In reply to FJ40Jim :
That doesn't surprise me at all, unfortunately. I think a lot of it is that so much of that type of manufacturing has already moved to China because cheap that even if you wanted to have it made somewhere else you'd probably have to build the factory yourself at this point. Which, of course, would make it more than just a little more expensive.
wae said:In reply to Glutton4pain :
Yeah, I'm not really sure what problem those clips are supposed to be solving.
Assembly line workers need less technique skill to assemble a reliable car, for one. Snap it together and go, no need to put a clamp in the right place or do a torque spec.
Hose clamps will weep air in sometimes, even if they don't leak coolant out, so having an O ring solves that problem too. Some modern coolants turn to mud or jelly when air gets in them, so this helps eliminate warranty headaches.
I mean, yeah, they absolutely suck to work with after they have been assembled for ten years, but they have their advantages from a manufacture standpoint.
wae said:
They used to have such nice hose clamps, too....
Indeed! I used to make a point of grabbing the easy to get upper rad hose clamps off of Mercs & Volvos during the Saturday AM JY stroll.
Them was the good old days.
Okay, I'm really starting to wonder what the hell is going on with this thing. Just got a text from the service advisor saying that they had to order some wiring connectors.
wae said:Okay, I'm really starting to wonder what the hell is going on with this thing. Just got a text from the service advisor saying that they had to order some wiring connectors.
Sounds like the swirl motor might not have been bad, but the wiring was.
eastsideTim said:wae said:Okay, I'm really starting to wonder what the hell is going on with this thing. Just got a text from the service advisor saying that they had to order some wiring connectors.
Sounds like the swirl motor might not have been bad, but the wiring was.
Maybe. It definitely got more bad - I started with driving fine just with the check engine light and a really loud cold idle that went away like a switch as soon as the engine hit right about the 80° mark and then it progressed to also being in limp. It will limp for a resistance problem with the motor itself, but not for a motor with good resistance but implausible readings on the swirl flap sensors. Way back when I first bought it, the exhaust downpipe wasn't connected to the turbo and it caused very hot exhaust gasses to spread through the engine compartment and that literally melted the swirl motor, some wiring, and the fuel rail pressure sensor. When they went to replace the swirl motor a couple months ago, they also had to replace the connector for one of the swirl motor sensors because it had melted. And I also always kind of thought that it was a little louder than maybe it should be when I got it back from Wyler, but it is a diesel after all. I'm wondering if Wyler didn't close the exhaust up and it's melting things.
Jesus F Christ, I don't understand why Mercedes doesn't simply offer to buy these cars back and crush them.
I can only imagine what they're going to go through with their current crop of first gen EV's with their fancy touch screens, computers, software and subscriptions. That's all going to be very outdated and broken in 5 years. The class action lawsuits are going to be fun to watch.
In reply to Glutton4pain :
I suspect that by the time I go and pick mine up, it will have had a total of about $30k of work - at retail rates, of course. And I've got another 36,000 miles to go! I would love to have seen the rationale that they used to decide to not buy them back.
More evidence of the top quality work provided by the Benz dealer in the course of the emissions recall.
The rear cargo bay was emptied out to access the little hydraulic pump for power liftgate. It was wet & stinky and very crystalline down there, under the floor & molded styrofoam. At first I thought it was rainwater & maybe roadsalt? But no, it's a major spillage of panther piss. The tank is under the rear floor and the filler port is accessed through a large hole in the black styrofoam tool holder/sound deadener. As part of the recall, the urea tank is filled. Apparently somebody missed the fill hole by a not insignificant amount.
I spent a beautiful afternoon cleaning piss out of the bottom of the cargo hold, washing off the wire harness, shop-vaccing the washed floor, drying things, etc. It's back together and working well now.
Thanks, highly skilled MB service personnel!
In reply to FJ40Jim :
Ugh!
Hey. Uh, wait a minute. They filled the catpiss tank as part of the recall? Those motherberkeleyers charged me about 3-4 times what I would pay at Costco to fill my tank. And I didn't ask them to do that, they just took it upon themselves to fill it and put it on my bill.
Got the call about a half hour ago that der Scheißwagen is ready to go. Allegedly. I can't get away yet this afternoon, but I'm going to go up first thing tomorrow morning and see how they did!
