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Got away with a stupid move.....So far....

Fordum

Fordum

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OK, I had a cookout and dove shoot to go to this afternoon, but a friend's power converter/battery charger on his camper had bit the dust and I was trying to get it going beforehand.

The cookout was at his camper, so that helped a little. I had checked the unit out yesterday, and the main fuse on the board was blown.
He said the camper had taken a lightning surge, but that seemed to be the only problem.

Darn fuse was a solder-in pigtail type. Normally not a problem, but I was at the farm.
So, bright and early, I hit the road in the M-class to try to find a fuse. I had no chance of finding a solder in, so I was looking for a 250volt 15 amp glass cartridge fuse and an in line fuse holder.

Finally found one at a hardware store across the river bridge. The fuse holder I got at an automotive store.
I was headed back. I figured I could solder the holder on the board and put the fuse in.
But, I remembered I needed cat food. Swung by the Dollar General to get a big bag of the cheap stuff.
Hey, they are cats. If it were a dog, I'd get the good stuff. These cats can take what they get and like it.
If they don't, there are lots of rats around the farm.

Pulled out of the parking spot, feeling good. I had all the parts, I was way ahead of time, and everything was lining up.

Suddenly all hell broke loose under the car. LOUD grinding ringing sound. I pulled over in the parking lot, and got down to look. I was hoping I had picked up a piece of steel wire on a driveshaft or something.

Did not see a thing. Go back in and tried backing up. Same noise, no change.
Hitting the brake did not change it, so it was not a brake shoe problem. Turning the steering and driving in circles changed nothing, nor did kicking the tranny out of gear and coasting.

After looking under a couple more times, I had to make a decision.

It was about 15 miles back to the farm, but about 3 blocks to my mechanic's shop.
He was closed, but I figured I could creep there, park the car and call someone to come get me.
When I got home, I could get in the truck, go back and get my stuff out of the car.
I had a laptop, rifle, pistol, shotgun, and lots of electronic equipment in there that I did not want to leave over the weekend.

I turned on my E-flashers and started down the highway at about 25. The noise was almost enough to set my teeth on edge like nails on a chalkboard.
And it was getting louder. People were turning around and looking as I drove by.

Suddenly, just as I was signaling my turn into the shop, it went "PING" and the noise stopped!
I got into the lot, climbed out and looked under again. Still did not see anything.
The car is just too low for me to crawl under.

I drove back and forth, turned circles, no noise.

At this point, all my years of mechanical knowledge, common sense, and general smarts flew right out the window........

I thought of all the stuff in the car, all the things I needed to do, what a hassle it would be to come back and unload it all..............

Its only about 15 miles............
Its not making the noise any more............
If something goes wrong, I can walk 100, maybe 150 yards.......

It would be incredibly stupid to try to drive that car home. I am IN THE MECHANIC"S PARKING LOT!!!




Yeah, I did............

I visualized the drive home, and worked out about where the halfway point was.
I eased out of the parking lot, pointed the nose West, and started out.

Windows down, radio off, listening for the first hint of a grinding noise.
Chickened out at 50mph, locked the cruise control in at that speed so I would not go faster.
Hit the halfway point, no noise, kept going. Stupid car never made a strange noise all the way home.

Its parked until Monday or Tuesday. I'll drive the truck into work Monday, probably take Tuesday off and see if I can get the car back to the shop.

Still cannot believe I did that. If you could have heard that noise..........

At this point, I am beginning to suspect the rear driveshaft saddle bearing. Why it even has one I have no idea. The rear shaft is about one half the length of my truck, which does not have one.
The rear diff is bolted directly to the frame, since it has independent rear axles.
The drive shaft is a straight line to the diff, with no flexing over bumps. But, for some strange reason, they have a saddle bearing about 8 inches from the rear end.
It went out once before, and I seem to remember it made a similar noise.

I'll post a final result when I find out.
 
Fordum said:
OK, I had a cookout and dove shoot to go to this afternoon, but a friend's power converter/battery charger on his camper had bit the dust and I was trying to get it going beforehand.

The cookout was at his camper, so that helped a little. I had checked the unit out yesterday, and the main fuse on the board was blown.
He said the camper had taken a lightning surge, but that seemed to be the only problem.

Darn fuse was a solder-in pigtail type. Normally not a problem, but I was at the farm.
So, bright and early, I hit the road in the M-class to try to find a fuse. I had no chance of finding a solder in, so I was looking for a 250volt 15 amp glass cartridge fuse and an in line fuse holder.

Finally found one at a hardware store across the river bridge. The fuse holder I got at an automotive store.
I was headed back. I figured I could solder the holder on the board and put the fuse in.
But, I remembered I needed cat food. Swung by the Dollar General to get a big bag of the cheap stuff.
Hey, they are cats. If it were a dog, I'd get the good stuff. These cats can take what they get and like it.
If they don't, there are lots of rats around the farm.

Pulled out of the parking spot, feeling good. I had all the parts, I was way ahead of time, and everything was lining up.

