jaeguyoon

My 2008 C350 is currently in the shop. I woke up saturday ate something walked the dogs and played with them for a bit. Decided to go study for my cisco icnd1 exam coming up soon, when I get to my car I open the door and just felt swampy and musky (this is before I even got in the car, i just opened the door and it just felt like going in a sauna where the hot air just goes into your face). I look inside and there is about 2 inches of water in my drivers side floor, mind you nothing else is wet. At this point I'm thinking what the hell? cos it's a hot *** day and it didn't rain in the morning but it did rain a little bit over night. I'm pissed and worried about my car so I drive to the dealership and of course saturday 2:30 p.m no one is there except some parts guys and the receptionist. They are shocked, I tell them I can't drive this so I make an appointment for monday and they let me leave the car in their garage since it was forecasted to rain that night. The craziest part about this whole incident is that I'm sure it's been happening for awhile now. There has been days especially on hot days where I felt that same swamp dampness in my car, and when I drive really slow and turn I used to hear this water moving sound (which I just thought might have been the gas tank or some tank with liquid in it, my stupidity). And if you guys take a look at your car now when u take the drivers side mat out and lift the floor mat, there is this tank attached to the mat and the bottom of the car is recessed -\__/ <--like that. So for the last god knows how long water has just been sitting there and I guess it just started overflowing caused by the last rain fall.

Monday comes, I go back to the dealership. They tell me water has been leaking through the sunroof area but there is a drain pipe going from that area which dumps the water to the floor of the car (I have no idea if this is true but it makes sense since no other parts of the car was wet except the floor). They later tell me that quite a few things are ****ed up with my car (some sensors and wires that go under the floor mat). Bottom line - about 2800 to fix everything (that's without a new floor mat, they will just ask their detailer to clean the **** out of my old one cos there are mold starting to grow on it). At this point I'm just pissed and sad. I get my loaner and leave. Did some thinking about maybe just trading it in and getting a new car, but after further thought and discussion with the SA, just decided to fix it and keep it. I've been out of warranty (I drive a lot and already racked up 98,000 miles).

In the end, I'm glad I'm getting my car back (they said sometime on thursday). Thanks for reading this, I know I'm not the most grammatically correct, nor do I write like a journalism major, but I just wanted to share my experience.

P.S, does anyone know if I could possibly claim this via insurance? Or am I too late since the car is already getting worked on? or is this type of stuff just not covered (I do have full coverage)?

Domm

Wow, I think someone else posted a problem about leaking water on their driver's side as well.

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

jaeguyoon

thanks man, yea it has been a stressful last couple of days. only if I was still under warranty....

Pristine

Come to think of it, $2800 is a LOT of money for something like this. This is a typical dealer thing where they try to take advantage of the situation where they know you're already panicked and not going anywhere with the car in this condition. I would have tried to dry the floor myself and taken it to an indy for second opinion. There is an excellent indy in northern virginia with couple of very cool guys who deal with MB only.

jaeguyoon

The thing about independent shops is I just have a very bad experiences with them. Where once I drive off the lot that's where there customer service ends. my SA is a family friend, and I know he wouldn't have just ripped me off. If I knew anyone at an indy shop that could hook it up or i trust with my car i would've. I actually know one, but it's all the way in springfield va and I didn't have the time to go all the way there. The dealership is about 10 mins drive from my place so it was the logical place to go. But which shops do you recommend? so in the future I can check them out!

Pristine

If the SA is a family friend you can trust and can hook you up, then that's different. I've been to almost all dealers in my area including one near you and they all have a very cold attitude and give a huge estimate like it is nothing.

I went to Benz Elite. Come to think of it, their price for Service b was close to what the dealer was charging. But they just seemed very friendly, honest, professional and the shop was very clean. I guess with your situation, stick with your dealer since you know the SA and it is very close to you.

elcid79

I had water leak through a convertible that I owned once. Brilliantly all of the computers were below the seats in a little cubby under the carpet. Why is this brilliant, well its a convertible!!! The probability of it getting left outside in the rain is actually somewhat reasonable. Haha. Long story short, rain leaked through door sill. Flooded floors, didn't realize it because it was winter, and on the passenger side. Hop in the car, fire it up. ZZZZAAPPPP... 2800 sounds about like what I paid...

The abs took the brunt of it. I had one brake lock up while going down the interstate about 70 mph or so.

jaeguyoon

oh wow. elcid79, glad you're still alive from that brake lock up incident!


I'm currently talking with my insurance to see if i can get it covered. Let's hope they cover it!!!