ML270 Vibration

[Beancounter]

I have a 2004, 54 plate ML270CDi running on Continental 275/55 R17s. The vehicle vibrates at speeds of around 75mph which felt like a balancing issue.

The alignment has been checked/adjusted by the MB dealer, and the wheels have been balanced by 2 MB dealers and an independent, and the vibration is still there.

It's weird, as it is not consistent. Sometimes its more noticable than others. Someties it feels as though its coming through the floor, other times through the steering.

When it's bad, all occupants can feel it.

I now wonder if it is something other than wheels. Could this be driveline...driveshaft, transfer box, gearbox? Could it be exhaust?

I'd love to hear from anyone who has had this problem and had it sorted

Thanks

 

[psmart]

Have they checked the wheel bearings? Do you here a rotational noise when accelerating, something akin to a centrifuge spinning up? Havent had it on my ML, but have on the small Fiat. Bearings can easily be damaged by potholes.

The other thing is flat spots... have you left your car for a long period of time, stuck in one position? We had to replace all 4 tyres on the C220 last year as it was left unused for 4 months and the wheels had taken flat spots, causing vibration above 70mph.

 

[panason1c]

You dont mention how many miles your ML has covered but it might be worth looking at the propshaft center bearing.

I have a 2004, 54 plate ML270CDi running on Continental 275/55 R17s. The vehicle vibrates at speeds of around 75mph which felt like a balancing issue.

The alignment has been checked/adjusted by the MB dealer, and the wheels have been balanced by 2 MB dealers and an independent, and the vibration is still there.

It's weird, as it is not consistent. Sometimes its more noticable than others. Someties it feels as though its coming through the floor, other times through the steering.

When it's bad, all occupants can feel it.

I now wonder if it is something other than wheels. Could this be driveline...driveshaft, transfer box, gearbox? Could it be exhaust?

I'd love to hear from anyone who has had this problem and had it sorted

Thanks

 

[Beancounter]

Thanks

Thanks PSMART and PANASON1C.

The car has only covered 14000 miles. The first year of its life it only covered 2000, so could have been sitting unmoved for some time and maybe the tyres have flat spots.

I've put the remaining 12000 on in the last 8 months. Is there any way of having the tyres checked for flat spots?

i don't fancy having to pay for a full set of contis if it's a case of trial and error, especially as they have hardly any wear!!

Your thoughts are appreciated!:-D :-D

 

[psmart]

Hi Beancounter,

It looks like you'll have no choice. On the C220, the vibrations were coming from the back (worst) so I had all four rebalanced by kwikfit. Problem still existed, so I bought 2 new tyres of same make and spec, then swapped the front to the back and put the new on the front. Vibrations were less, so I swapped the front and back again (new on the back) and the steering wheel started vibrating. Bought 2 new ones, making a total of 4 and the car is now perfect. This year, the car was left for 6 months without being driven, so I pumped up the tyres to above motorway pressure (trick Id noticed with my Motorhome, which spends quite a bit of time stationary with 5+ tons on its 6 wheels, after reading about similar problems with other motorhomes), I flew back 3 times and rocked the car back and forth and it has been fine this year. I did consider taking the tyres off and putting it on axle stands, but I couldnt guarantee I would be back home when it was needed again!

Its just one of those things unfortunately. Balancing didnt solve it, because basically, your just trying to balance out the flat spot, but the flat spot is still there.

I wish I could advise a procedure to verify? Have you got another 5 studded car, which you could swap tyres with? Maybe completely different rim etc, throwing your speedo etc out, but good for a verification test.

 

[Beancounter]

ML270 Good Vibrations!

Thanks again!

I will take the car to my local tyre depot for some investigations.

I have a niggling doubt that it might be driveline.

The vibration is noticable at motorway speeds - steady 2400 - 2800 rpm. The vibration can be described as "rotational" i.e. its very rythmical / cyclical and doesn't miss a beat. That's why I don't think its engine related i.e dirty injector / misfire

Oddly, the vibration is worse at the lower end of the 2400 - 2800 rev band.

In normal driving, you accellerate pretty quickly through this rev band as you climb through the gears, and only really sit within it when cruising at motorway speed. This really draws your attention to the vibration.

I've tried driving the car at lower speeds in low gears, i.e. 40mph in 2nd, and seem to be able to recreate the problem.

Thats' why I think it might be driveline / transmission related - maybe even exhaust.

I'll have the tyres checked for flatspots to rule that one out, but any feedback on my other theory would be appreciated!!

 

[psmart]

Unless you've got a lemon, I wouldnt have thought at 14000 miles you will have transmission problems. Given the car did 2000 miles in its first year is either an indicator that its had problems (ie being garaged) or its been stood. For your sake, I hope the latter, as a set of tyres will be cheaper!

