rear suspension clunk

[s30pt]

Hello, I am getting a metallic clunk from the rear of my 2001 c200k. It only does it now and again is usually on bumpy surface, but also seems to happen when weight is transfered from one side to another. It happened very rarley but is now quite often. The car has had a b service, mot, and checked by two suspension experts who can find nothing. I am reluctant to take to mb dealer (rip off prices). I have just made a 1500 mile round trip to france but before i set out on the first 500mile part i sprayed wd40 on all bushes and any bolt i could get to and even though i was full loaded i had no noise what so ever. during my stay it started again but on my return trip i again sprayed wd40 and again no noises. i believe this is a fairly common problem.
Any help would be good. Thanks PT

 

[turnipsock]

fair chance it's the rubber mounts that hold the rear axle to the car.

If you jack up the car and support it with axle stands at the jacking points and take the wheels off. Then stick a trolly jack under the axle and jack it up and down you can see if the mounts are damaged.

I had a lot of trouble changing mine, but could do it quite quickly now I know what is going on.

I had a thread about it somewhere.

The big problem I noticed was, when cornering hard, the back end would suddenly take a lurch.

(I'm guessing that axle design hasn't changed much from the W124)

 

[alancolvin]

I had a simlar problem on my C240 W203 2001.

In my case it was a loud 'bong' rather than a clunk. The cause was a broken rear road spring - from reading other threads this seems to occur quite often.

Jack up each rear road wheel in turn. Remove the wheel and look at the very bottom coil of the road spring. They seem prone to fracture.

If that's the cause, I suggest you buy the replacement spring from an MB parts dept. - they have a formula which takes into account the weight of all the optional extras on the car to arrive at the correct spring part number - there's a large range and it's important to get a spring with the right characteristics for your car's weight.

 

[leec692003]

springs

just had exactly the same on my c180 w203 and the garage missed it twice so i had a look for myself, turned out that both springs were snapped off at the last six inches or so, you need to get your back wheel off and get your head in to have a good look with a decent light. i also agree with your chassie number mb will match the springs with the right set. mine rides alot better now aswell!!