdi before so not sure how quick they are. But it had to be changed manually when towing as the judder was very pronunced at lower revs.

The ATF may be clear of Glycol now but that does not mean it had not suffered in the past and if so that can be pretty terminal. In your shoes I would be asking MB for a full print out of work done on that car under warranty & recalls before proceeding further.

 

[jsl]

It's not good speculating, just get it checked.
There may be another reason for this anyway.

I know of a case recently on a W203 where MB made an 80% contribution after initially saying bad luck.

Please, how is it possible to tell which radiator is fitted to the 05 211. Are there any easy found visual differences between the good and bad types and if so where/what are they?

 

[glojo]

Please, how is it possible to tell which radiator is fitted to the 05 211. Are there any easy found visual differences between the good and bad types and if so where/what are they?

If you do a search you will see this should only effect the early 2003 211's. Yours is a 2005 so go back to sleep and rest easy (humour)

Your safe and you have a very nice car

regards
John

 

[Geff]

Ok, so picked her back up this evening. Tonbridge MB kept me informed all the way, and cannot praise them enough. They phoned at 3 PM to say it was ready for collection, but they not heard back from MB UK to see if they would like to chip in with something towards the bill, but they would contact them again. Turned up at 5pm to collect the car thinking that MB UK would not help out as it was only the TC and not a rad failure.

Turns out I was complety wrong and my faith in the MB brand has been restored. They gave me a generous discount on parts and chipped in towards the labour as well. Not sure about the final bill as I had a complete set of brakes and discs replaced and a couple of other bits to bring her back up to 100% while she was of the road.

I use the car alot abroad as my wife is from The Netherlands and pop over to see her family a few times a year and go to France to buy building materials, as some are much cheaper. Especially when the € was a bit kinder. So reliabilty is a big thing with me, hence taking the advise to take it to MB and not trying to cut corners.

Still cost me a pretty penny, but not as much as it could have done. Thanks all for your help, thanks MB. My car drives like a dream again.

Geoff.

 

[Geff]

By the way John, love the webcam link of Torquay Harbour.

 

[prprandall51]

Hm. Whilst looking at the Honest John website had a look at the W211 entry and has deeply alarmed to see the entry on glycol contamination has changed thus:

"The transmission oil cooler of automatics is sited in the radiator matrix, so failure can lead to coolant entering the transmission and destroying it, leaving the owner with a bill of £4k - £6k. MB responded that this fault only occurred in cars manufactured between 2000 - 2003 and only when a Valeo radiator is fitted, but has occurred in later cars. By August 2008 there was an epidemic of failures with fresh reports every couple of days, dealers quoting £11k to fix and MB usually refusing to pay which effectively writes off a 2003 E Class as scrap. Also affects 2004 registered E Class."

W, if I may make so bold, TF is the story here?

Ahem. Good to see a happy ending to this story. But, as Satch says, what, if I may make so bold, is the story here???!!!!

This needs clarification. Anyone?

 

[Dieselman]

Ahem. Good to see a happy ending to this story. But, as Satch says, what, if I may make so bold, is the story here???!!!!

This needs clarification. Anyone?

What do you mean.? If you mean the Valeo radiator issue then there were faulty radiators fitted in 2002/03 which allow the coolant to leak into the ATF. Not surprisingly the friction material in the gearbox and torque converter doesn't like glycol.

 

[prprandall51]

What do you mean.? If you mean the Valeo radiator issue then there were faulty radiators fitted in 2002/03 which allow the coolant to leak into the ATF. Not surprisingly the friction material in the gearbox and torque converter doesn't like glycol.

No, I don't mean the Valeo radiators, which we all know about and is done and dusted. I mean the comments about occurrences in later cars - the underlined bit.

 

[Dieselman]

It's referring to the same issue, but now the rads are failing.

 

[Geff]

I have heard that seperate oil coolers are being fitted for the ATF by people. Does anyone else know anything about this.

 

[BlackC55]

I have heard that seperate oil coolers are being fitted for the ATF by people. Does anyone else know anything about this.

I have seen it fitted to a c-class. It was a bit rough and ready but it worked.

 

[st4]

It's referring to the same issue, but now the rads are failing.

The Behr ones?

Separate oil cooler time...

 

[Buggerlugs]

I have heard that seperate oil coolers are being fitted for the ATF by people. Does anyone else know anything about this.

We always give the customer the choice between new OEM rad or an air cooler install and bypass retaining the original rad cooling the engine only. Not surprisingly most folks opt for the air cooler installation. HTH.