Rodinal

If my 06 R350 is on the list (which is a mystery to me), should I worry past 95 000 miles ?

I have read in many places that all the 2006 are affected. I have read in many other places that 5-10% of 2006's are affected. What's the final answer on that 8 years later?

josworth

Mine is at 100k and fine....so far...

Again, the only thing that I can say to you that is factual is that yes approximately 10% fail.

The consensus that I have read is that it is likely to occur between 40k and 70k... but that does not mean it doesn't happen at higher miles and mine could end up with the issue...

If it does, then I will worry about it when it happens... I'm not going to sweat it now.

Personally I believe that ours is fine since we haven't had any hiccups engine or transmission wise.

CJonesatl

I'm glad the law suit is going through. Found $$ for me. The full $4k worth. 2006 vehicles are affected.

geniushanbiao

I think my 2007 is on the affected list. Today the check engine light is on and reads P1208. I think it's the sprocket issue. It has only 82k miles. What should I do next? Contact dealer? What am I going to get from the dealer?

CJonesatl

From how I read the class action notice I think I'd go to a dealer. They should straight up fix it. Mine happened two years ago so I had to come out of pocket but will now thankfully get reimbursed. My dealer wanted $5k. I found a local shop who did it for right at $4k. It's big $$

geniushanbiao

Called the stealership last week and dropped the vehicle off today they have to do a diagnostic. Haven't heard back from them. But when I called they asked me whether I received the notice. Anyone received the notice? What does it talk about?

geniushanbiao

Basically the stealership quoted me for $7600 and I asked them if there's any way to reduce it they say no, apparently because I never do service there(I'm 30 miles from them and I don't want to drive that far for an oil change) despite the fact that I just bought a new C-class from them. Actually when I called them the guy I talked to said it's going to be covered at least partially so I brought it in. It's apparently a trap and wasted me $132 for the diagnosis and 4 hours round trip(I dropped the vehicle and took train back, then took train plus taxi there to pick it up). This again proved that stealer is stealer plus vampire and we should keep away from them.

Also the technician asked me for maintenance record and specifically told me that if I didn't change oil regularly this could happen because of that. This pissed me off seriously and made me feel that they are just discriminating customers like me who don't like to let them work on the car regularly. An experienced technician should be able to easily tell if the oil was changed regularly when he opens the engine cover and there's really no need to ask the customer for record. Plus everybody knows the balance shaft issue is a manufacturer issue and it's not related to oil change.

I called the MB USA customer service and asked about the class action and they gave me a website: balanceshaftsettlement.com. Based on what I can see, the class action is not settled yet but expect to settle in August. While now we can file the claim. What they agree is this: within 4yr/50k miles, 100% cover(of course, it's in warranty). Over 4yr/50k but less than 8yr/80k, cover 70%. Over 8yr/80k but less than 10yr/125k, cover 37.5%. Mine is 07 with 82k so they only cover 37.5% even if I persuade them to do. That brings the quote down to $4750 which is similar or more expensive than if I find an indy shop to do it. The settlement states that I have to do it at dealer to get this partial reimbursement. Again this is a useless settlement and as a loyal MB customer, one still has to pay several thousand dollars to fix something MB should recall and get it fixed for free.

So I'm right now debating with my wife. She wants to trade it in for another one(probably GL or Suburban/Yukon). I want to fix it by myself(I have most of the tools and knowledge and I have done transmission rebuild before this is really not a difficult job for me but just takes time, something she doesn't like). Basically if I do the work the cost would be just about $500-600 for the parts(ecstuning has a big kit for $400 plus possibly some coolant hoses and coolant, engine oil, etc) and some $300 for the tool(an engine crane and stand).

Any thoughts?

josworth

This is only my advice and or opinion...

I assume it is your wife's vehicle...

She wants to get rid of it so if you force the issue of keeping it, every little thing is going to be an issue moving forward.

You will get beat up on the trade with the light on. But find out what the "difference" would be if you made the repair. If it is more than the cost to do it, then make the repair to boost your trade value. If not, just dump it.

Trust me... as soon as our trouble free 06 starts to make trouble... away it goes.. no matter how much we like it now..

As for the dealership.... man that seems to me that due to the suit they are padding the bill... just saying.

geniushanbiao

Actually this is my vehicle. She mainly drives her C300. Currently the check engine light goes on and off and I found that if I run in local the light goes off but if I go on highway for about 5-10 minutes the light comes on. So I guess the problem is at very early stage and it's a good time to trade it in since I can manage to keep the CEL off as long as the dealer doesn't test it on highway.

The stealership is not going to pay for it but MBUSA pays for it.

geniushanbiao

OK so I finally decided to fix it by myself. I got a 1 ton engine stand for $30(only used once) and a brand new 1 ton engine crane for $150 from ebay(on the way). I ordered the kit from MB stealer for less than $400(very similar price compared to ECStuning so I decided to order from the stealer). Now I'm searching for the WIS but all I can find are for W203 or some other models. I think the procedures are pretty much the same but I have a concern that the W251 engine compartment seems to be somehow shorter than the W203 and it might have difficulty lifting the engine from the above? Anybody that has done this work can give some input?

Also I'm thinking about doing a thorough transmission clean and replace the clutch discs/plates since I have to remove the engine and it'll be really easy to remove the tranny after the engine is out. Is it necessary?