With the C220, its always had a bit of a sonic boom at 82mph from the rear, but with the flatspot tyres, anything above 70mph made a rear noise, but this got noticeably worse and you could feel the vibration above 80mph.

Best of luck, and when you find the problem, please post it.

Just noticed this when looking up on flat spot symptoms:-

"What is a flat spot?

If the brakes are locked or the car is involved in a bad skid, then it is possible to flat spot the tyres where the tread is worn in one place only and thus creates an area of the tyre that is flattened instead of round. In bad cases, this can make the wheels feel like three penny bits (older owners) or 50p coins (newer owners).

The symptoms are excessive vibration: with bad cases this can occur at 30 to 40 mph, with mild flattening at 80 mph and so on. The only cure is to get the wheels balanced &emdash; don’t forget to make sure that there are no marbles stuck to the tread. This can often cure or greatly reduce the problem. In very bad cases, replacement is the only real way of removing the vibration."

 

[RichHammond]

I had my ML in last week for a new throttle cable and was chatting to the service manager he said they had just had an ML in which was vibrating badly and found it to the worn engine mountings which were replaced under warranty, he gave the impression that the car was quite new but I didnt ask the age of it just a thought??

 

[Sprint'n'Go]

I had my ML in last week for a new throttle cable and was chatting to the service manager he said they had just had an ML in which was vibrating badly and found it to the worn engine mountings which were replaced under warranty, he gave the impression that the car was quite new but I didnt ask the age of it just a thought??

As I thought, there has been another thread on this topic in the last few weeks. See here - http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=17962

Has the car always had the vibration from the start of your ownership? If not then I think you can discount flatspots from standing still for too long, 12k in 8 months or 18k/pa is reasonably high usage.

Another thread on ML vibrations has just occured to me. Apparantly the gearbox oil cooler can become perforated internaly allowing coolant into gearbox oil which shows up as a vibration. If I remember the thread correctly once the vibration is noticable its to late and time for a new box and this happened in quite a new motor. Could be worth checking the gearbox oil for emulsification.

Hope this helps.

 

[psmart]

It's weird, as it is not consistent. Sometimes its more noticable than others. Someties it feels as though its coming through the floor, other times through the steering.

This is a crucial point in my thinking, wheel balance is normally felt through the steering wheel, as is wheel bearings. Drivetrain, albeit vibrations can travel, I wouldnt think would vibrate the steering wheel.

 

[Beancounter]

Thanks to everyone who'se taken the time to reply - I appreciate it!

Looks like I'm off to the MB Dealer (again!). Alternatively, I might get my local village mechanic to look at the things on this thread.

If all else fails, I'll buy the TVR i've been promising myself and pass the ML to my wife!!

 

[psmart]

pass the ML to my wife!!

Do you really want to send the wife out in a humongous 4x4 vibrator

With you there on the TVR's, always drooled on them when they had the V8 lump aka my SDI VDP, but now with the speed 6 etc..... perhaps when you've got one, you should take SLinkYjoe (SLK AMG) out for a showdown.....

 

[oigle]

Thanks PSMART and PANASON1C.

The car has only covered 14000 miles. The first year of its life it only covered 2000, so could have been sitting unmoved for some time and maybe the tyres have flat spots.

I've put the remaining 12000 on in the last 8 months. Is there any way of having the tyres checked for flat spots?

i don't fancy having to pay for a full set of contis if it's a case of trial and error, especially as they have hardly any wear!!

Your thoughts are appreciated!:-D :-D

My thoughts are with a set of flatspots after such a period of no mileage in its first year. Flatspots can be checked by jacking car and placing a pointer close to centre of the tread of the tyre at 90° to the tread and slowly manually rotating the tyre. Flatspots and out of round tyres usually show up as the distance from the pointer to the tyre varies as it rotates.
On another point, the size of your tyres - 275 - will add to the issue. They are huge for that vehicle. The standard ones are usually 255's and I have found 235's to be much softer riding with less tramlining etc. and good accurate steering. I kept them on the 8 inch rims as they are just within the tolerance of that size. As an aside, they are a heck of a lot cheaper too!! I used 235/65/17, which give the same rolling radius as the 255/55/17 which are standard. I also have found Contis to be a very hard riding tyre. A flatspot will have a much bigger effect with the wider tread too - more width of flatspot hitting the road each rotation.
The engine mount issue would not enter in to this issue, I wouldn't think, and I doubt there is any transmission issue either.

 

[oigle]

I had my ML in last week for a new throttle cable and was chatting to the service manager he said they had just had an ML in which was vibrating badly and found it to the worn engine mountings which were replaced under warranty, he gave the impression that the car was quite new but I didnt ask the age of it just a thought??

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=15521

Suggest you check out this thread re throttle cable problems. New cables usually don't fix the problem, presuming, like most people, you are having a sticking cable problem.