"WG CONTACTS IN PLUG TO M55 INTAKE MANIFOLD SHUTOFF MOTOR WERE DAMAGED CONNECTED SDS,
CONNECTED BATTERY CHARGER, CHECKED FAULTS. FOUND FC FOR OPEN CIRCUIT IN THE M55 INTAKE MANIFOLD TUMBLE FLAP
MOTOR. CHECKED POWER, GROUND, AND SIGNAL WIRES TO MOTOR AND FOUND PROPER VOLTAGE. REMOVED PASSENGER
FRONT FENDER LINER AND REMOVED CDI CONTROL UNIT. CHECKED CONTINUITY FROM M55 MOTOR TO CDI AND FOUND GOOD.
REMOVED TURBO CHARGER AND OPENED PLASTIC COVER OF WIRING HARNESS TO INSPECT WIRING FOR DAMAGE. NO DAMAGE
FOUND. PERFORMED PIN DRAG TEST OF M55 MOTOR PLUG AND FOUND LOOSE CONTACT. REPLACED ALL 3 SOCKETS IN M55
MOTOR PLUG. ASSEMBLED VEHICLE AND TEST DROVE. NORMAL OPERATION RESTORED"
They actually did diagnosis?
My thoughts exactly. Good on 'em.
I am kind of shocked! I'm also kind of shocked that the warranty covers that. The wiring harness isn't called out as a covered component in the warranty.
I'm starting to think that at some point in its life, der Scheißwagen leaked oil on an Indian burial ground or something.
They called me yesterday and told me it was ready to pick up. I got an email and a text message from their automated system telling me the same thing. So I drove on up there this morning. Turned in the loaner and meandered out to the service entrance garage area to wait for them to pull the car around. They drove the loaner through the garage back to the service area. Then the loaner came back from the service area and parked in the garage. The service advisor then got out, came over to me, and said there was a "computer glitch" and my car is not actually ready - it was still in the service bay. So they put me back in the loaner and sent me home, telling me that they're going to deliver my car to me at the end of the day.
To be clear, I am 100% not upset. I am, however, 100% amused.
Oh, also, I'm not convinced that this was actually covered by the warranty. I suspect that they may have erred in not giving me an estimate or anything ahead of time. My invoice shows $57 in parts to replace the connector followed by a discount of the same amount under the discount code of "competitor coupon".
Phone rang. It was the Mercedes dealer. "Great!" thought I. "He's heading out and will be here in about 45 minutes to an hour, with traffic".
But it was not to be.
He said that apparently, while the technician was finishing the work and buttoning everything up, a clip broke. So they've ordered the new clip and they're hoping it will be in tomorrow.
This is just absolutely hilarious.
This thread is an amazing homage to dedication and cursed stubborness.
It has also cured me of any desire to ever own a MB that isn't a 190 Evolution (or Evo II). Because I have my weakness and that is one if them.
I hadn't heard anything from them yet and I had places to be this evening so I rang them up. So I have today's edition of Dude, where's my car?
They were ready to be finished but some system somewhere told them they needed to do some sort of software update. They tried to connect to the car to perform said update but it failed so they've opened a case with Mercedes. Maybe tomorrow or Friday is the new estimate.
This is just gold.
How long has the car been at the dealer now?
In reply to Glutton4pain :
For this particular go-around, it's been there since the 1st of May.
Given that they provided me a loaner car, it really doesn't bother me. I kind of feel a little bad that my hooptie is tying up so much of their time and a bay in their service area. And I hope that the technician there isn't getting completely boned in terms of his compensation because of it.
In reply to wae :
Is the loaner OK? Keep quiet about der scheiswagen and maybe they forget you have it. When does the loaner tag expire? Gotta turn it in then.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
I actually liked the E350 a little better than the GLE350 I've got right now. The lag between pressing the accelerator and the vehicle downshifting and taking off is disturbingly long. And when it restarts the engine with the auto-on-off system, the whole thing kind of jerks forward a little. The same sensation as you'd get if you had something with a high idle when you put it in to gear. There's also something rattling behind the dash somewhere.
But I'm sure that someone is going to want their $80,000 car back before too much longer! But if they don't, I'm good until 2025.
Extended warranty companies are eagerly awaiting the next chapter....
wae said:I am kind of shocked! I'm also kind of shocked that the warranty covers that. The wiring harness isn't called out as a covered component in the warranty.
I think the warranty is supposed to more broadly cover anything that needs repaired to turn off a MIL or pass an emissions test.
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