FUCK! My Mercedes may be on its last legs

". ." (xllx) 01/22/2015 at 14:07 • Filed to: None

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What a nasty fucking surprise.

I left my parents' place and wanted to drop by a shopping centre to pick up a birthsday present for my brother. I arrive at the shopping centre parking lot and go for reverse, but it won't get in. I try again, same thing. This sometimes happens, so I go back to neutral, pump the clutch and try again, but that didn't help. Then I give the stick a harder tug and finally it gets in. I start moving, but the car judders horribly, even if I press down on the clutch. I try a few more times with the same result, the car moves but in a horribly jerky manner. All the other gears work fine.

Annoyed I drove to a workshop where I can look under the car, but I couldn't replicate the problem there. The mechanic who had a quick look said taht it doesn't seem like there's anything wrong with the diff or driveshaft so it must be the gearbox.

Defeated I return to the shopping centre (I still need to get that goddamn present) and it's the same thing, except this time round I just push through the judders and park up. I got what I needed and returned to the car which by that time started reversing normally again. After I got home (which was close) I tried reverse again and only got a very slight vibration.

I'm kinda hoping it isn't the gearbox after all, since the car only has 136k km on the odo. The fact that sometimes in damp weather I was getting judder while pulling away in 1st gives me a glimmer of hope that it's something like an engine or gearbox mount instead, maybe the clutch.

It's hard to find anything meaningful on forums since all of the advice pertains to automatics.

It may be time to sell that car after almost 5 years of ownership, but it's going to be difficult to get much money out of it. :/

Do you have any ideas what it could be?

Nibby > . . 01/22/2015 at 14:11

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the heated seats fluid has seeped into the transmission

. . > Nibby 01/22/2015 at 14:12

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That's not it. I don't have heated seats in it. :P

Nibby > . . 01/22/2015 at 14:12

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You do now.

Cé hé sin > . . 01/22/2015 at 14:13

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It's broken.

. . > Cé hé sin 01/22/2015 at 14:16

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No it's not! Shut up! :'(

505Turbeaux > . . 01/22/2015 at 14:17

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what is the engine in it? and what is that, a 2000?

. . > 505Turbeaux 01/22/2015 at 14:18

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It's an Italian spec 200 kompressor (192 hp) with a five speed from 1998.

deekster_caddy > . . 01/22/2015 at 14:26

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Juddering like that leads me to the clutch. If it only happens in reverse, I'm thinking about a worn bearing inside the case? Have you ever checked the gearbox oil? Look for glitter (bad sign) in the oil.

Could be the clutch itself or a throwout bearing, but I'm not feeling that... especially if it's driving okay otherwise.

Let us know what it turns out to be!

. . > deekster_caddy 01/22/2015 at 14:30

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If it was the clutch I think there'd be more problems with forward gears, but those work fine. Also, the juddering in reverse continues after I step on the clutch pedal so it'd have to be in a really bad way.

deekster_caddy > . . 01/22/2015 at 14:36

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When you shift into Reverse but have your foot on the clutch, nothing should be moving that could create a judder. The only way is if the bearings inside the gearbox are so loose that shifting into reverse can make the input shaft crooked so that the clutch is partially coming into contact with the flywheel. And that's not good.

. . > deekster_caddy 01/22/2015 at 14:42

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When I shift into reverse and teh car is standing still there is no vibration. It appears when the car starts rolling but persists regardless of the position of the clutch pedal. After the car stops it disappears again.

deekster_caddy > . . 01/22/2015 at 14:48

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Hmm. Could be bad U-joints (RWD) or CV joint (FWD). If you start rolling backward and shift into Neutral while rolling does it stop vibrating? (please be careful not to crash into anything) This would rule out the input shaft/clutch side of things.

Is this an RWD car? Do you notice any unusual or loud noises when engine braking/downshifting going forward?

. . > deekster_caddy 01/22/2015 at 14:59

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No unusual sounds while going forward, goes through all forward gears smoothly. I've not tried shifting into neutral while it's vibrating, gonna give that a go tomorrow. The car is RWD.

michael bleggi > . . 01/22/2015 at 15:14

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Very similar thing happened in my car, although not as bad, but here is how i get around it temporarily:

When wanting to go into reverse, do this

*gearshift in neutral*

Clutch in

Put gearshift in first, wait for a second, then go from first gear to reverse very quickly

Clutch out relatively quickly with a fair amount of throttle, and be on your way...

DasWauto > . . 01/22/2015 at 15:22

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Centre support bearing on the driveshaft? Though that seems like something the mechanic should've looked at when he said the driveshaft itself was ok...

. . > DasWauto 01/22/2015 at 15:23

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He only had a very brief look and the driveshaft is mostly covered so I wouldn't say it's impossible.

Sejji > . . 01/22/2015 at 15:24

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You did until they broke and seeped fluid! :P

Big Bubba Ray > . . 01/22/2015 at 15:45

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This sounds like what happens with my Datsun in reverse. Try this. Instead of going right into reverse, clutch in and go into any other gear. Hold it in gear for a second then quickly throw it into reverse with the clutch still depressed. It should slot right in. If it doesn't you could have other problems.

DasWauto > . . 01/22/2015 at 15:54

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It's the first thing that comes to mind for a rwd drive line vibration. The bearing could be going out, the mount could be loose or both.

. . > DasWauto 01/22/2015 at 15:56

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It'd be a massive relief if it turned out to be that. I'm gonna leave the car in a workshop for tomorrow afternoon so maybe they'll find something.

DasWauto > . . 01/22/2015 at 15:59

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Just one more thing: another culprit could be the flex disc or guibo that connect the two halves of the driveshaft. It's made of rubber and will degrade with age.

It's anotger common part to replace for driveline vibrations.

. . > DasWauto 01/22/2015 at 16:00

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Flex disk was actually my very first idea outside of gearbox. It's why I went to a shop with an inspection canal. Unfortunately, since the driveshaft is hidden away I couldn't tell if the disk was an issue.

Huge thanks for your help.

Steve in Manhattan > . . 01/22/2015 at 18:02

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Oil/grease on the clutch?

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > . . 01/22/2015 at 21:25

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I've never had to work on a Mercedes manual transmission and have only seen a handful ever, soooooooo...

My first thought was to check the gearbox fluid and change it to see if that makes any difference. Or possibly surface rust buildup on the flywheel due to moisture in the air (probably not). Engine mounts are pretty common, so that's a possibility I guess. Make sure you update is when you hear back from the shop.

. . > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 01/22/2015 at 21:31

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I'm having the gearbox fluid changed tomorrow.

I'll be sure to post updates.