W211 Front Suspension Vibration

[Beardz]

Back in Jan i had the o/s fron suspension spring collapse which i had replaced and was advised that the other side was ok for the time being.

2 weeks ago i had the n/s spring replaced to match them up along with the tracking sorted.

On thursday last week the MOT was carried out (at a different garage to my normal one as it is closer to work) and the car passed but with the following advisement

"O/s & n/s front suspension play in lower suspension balljoint"

I was told this was due to, too many speed humps and all was well.

I took the vehicle for a long run on saturday and found that on a billard smooth dual carriageway the car had developed an awfull vibration whilst sitting at 80mph. i dropped the speed immediately but the vibration was still there but not so severe.

I decided not to use the vehicle until i had an idea what is wrong.

Could the MOTing garage have done anything to the car when doing the test that might cause this problem?

Or is this likely to be a coincidence?

The car had been fine up until the weekend albeit pootling round town at low speed.

 

[camerafodder]

Get the balljoint replaced they only cost about £40 plus labour (I did my own but was a pain in the a**e to do). Check your wheel balance too. A weight may have been accidentally knocked off whilst your wheel was being removed/replaced during the spring job.

 

[Beardz]

The wheel weight thing was the first thing my garage said to me this morning, before telling me to bring the car in. Fingers crossed that's the problem.

 

[Beardz]

Garage have come back to me today to confirm that they could find noting wrong with the car and there are no error messages on the ECU????

Apparently as solid as a rock at over a ton!!!

Did mention the Torque Converter and that these are prone to glitches on the E & S class chassis of this vintage?

Does this sound right to you guys?

So it looks like i keep an eye on it and hope it doesn't happen again

 

[corned]

Ah. When you say vibration and loose ball joints, then we took it to be related.

Now you have said that, I'm not so sure it is related.

"TC problems in certain vintage E and S Class" only means one thing to me - the infamous Valeo radiator problem.

Do a search on here for that and you will find all you need to know to check whether this is a possibility with your car. Hopefully not. What vintage is yours?

 

[Beardz]

i'll have look later thanks. 2005 model with 7gtronic box & v6 diesel lump

 

[corned]

OK - at that vintage the Valeo issue is not a relevant one for you. Save yourself the trouble of going to look!