W124 - New Rear Absorbers and praak praak praak

 Executive Summary:

Aligning of the long shaft, replacement of the rear absorbers and replacing of the front left control arm and idler arm bush.

Details:

I decided to take a drive to Pasir Gudang with my father-in-law. The intent was to give the Rhino some miles as it has never been on a long trip and at the same time meet Dr Gan of MB Auto Garage who is a specialist with the older Mercedes.

We started off from Seremban at 7:30am and the journey would take us just below three hours. The drive was good and i was taking notes on the feedback. I noticed that:

1. There was some free play on the steering
2. There were some vibrations above 130kmh which is odd as the long shaft mounting has been replaced
3. The temperature was below the half mark throughout the drive 
4. Fuel consumption was okay, not great
5. The high-speed handling is poor

Upon reaching Gan's place, he hoisted the car and immediately pointed out that:

1. The long shaft is not fully aligned, it was off by just one click
2. The front control arm and idler arm is wobbling
3. The rear absorbers are worn out and have hardened

Gan's team got to work and had the parts ordered, while waiting they removed the faulty parts and has the new parts replaced, it took about an hour to remove the parts but we waited longer for the replacement parts.

The fitting of the parts took about an hour as well and I have to say, I have not seen 4 people working on the car simultaneously like I did at Gan's. The long shaft was also marked and realigned to specification.

Once all the work was done, an alignment on all 4 wheels was done. We went for a ride and most of the issue that I complain about was rectified except one, there was a play of idling where the engine will not idle still and there is a play of RPM alternating between up and down. We also noticed that the steering was not straight

When we returned, the car was sent back to the tire man to have the steering wheel straightened. The car was then checked again and it was found that one of the vacuum hose was disconnected which resulted in an unstable idling. The vacuum hose was reattached and the problem is gone!

It was time to head back to Seremban and the drive was much better, I am happy that the vibration was gone but more importantly, the car handles very well and held itself solid even in the corners.

Just as we were about to exit the highway, at the toll gate, I noticed a new noise from the rear that went Praak... Praak every time the car had a little bounce. We stopped to check and isolate the noise, but could not determine where it was from. I was wondering if I was dragging any parts that were making this noise.

The following day, I took it to the mech to have it checked and the diagnosis was worn out rear balljoint bushes. My only logic to this was that with the new absorbers, the rear movement between the frame and subframe has increased which would have been a tab bit of a stretch for the old bushing hence its service ended abruptly.

It took an hour for the bushes to be extracted and replaced. The mech also dissected the old bush to show that the grease has completely dried up and the rubber has disintegrated hence the failure.

It is good to know that the car runs well and was able to take a 620km drive day well.

Hot Tip:

Do expect more repairs or parts to be replaced especially when replacing absorbers after the car has been sitting for a long time or if the absorber has been faulty for a long time. The extra travel from a set of new absorbers will put pressure onto the bushing and linkages which would suddenly spoilt.