Hi, Has anyone replaced the front driveshaft flex disc on an E320? I have a 1995 E320 Wagon and my local Mercedes shop estimates an hour for labor so I am thinking it couldn't be that bad. Are there pieces of the exhaust system that have to be removed to get to it? Do you have to drop the complete driveshaft so that it would smarter to do both the front and rear at the same time? I have 148k miles on this wagon and from what I read on the web having to replace this and the motor mounts is a pretty typical thing that many owners have had to do even sooner.
The local Mercedes dealership quoted my wife $275 parts and labor for replacing the frontflex disc and $518 for replacing the motor mounts. If the rear flex disc is going to be on its way out soon and I can get to it at the same time as the front I'd rather do it now as I plan to keep the car until the bitter end. I t has been a great car. They gave my wife the scare story of the air bags going off if the flex disc fails catastophically I assume. Although I am sure this could happen as a worst case scenario it sounds pretty dramatic to me since I am not hearing or feeling any kind of thumping or vibration when shifting gears. I suppose a crack wouldn't necessarily cause those symptoms but I would think that Mercedes would have some legal problems on their hands if too many of their customers had air bags deploy unexpectedly.
On the same subject can anyone recommend an online source for parts like these...the flex disc and motor mounts? They are definitely not down at my local Advance Auto store. I have seen some online for around $80 but they were not for the correct year (1995). I hope the fact that it is a wagon doesn't make any difference.
Thanks very much, Jim Lee
Very satisfied owner of a 1995 E320 Wagon with 148k miles.