Hi there everyone , i am living in vietnam and have bought a 230E 1980 , shes beautiful , but got over some small problems but now i encountered a major one that has me stuffed , and the vietnamese mechanics... After driving maybe one hour if i need to go go up a steep hill , car is working hard , all of a sudden a grinding crunching noise comes from rear left wheel and doesnt go away , when going slow on flat after a really bad grinding noise as if no bearings or something,, then when you speed up and give it , it sometimes finds its spot and runs and sounds ok , but not good ,,,,, but when slowing down again starts to make really bad noise again .. When the car sits for 8 hours or so and drive again no noise at all really strange ..... drive a long way up a hill in the heat and it makes wicked bad grinding noise again.... strange ... Mechanic checked bearings a replaced ,,,, they say that universal joint ok , but im not sure .... im not a mechanic please help greatly appreciated . all the best ant

 

My 380se had a bad parking brake assy in the rear hub and sounded like that. I don't know if the 260e has the same type of park brake or not but you could check your manual.