Posted by Pete Kamm on January 13, 1998 at 03:49:26:
Last year I bought a 64' W200 crew cab from a friend for pretty cheap. It's taken a few long days and nights, but I've now got a beast that I'm pretty happy with. I'm a capable wrencher, but there's one thing I can't figure out,yet.
There's an ugly sounding rattle/grinding noise whenever I'm accelerating in third gear and very slightly in fourth also. It goes away until I hit about 50-55MPH and then it sounds terrible. It seems to dislike high speed "coasting" the most. If I'm going uphill or accelerating at that speed its fine, or if I'm fully coasting its quiet,but the transition is where it sounds like it wants to throw a gear out through the wall of the tranny.
Before I inevitably have to go in deep, has anyone experienced this type of problem? In about a year of owning it I have tried replacing all U-joints, checking for a bad shaft, lots of grease, but it hasn't really helped. The weird thing is that it really doesn't seem to get any worse either! HELP!
Pete in Denver.