Suddenly all hell broke loose under the car. LOUD grinding ringing sound. I pulled over in the parking lot, and got down to look. I was hoping I had picked up a piece of steel wire on a driveshaft or something.

Did not see a thing. Go back in and tried backing up. Same noise, no change.
Hitting the brake did not change it, so it was not a brake shoe problem. Turning the steering and driving in circles changed nothing, nor did kicking the tranny out of gear and coasting.

After looking under a couple more times, I had to make a decision.

It was about 15 miles back to the farm, but about 3 blocks to my mechanic's shop.
He was closed, but I figured I could creep there, park the car and call someone to come get me.
When I got home, I could get in the truck, go back and get my stuff out of the car.
I had a laptop, rifle, pistol, shotgun, and lots of electronic equipment in there that I did not want to leave over the weekend.

I turned on my E-flashers and started down the highway at about 25. The noise was almost enough to set my teeth on edge like nails on a chalkboard.
And it was getting louder. People were turning around and looking as I drove by.

Suddenly, just as I was signaling my turn into the shop, it went "PING" and the noise stopped!
I got into the lot, climbed out and looked under again. Still did not see anything.
The car is just too low for me to crawl under.

I drove back and forth, turned circles, no noise.

At this point, all my years of mechanical knowledge, common sense, and general smarts flew right out the window........

I thought of all the stuff in the car, all the things I needed to do, what a hassle it would be to come back and unload it all..............

Its only about 15 miles............
Its not making the noise any more............
If something goes wrong, I can walk 100, maybe 150 yards.......

It would be incredibly stupid to try to drive that car home. I am IN THE MECHANIC"S PARKING LOT!!!




Yeah, I did............

I visualized the drive home, and worked out about where the halfway point was.
I eased out of the parking lot, pointed the nose West, and started out.

Windows down, radio off, listening for the first hint of a grinding noise.
Chickened out at 50mph, locked the cruise control in at that speed so I would not go faster.
Hit the halfway point, no noise, kept going. Stupid car never made a strange noise all the way home.

Its parked until Monday or Tuesday. I'll drive the truck into work Monday, probably take Tuesday off and see if I can get the car back to the shop.

Still cannot believe I did that. If you could have heard that noise..........

At this point, I am beginning to suspect the rear driveshaft saddle bearing. Why it even has one I have no idea. The rear shaft is about one half the length of my truck, which does not have one.
The rear diff is bolted directly to the frame, since it has independent rear axles.
The drive shaft is a straight line to the diff, with no flexing over bumps. But, for some strange reason, they have a saddle bearing about 8 inches from the rear end.
It went out once before, and I seem to remember it made a similar noise.

I'll post a final result when I find out.
Click to expand...
It's a Mercedes it has to have carrier bearings and multiple pieces.
Even my 250 and my 220 had them.
I believe they made things smoother no risk of a long shaft whipping out of shape.
 
Oops, forgot about that.

Yeah I did. But, as I suspected, it only revealed more problems. I had ohmed it out, but under full voltage the new fuse blew.

I had checked the bridge rectifier, and some other parts, but after closer inspection a couple of the capacitors were blown.

Not all that expensive, but it looks like the main IC may be fried. I don't know if its off the shelf or proprietary, but even disassembling it enough to get the numbers off is rapidly reaching the point of diminishing returns.

I got him through the weekend with a battery charger, and suggested he order this replacement.

http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Dynamics-PD4645-Converter-Upgrade/dp/B002OR2FIW

Its the same one that is in there now. 5 wires and a ribbon cable and its done.

He says that the charger works so well, he is going to run that until hunting season and then order the new unit.
If he were trying to use the 12 volt system to power any audio type equipment like a radio or CB, he would have problems, because the charger is putting a lot of noise on the line.

But just for lights and the gas heater fan, its fine.

When he gets a new one, I may grab the old one to tinker with. I'm using a 600 watt computer power supply to run my video cameras and infrared lights around the farm, but it would be nice to have a "free" backup.
 
I had a phone call once with a buddy who had a similar story. The grinding sound, not the rest of it :)

Turned out he somehow had a rock stuck in his caliper. It came out pretty quick, and the sound stopped! I have never heard of such a thing (nor has it happened to me).

Clay
 
I think ccarley nailed it - the last generation Jeep Grand Cherokee and Commander had many shared parts with the M class Merc's. I don't know for sure if the brakes were common parts, but my wife's Commander has had small rocks wedge between the front rotor and the dust shield. It makes a very loud, shrieking noise like the chalkboard noise you mentioned. It's happened three times with her jeep and twice I've had to remove the wheel and get in there with a screwdriver to set the rock free. The third time it it made the "ping" noise and stopped when the rock happened to pop out on its own.
 
I had considered some kind of brake issue. Either a loose part or a foreign object. But the noise did not change at all when using the brakes, so I discounted it.

It did sound just like something in the brakes.

To update so far, I called my mechanic this morning to make sure he was in, and he was.
I was backing out of the yard, and went past my truck. When I did, I could hear the noise reflecting off the side of it, getting louder.

