Thank you all for your comments- wow, what a response! Here is an update.
The sound can be described as the kind of sound / clunk that one would get
by taking a rubber mallet and hitting the underside frame of the car while
driving. It makes this sound when EITHER wheel hits an uneven patch of
road. It is a kind of thump and hollow sound.
Another obversation- the car tracks perfectly, as good as it gets.
I'm going to go ahead and change the sway bar bushing out- they look a bit
loose. Can I just take the bar off for a test? The bushings are cheap, but
take a week to get.
Thank for continued help. John
John Petesron
'91 300D 2.5 74k
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marshall Booth" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Mercedes mailing list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 3:56 PM
Subject: Re: [MBZ] 124 Sway Bar Bushings?
John Peterson wrote:
Regarding my front end clunk on bumps at low speeds, someone suggested
that
I check / replace the front anti-sway bar bushings. Parts are cheap,
$30,
and it is DIY job. Does anyone think this could be the clunk (dealer
says
new control arms and bushings but I doubt this at 74k) I am trying to get
rid of? Any way to test the anti-sway bushings? I found the rubber
hard,
but not rock hard. It is very hard to tell where front end sounds are
coming from
There seems to be a rush to condemn the ball joints now. I've NEVER
experienced "clunks on bumps at low speeds" when the ball joints were
bad (but if they are REALLY bad they could I suppose). That HAS been a
consistent presenting symptom with bad sway bar bushings. Bad ball
joints (as well as bad rear suspension links) do permit the front end to
seem "nervous" requiring a lot of attention when driving at highway
speeds. In my experience, ball joints outlast sway bar bushings by at
least 3:1. Control arm bushings and ball joints usually last AT LEAST
200kmi miles (and can last a lot longer if you drive 20+kmi a year).
Early sway bar bushings however, often failed after 4-6 years and even
the revised ones might not be expected to last more than 100-150kmi. I
have revised bushings on two cars, but they don't have even 75kmi on
them and that's true of MOST people that have replaced the bushings on
124s.
Marshall
--
Marshall Booth (who doesn't respond to unsigned questions)
"der Dieseling Doktor" [EMAIL PROTECTED]
'87 300TD 182Kmi, '84 190D 2.2 229Kmi, '85 190D 2.0 161Kmi, '87 190D 2.5
turbo 237kmi
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