Oh yea...

Nice screen name

 

Sovereign sucks. You should've take it to an Independent Shop like Kraft German Auto.

 

Got the car back today, again without an invoice because my service adviser is on vacation so I can't really say what was fixed and what wasn't.

At the moment, everything seems to be working fine, the rear shock is mint, window makes no noise, they pretty much fixed everything they were supposed to except the suspension creak in the front. Headlights don't have any problems YET...

So far the only problem left is the creaking noise, otherwise the car drives lovely, and my back deck is rattling because of a loose washer so I gotta take that back apart tomorrow (ugh PITA).

The service tech I know was no use to me because my car was already assigned to a tech, and until that service session is closed, no other tech's could touch the car. I'm going to see my boy right now and let him drive the car and find w/e is wrong with it and in several weeks I'm going to take it back for service to actually have him service the car.

Right now I'm absolutely happy with everything minus the creak but that'll get taken care off with time. I'll never let anyone at Sovereign touch my car besides my tech, otherwise I'll be taking it to a different dealer/shop. Best thing about my warranty is I could have ANY shop service the repair and bill my warranty company for the repairs, so worst comes to worst I'll replace the front shock myself and bill my warranty.

I did some small visual mods, going to finish doing up some more tonight and will post some pics tomorrow after a nice wash.

 

good luck, sounds like a pita journey thats going to end soon.

 

On Thursday my right headlight started to flicker, I figured these retards didn't fix anything again, so today when I had some free time, I popped the hood and decided to take a look at the headlights.

I actually happen to work on headlights for a living(do custom headlight modifications), and I figured this car just had bad electrical problems, so I never opted to check the headlights themselves because after all it's not really electrical, and hardly mechanical... it's either the ballast is messed up, or something internally outside the headlights. After the dealer having the hardest time ever trying to diagnose the problem and claiming its fixed, I checked out the headlights for myself. Popped the caps off, and noticed the igniters weren't locked into the bulbs, they were just sitting on the bulb, and no surprise the igniters wasn't even plugged in on the right side, which is why the headlight flickered.

Apparently the dealer couldn't get the igniters to lock in, so they started messing with the software thinking something wasn't coded properly...?!?! fuking idiots. For some reason the igniters didn't lock in on either side, finally after 1hr of messing with it, I got it in with a help of a few friends. So far headlights work flawlessly....

My benz tech friend also showed me how to disassemble the headrest so I can fix the creaking sound, and also told me the creaking I have coming from the front shock is actually a fender rubbing/clipping on something and told me to have that checked out, so within the next several days I'll end up taking that apart and fix the squeaking sound coming from the headrest as well.

Next thing I'm doing is getting an alignment & tire balance along with a temporary STAR drop and speed limiter removal, probably doing 3/4" of an inch on the drop till I get an actual ELM and rims.

An to top it off with some icing on the cake, the dealership:

1. never put back my coolant tank in place and it was literally on its side after working on the headlights

2. the intake tubes were swapped around, they put them on the wrong sides and one of the tubes was pretty much blocked by the radiator support and was hardly getting any air in it.

3. put scratches all over my hood and a huge one on the trunk, only way to get them out is to wetsand the clear and buff it out.

I'm going to the dealer first thing monday morning to speak to the service manager, and demand to get reimbursed for a complete exterior detail and my deductible.

 

Current List of Major & Minor Problems - as of 2.20.10 @ 71820 Miles

• ☑ Valve cover gasket leak - RESOLVED, gaskets replaced.
• ☑ Comfort access on the driver side door doesn't work sometimes - Warranty Issue - RESOLVED, driver side door handles were replaced.
  
• ☑ Headlight Issues, low beams would go on and off, one headlight would turn off and never come back on.- Warranty Issue, dealer never resolved the issue, ended up fixing it myself with some help.
  