After getting out to the main dirt road in front of the house, it seemed to quiet off some when I started forward.
I stopped and called my wrecker guy. He had been in the process of taking his roll-back offline for maintenance, and I wanted to be sure it was available. This car does not like to be towed with a wheel on the ground.

He said he intended to start on it this morning, but would hold off until I called. I locked the cruise control in at 40, and made sure I had a good grip on the wheel.
If a wheel bearing locked up, or a wheel fell off, I wanted to be sure I did not get into oncoming traffic on this two lane highway.

Made it to the shop, which was full as I had expected. Called my wrecker guy and told him I made it.
Caught a ride back to the house. No word yet, but I suspected that he would not have a lift free today.
Probably should hear something tomorrow.
 
In a slightly related note, I wanted to pass along a little trick I did Sunday. Its probably not anything new, and most folks here may already have done it.

I knew I was going to have to drive my truck to town on Monday. Ford F250 3/4 ton.
Its got the Ford 10.25 inch rear end, not full floating.
Normally, I change the oil in it every year after hunting season with Amsoil 75W90.
But the last couple of years the river has been down during hunting season, so I have not been fording any deep streams.
So, the axles have not gotten any water in them. So I have been saving my money and not changing the oil.

Due to the Amsoil's lube qualities, I don't have to run any friction modifier for the factory limited slip.
But, after two years, the oil has lost something. If I run it hard, stop and make a slow turn, it sounds like an axle snaps.
Several times.

So, Sunday I decided to put in some modifier until I can get a chance to change the oil.
Crawled painfully under the truck with a 3/8 ratchet. Crawled out faster since I discovered I had parked over a fire ant bed.
Only about 6 stings...........

The rear end has the fill plug on the side of the "snout" right next to the main body of the housing.
I put the ratchet in the square hole, and pulled. Did not even try to move.

Crawled back out, grabbed my 3lb mini sledge. Started whaling away with one hand while holding the ratchet in with the other.
Nothing.

Finally took my pocketknife out and dug the rest of the mud out of the hole, got the ratchet in deeper, pounded some more.
Grabbed my propane torch, heated things, pounded, no luck.

Quit, drove into town, grabbed a tube of modifier in case I actually got it open, and bought the cheapest 3/8 pull handle they had.
Got back home, drove it into the plug, made with the sledge again. Even with the dirt cleaned out, there was no way to put an extension on it and hold it in the hole.
when I put a lot of torque on it, it popped out.

Then I remembered my Porta-Power...........Dragged it out, grabbed the duckbill spreader and the pump.
The set is rated to 10 tons, but the spreader is only 1,000lbs. I put the pull handle in the hole, put the spreader between the pull handle and the welded shock mount on the tube.
Pumped until it bypassed.

Then a 5 foot long piece of PVC schedule 80 on the handle, and the darn plug moved!!

A few ounces of modifier, a few donuts in the field, and the rear end is nice and quiet now.

When you are old and crippled, you have to learn to work smarter.........
 
sam thing happened to my friend's ML, rear driveline carrier bearing failed on the highway at 70mph. i was on the phone with him when it happened and i could hear it clearly, so i know what you mean about the volume of the noise.
 
To update this, got to to the shop, with no noise of course.
My friend drove it, seemed fine. He knows me well enough to know that if I say there is something wrong, there is.
He put it on a lift, nothing seemed loose. Cranked it and let it run in gear. Finally the saddle bearing started wobbling.
No noise, but it was definitely bad.

Put a new one on, drove it, fine. I went by, told him to leave it outside, I would pick it up Sunday.

I had a big birthday party to go on Sunday not far from there, and got Baitfish2 to pick me up on the way and drop me off to get my car.

As I was driving back to the party, another friend called, and was in the woods behind my house setting up deer stands and had developed a bad battery.

I swung by the party, told them what was going on and headed to the farm. Bout 15 miles away.
Car drove fine, no noise.

My friend in the woods said he would walk out to the gate next to my fence and meet me. But he did not have a key to that gate.
I put my big jumpoff box in the truck, threw in a big balloon tired dolly, and headed to the gate.

It was about a mile to his truck, and my jumpoff box weighs about 60lbs. Got to the gate just as he walked up.
Climbed out and went to look at the lock.

I have some skills, and certain tools, so he was able to climb in the truck and I drove him back to his truck.

I left him the jumpoff box, and told him I would leave the lock unlocked so he could lock the gate back when he left.
Drove back to the farm, climbed back into the car and drove back to the party.

Car did fine both ways, and on the way home.

This morning, I climbed in the car, backed out and headed to work. Got about 100 yards down the road, and CREAK, GRIND, the noise was back!!

So, I backed up to the gate, swapped my stuff back into the old reliable F250, and headed to work.

I did not get home in time to take the car back, so I will have to drive the truck tomorrow if its not raining.
The windshield wipers suddenly died last week on it. Acted like it was the switch. Pulled the switch this weekend and checked, not the switch.

Figured I would replace the motor this week, but now it needs to roll.

If its not one thing.............

I think if it rains in the morning, I will call in and tell my partner to handle things, take my car back to the shop and grab a wiper motor while I am there.

The saga continues..............
 
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