SL320 | Broken DriveShaft | R129 1995

By | January 7, 2016

The unthinkable happened. The Driveshaft in my SL320 broke.

I stopped at a traffic light on a steep hill and didn’t use parking break. When the light turned green I accelerated hard whilst the car slid back slightly due to the steepness of the hill. Capow! The drive shaft broke; luckily there were no cars behind me and I was able reverse the car into a space on a flat road whilst I waited for a towing truck to come round.

What happened to the car after the drive shaft broke:-

  • Doesn’t matter which gear you try to go into the car went backwards (because I was on a hill)
  • Even in P the car would go backwards
  • The engine sound is on completely normal
  • When you are in P you might hear a slight clicking noise

When I told my indie that I think the driveshaft broke he replied and said that doesn’t happen. Having heard my story he originally thought that it was a transmission issue but after inspection he realised that it was indeed the drive shaft breaking. He said that he’s never seen this on a Merc in his 50 year career fixing cars.

Anyone else experienced the same thing?

SL320