IF you turn off the ESP be very careful unless you are comfortable with oversteer....Yes just bought the car. The tyres look budget and have about 3mm left on them. If I turn off the ESP will that stop the juddering if it is the tyres that are to blame? Might try it tomorrow if that is the case and report back.
Update..
Checked the tyre condition and pressure - all fine.
Waited for a warm dry day on a good section of flat road and floored it at 15mph. The car accelerated to 30ish then shuddered heavily till I released the accelerator. No ESP light.
I then drove normally to a dual carriage way and tried to floor it again and the car refused to accelerate. I even manually shifted down gear but couldn't get it above 50mph. Stopped the car and started again and went back to the dual carriage way and it was back to normal and accelerated as it should. I got no error or warnings on the dash throughout.
It doesn't feel normal to me.
Thanks, it does sound like exactly the same symptoms.it does sound similar to the problem I have on my R320 https://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/index.php?threads/new-turbo-alternatives.163932/ Diagnosed last week at a Merc specialist as needing a new turbo & actuator .......
It looks to be more accessible on your car than mine.
Thanks, it does sound like exactly the same symptoms.
I will, but it'll be a couple of weeks before I do.Please let me know how you get on.
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STAR test first and then process the fault codes from there.