brasche

Hi Rodney,

Will you please check my 2007 E350 VIN: WDBUF56X37B071269

Thank You!

Rudeney

M272 #606231 - beyond the balance shaft trouble range.

Rudeney

M272 #503186 - beyond the problem range.

fadjei

Rodney,

Could you please check my vin:
WDBUF56X17B037170 ?

Thanks!

Fred

Rudeney

M272 engine #457374 - it's in the range for potential balance shaft failure.

mgmannin

I have a 2007 e550 with 115k miles. Vin is WDBUF72X07B056522. Is this in the affected range? Appreciate any insight. Love the car, hate all maintenance costs.

Rudeney

Yours has M273 engine #88411, which is (barely!) in the range for potential "balance shaft" failure (it's through #88611).

peterIII

Morning Mr Rodney,

Would you mind checking my 2008 e350? The VIN is WDBUF56X38B252096 and it has 135k miles on it.

Thank you.

Rudeney

No worries on MY2008's - they were all built after the balance shaft problem was found and rectified. But just to be thorough, you have M272 engine #781955. It's beyond the balance shaft problem range as well as the camshaft solenoid problem range. It does still fall within the TSB's "Scenario #3" which is for leaking solenoid seals, but if that occurs, it's an easy and inexpensive fix.

RGP 57

I purchased a 2008 ml350 and a 2008 clk350 from a non mb dealer. The day after I drove home with the ml my cel came on ran rough for about an hour or so and then ran fine the rest of the day. I called my salesmen and he had me bring the car in to their shop. Manager said I had a balance shaft issue and they were going to take care of it, they even rented a car for me, they said they would need the car for about a week. He calls me the next day and says he saw an updated bulletin and said my car was fine. This is making me very nervous since I have an 1800mi road trip coming up next month.

After doing some reasearch on this I came asross this forum and I appreciate all the help I can get.

My question is I looked up my eng # on both of my vehicals and the ml falls into senerio#2 and the clk falls under seniaro#3. I was wondering if I need to be wooried about this problem on both of my vehicals.

Thanks in advance for the help!!!!!

RGP 57

Also I forgot,

I have 113,000mi on the ML350 which has vin# 4JGBB86E28A331667

and the CLK has 48,000mi with vin# WDBTK56F48F250297

Thanks again

Rudeney

Your ML350 has M272 engine #730784.

Your CLK350 has M272 engine #867303.

Neither of your cars have engines in the range for balance shaft failure. My guess is that the dealer you purchased from is just confused with the different scenarios covered in the TSB. Here is a copy of it:

http://benzbits.com/BalanceShaftTSB.pdf

Actual balance shaft failure is scenario #1 and that is a very expensive repair as it requires removing the engine. As you can see from comparing your engine serial numbers, neither of yours fall into this range. This is expected to be the case with MY2008 vehicles as the problem was discovered and rectified before those were built.

The other two scenarios are problems with the camshaft solenoid adjusters, which are just electromagnets bolted on the fronts of the engine heads. They are used to activate the camshaft adjusters for the variable valve timing system. In Scenario #2 (Which your ML350 engine calls under), the magnets are defective and need to be replaced. Although you may only see error codes on one or two of them, I'd replace them all. All four can be bought for about $100 total on parts.com and it's a fairly easy DIY, or maybe a couple of hours of professional labor.

Scenario #3 is just an oil leak (usually no error codes are present). Both of your cars fall under this. The repair is to replace the seals on either the solenoids or the position sensors. Worst case is to replace the solenoids if they are leaking internally. Again, an easy and fairly inexpensive repair.

I guess the real solution here is to get the codes that activated the MIL. They may or may not have anything to do with these issues.

Redbaron536

Hi Rodney

I look to buy a first reg april 2008 280 clk with vin number

WDB2094541F257133.

I suppose the chances are pretty good, but it would be great to have this confirmed before putting down the money coming wednesday... It has 85k on the meter and is otherwise in impeccabel condition.

Great thanks in beforehand if you could check this one as well:_)

RGP 57

Thank you Rudeney You made me feel better

RGP 57

Hey Redbaron if you go through this thread someone had a russian site you can run your vin through and get your eng serial # then there is another post thst has the range of eng#'s that have the balance shaft issues hope this helps

Rudeney

Only MY2007s need to be checked as it was halfway through that build where the problem was found and rectified. So, anything earlier than with an M272 or M273 engine will be "int he range" and anything after (like a MY2008 CLK280) will be beyond the affected range. This one won't have balance shaft problems.

Krzemien74

Hello,

I currently have a 2007 C280 4Matic and would like to find out if my VIN# (engine serial #) is one that is in the range or a good one. Thank you. The VIN# is WDBRF92H57F908804.

tepelena

It great that other people can check to see if your car if impacted by these issues but you can do this yourself.



1. Go to www.MercedesMedic.com/decode
2. Use Option 1 to decode your VIN.
3. You will get your engine serial code. Compare it to these numbers. If you are higher than these numbers you are fine.

Affected Engines Serial Numbers
M272 Engine Up to Serial No. 2729..30 468993
M273 Engine Up to Serial No. 2739..30 088611

You can read more here:

http://www.mercedesmedic.com/check-m...y-vin-m272273/

Redbaron536

Great Tepelena. I tried the russian site mentioned earlier in the tread, but it did not work, even with a russian speaking friend by my side.

BUT, this latest site as mentioned above worked instantly, giving out engine number plus other specs. www.MercedesMedic.com/decode

Time to say a great thanks to Rodney for his efforts and hereafter check by ourselfes!

Rudeney

All I do is lookup the VIN in my local copy of EPC.

SBundlez

Hey Rodney could you look up the vin code WDDNG71X57A118089 for me? I'm trying to buy another car and I don't want that balance shaft issue again. Ever.

Thanks!

Rudeney

M273 engine #118816 - beyond the balance shaft problem range!

gunzofnavarrone

2006 clk500 WDBTK75G16T065905

Can't thank you enough for checking!

Rudeney

The MY2006 CLK500 uses the M113 engine - it's not affected.

esprite

Hi Rudeney,

Please, advice for VIN: WDBTJ56H77F223291 - is it beyond or within the range for potential balance shaft failure.

Thanks, Alex