oblu

I was doing a project in my driveway today, so this morning I fired up the car to move it to the street. Parked it, did my thing and then went to start the car to move it back to the driveway. I look in the rearview to make sure there are no kids around and I notice a massive cloud of blue smoke. And I mean massive; like can't see through it massive.

So I pull it into the driveway, shut it off. I know I've had issues every now and then with cars if you start them up cold and then turn them off a few seconds after. So I just figure it was a one time deal. Checked the oil to make sure I haven't been blowing oil for a long time and not known it; nope oil level is good.

Don't think too much of it. So then I go to run an errand and I'm, of course, watching the rear view. Again, big cloud of blue smoke, worse than last time.

Okay, maybe something just needs to blow itself out.

Drive a few miles to the store, don't notice any smoke at stops. Come out of the store, start it up and cloud of smoke again. Drive home, no cloud at stops. Just for giggles I get on the gas a bit from a light, and sure enough I make a cloud like a clapped out 78 camaro.

Calling dealer service dept first thing tomorrow morning ... this can't be good. Car's got 6500 miles on it.

narky

Wow. Sorry to hear that. It seems like you got the worst of luck with this car, what with all the constant problems you keep having. No wonder you think this car is crap.

I feel for you... hopefully the dealer mechs will resolve the problem, and there are no permanent damages!

ShoremNJ

Silly Question, tried to check my oil today and only found the dipstick at the rear of the engine (I THINK it's the trans stick) how do I check engine oil? A message came up to check oil level at next fill up!

RLE

<<Silly Question, tried to check my oil today and only found the dipstick at the rear of the engine (I THINK it's the trans stick) how do I check engine oil? A message came up to check oil level at next fill up!>>

Heaven forbid you should open the owner's manual which answers your question.

Beyond that, that is the engine dipstick at the rear and there is no trans dipstick. Check the oil before the first start of the day.

From my personal experience going back to 2001 when I bought my C320, all of these oil level warnings are false alarms. My '01's favorite was overfilled crankcase which of course it never was.

Using the dealer laptop, the level parameters can be changed a bit to cut down on the warnings.

imboom

Have you changed the oil yourself?

ShoremNJ

Thank you

Carsy

Have you had any help from the dealer with this problem?

oblu

Update, just took it in today. At this point, with all the little crap I hate about this car, I wasn't thrilled about the idea of wasting a couple of hours of my day at the dealer service dept. But washing my car this weekend I noticed that the driver's mirror turn signal had condensation in it ... that's the last straw.

Service advisor gave me a song and dance about the blue smoke being normal if the car has sat for a few days. "Rings aren't even seated on a car this new, so you'll get some oil pressure blow-by and it'll burn off when you start the car again. Happens on all new cars."

Didn't have it in me to argue with him. In the past ten years, I've had six new (new = < 20 miles on the odometer when I took delivery) and not one of them ever exhibited this behaviour.

But what do I know. Mercedes is awesome, they can do no wrong, the product is perfect ... blah blah blah.

I'm just so done with this overpriced hyndai.

Took it in for:
Blue smoke on startup, sometimes reproduceable by flooring throttle, sometimes not. Always reproduceable if car has sat over the weekend.
Mirrors make screeching noise when folding or unfolding.
Mirrors visibly vibrate when closing doors or driving at freeway speeds.
Driver's side mirror turn signal has visible condensation at all times.
Sunroof makes screeching noise when opening or closing, intermittent.

I figured I'd wait on the rain sensing wiper issue. I don't have a lot of faith that they're going to fix any of the above; instead I strongly suspect they'll grease them up and call it a day.

Sorry to be the cranky guy; I know because I was just like you, that people are on these forums because they like their car. But honestly guys, I urge you to take a long look at the competition next time you go to purchase. Being a longtime Audi/BMW guy I feel like those brands have a lot more value for the money and seem to be built a lot better. Perception is always biased in favor of what you like, but I've never had stupid little issues like this with my other cars ... well I take that back, I had a used Audi A8 that spent 7wks in the shop waiting for a part. But the dealer took great care of me so it didn't leave that bitter of a memory.

I just can't see myself ever being persuaded to buy another Mercedes product. Things that I've had in my other cars for over 10yrs (folding mirrors, rain sensing wipers, memory seats, trim pieces not breaking constantly etc.) and worked flawlessly they just can't seem to get right. I don't get it. And I know that they're tiny little issues but it just starts to add up and snow ball until every time you come back to where you're parked you hope to hell it was stolen or caught fire so you can go buy something different.

Ah, that felt good to get off my chest.

PS. I don't put it down to first model year issues either; I've had plenty of first model year cars (2 BMWs and 2 Audis) that had 0 issues.

dalazernet

Wow! Tell us how you really feel ;-)...

Sorry you had such problems with your vehicle. I too have noticed the side mirrors "jiggle" a little when closing the door, but I don't think too much of it as they are dumbo elephant ears anyway...

I think it all depends on what your looking for. I'm a realist - Mercedes can and will have small annoyances, but it is HIGHLY unlikely that the engine will leave you stranded somewhere *knock on wood*... Between their fanatical approach to safety, I feel like I'm driving my little tank everywhere without the bad gas mileage of a hummer...

Best of luck on your new vehicle, whichever it may be. I happen to still love the BMW 3-series coupe, as well as the new Audi A5 but it all depends if your looking for a 2-door fun car, or 4 door family car.

Sorry you had such problems, but then again I'm still on the honeymoon LOL.

imboom

Wow sounds like you got a pretty afternoon production car. You really should just sell the car already. The more you see problems whether little or small the more pulling your hair you're going to have.

But I agree with dablazernet, I'm also a realist. Every car will have its small annoyances and some of these problems there are small, especially the mirror and sunroof sound. I've had one instance of that happening and took action by rubber/plastic safe lubrication on areas that would need it and never had a problem with them since. *knock on wood*

Now keep in mind I got the car probably at the same time you have and it's hit 6k miles. It's made in Bremen, Germany.

narky

Have you tried contacting MBUSA Customer Assistance directly to voice your concerns? If you are so absolutely sick of the car (if you wish for it to be stolen/blown up), I'd imagine that MBUSA would like to know about it. Your car does seem to have some crazy issues though.

I feel so lucky! My car is exhibiting none of the various issues that I've heard from other members on this forum so far. My only gripe is the douche bag dealership of mine. But that's a purely human error, not mechanical.

oblu

Just as I was expecting, got a call from the service advisor.

Screeching mirrors: normal operation.
Screeching sunroof: normal operation.
Vibrating mirrors: normal operation.
Blue smoke on startup: normal operation.
Condensation: part ordered.

Basically, they didn't bother even looking at it beyond, 'do they fold, yup.' Okay, it's not broken yet, call it normal.

Which is pretty much what I expected; modern automotive service, if it's not broken, throwing a code or known TSB, there's no time to worry about it. Say it's normal and give it back to the customer.

I wish I could sell it; tried to trade it in on an E350 thinking maybe those are built better, and they'd only give me 27k for it.

I'm just super pissy today, tomorrow I'll probably just be back to smoldering ambivalence.

chilledbenz

I can feel your pain, my car just spent a few days in the shop getting a a/c drain plug and line reattached. Thanks to that little goof my back seat was flooded and I mean flooded (good inch and a half) with a/c water. They took the lower dash trim off, the front seat out, the trim around both front and rear door seals and pulled the carpet up. I also have a broken fog light which I'm blaming on poor design or materials as I've had five MB products and none of them ever broke out a fog light. While none of these issues stranded me somewhere, the a/c plug leaking did have a chance of shorting something out and either stranding me or worse, catching fire. Thankfully my service department went the extra mile and replaced everything that was water soaked but I'm still miffed at this car. I've rolled up 7k miles and it feels and looks like its a five year old car. Everything from bad panel gaps, swirls in the paint, a door ding from a badly placed bump strip, squeaks and rattles coming from places I didn't know could squeak or rattle...oh well its paid for and I'm not going to drop more cash just to get out of it. Every Benz I've owned has had one thing or another go wrong, but with this car I was lead to believe they tested it for a million miles and it would be different...ha. By the way, I've said it once I'll say it again, those that have had trouble free cars up to this point really need to have an open mind because sooner or later your going to experience something and feel our pain.

jrct9454

My mind is also open to the possibility that the vast majority of W204 owners will soldier on with very few problems....we can agree to disagree on this topic.

QQQ

Oblu, you get a short straw.

oblu

Just FYI (no more rants) official explanation of blue smoke on my paperwork:

"Suspect oil pressure is leaking down and there is slight oil blow by upon start up. Engine ay still be breaking in depending on how it has been driven initially. This is a normal characteristic of this vehicle."

nyca

sounds like you got a bad dealer. Couldn't they try to spray some WD40 on the mirror to stop the squeaking?

micropower99

They said my loud squeeky mirrors was normal too . Next service I'm bringing it back and telling them to fix it and to cut the crap cause that sound aint normal.

keith100

Mine made an expected whirring noise, fighting a rubber sealer, but I turned them off on day one. What's the point of them? Judging a gap, I'd rather hit a mirror than whack a fender! I haven't noticed if they vibrate when I shut the door, but recently keeping a sharp eye out for an "interested party" ie the cops, they certainly DON'T vibrate at 200k, plus a little. Which seems more important.

Carsy

Hello,

From my experience the oil blowing symptoms can be defective valve stem seals which allows oil to run down the valve stem into the cylinder after the engine is stopped. The oil is then burnt on restarting. I had this problem with my old old Chrysler Hemi!! & it lasted hundreds of thousands of miles. Think positivively of the wonderful upper cylinder lube your engine is receiving.It will probably see YOU out!! Carsy.

tanktube67

I feel you, I think you should contact MBUSA or try another dealer, good luck

atiqa

FYI, although I don't think this even needs to be stated - Squeaky mirrors are not normal.

I brought my car in for this issue and the dealer switched the mirrors out. I haven't heard any "normal" squeaking since.

EmCeeSmith

Sorry to hear about your issues... I'd be upset as well. If you can't stand all of these issues, get rid of it! Life's too short!!!

garyr

Was the car on an incline?? My 08 C300 does the same thing, puffs smoke out the back when left on an incline only (so my wife says )

Mine has 26K miles so it's way beyond it's break-in period.

JFOUR

If I don't let the car run at least until the idle kicks down after a cold start I may have the blue smoke when I start it the next time.

Say if I back my car out of the garage to wash it and not let it run out for at least 60 seconds or so, It will make a pretty big smoke cloud next time I start it.

My remedy is just to let the car run for a while after a cold start = No smoke