• ☑ Dynamic Seats, they will stop working after a long drive, happened 3 times so far. Other than that, I feel like they react to slow, and sometimes the lumbar would take a while to deflate. - Warranty Issue - RESOLVED
• ☑ Rattles: Driver & Pass front doors, and pass front headrest. - RESOLVED the front door rattles myself, pass headrest still rattles.
• ☐ Broken rear ash tray - Easy Fix
• ☑ Chrome ring on front cup holders is broken - RESOLVED (NEW CUP HOLDER)
• ☑ Pads and rotors need to be replaced - RESOLVED (New Pads & Rotors)
• ☑ Windshield washer needs to be filled, and wipers replaced - RESOLVED
• ☑ Remove tint and take apart rear self to clean glue off - DONE
  
• ☐ Need's an alignment, steers to the right. -
• ☐ Front left shock is making noise over bumps - 6 weeks at the dealer and still not fixed. Will end up checking it out myself.
  
• ☐ Cracked passenger side fog light
  
• ☑ After Warranty: Cruise Control indicator on cluster doesn't show - RESOLVED
• ☑ After Warranty: Heat warmers/cooler switches blink when on - RESOLVED
• ☑ After Warranty: Driver side window makes noise rolling down/up - RESOLVED
• ☐ Highway speeds the window seals leak air and make slight noise - me being picky, I'll end up getting new door/window seals and replace it myself since its ware and tare.
  
• ☐ Tires need balance
  

Major Problems

• ☑ SC would turn off after beasting on it - Replaced IC pump and HE, problem still persists, I think I just need a full coolant flush. - RESOLVED - dealer flushed the coolant, and replaced my MC30 pump with an OEM BOSCH... - works great.
  
• ☑ Issue with the SC pulley, not the main one but the one that sits on the passenger side. - RESOLVED - Replaced with a new Pulley

 

My first snow pics, it was at the dealer all the other times...

Lost the tow hook cover =/

 

Holy Snow Cones!!!

 

Ah man I always lost that dumb cover haha

 

And... I officially parted with this car, for the better I hope.

Hope to get another one sometime by Summer time.

 

After all that headache, you should have kept it. Good luck with the next one Hope you didn't take too much of a loss with this thing.

 

It was a learning experience, cost me $5K + gas for 5 months.... I don't mind.

 

Sorry to hear and happy to hear.

At least tell us the vicinity of where it went so we can avoid it as well.

 

Got rid of the car because of all its problems?

 

Yeah, and there was only more to come, didn't feel like dealing with it. It was a beasty car, just the previous owner never took good care of it, and then mopped it up, the entire front end was basically replaced and the whole car except the roof was repainted... carfax was clean, but I know the car was involved in a serious accident and whoever fixed it didn't go through insurance and took the cheap route to fix it.

I'll end up getting another CLS by summer time, and make sure to get a point inspection, or if business is good... get a Bentley GT.

 

Did you sell it?

 

pretty big step up from a $35k CLS to a Bentley Continental GT

 

Yea, on the low side there's at least a $35-$40K difference, if not a more realistic difference of $50-60K+ for an "equivalent" (if you can even use the term) BC GT...

Nevertheless, sorry to hear of your loss (so to speak) but like you said, it's probably for the better. If the BC GT doesn't work out for ya, there are still loads of great CLS's out there...

Good luck!

 

Wholly **** it seems like that car had everything and its mother go wrong!! Scary... Atleast u learned a lesson.. u get what u pay for a 33k 55 hummmm good luck on the next 1...

 

Good lord, this thread just scared the crap outta me. And it also reminded me to do all of the research before the purchase, and to double & triple check the car's history/quality.

Not knocking you Igor; in fact, THANK YOU for making this thread, as a reminder to all of us when we are looking to buy a car. It can happen to anyone. Sucks it happened to you.

Good luck finding a new CLS. Do yourself a favor & get another CLS, not a GT...after all the sh*t you went through, you deserve to enjoy an AMG CLS the right way. Get a fresh one in better condition and you'll be a HAPPY camper.

 

God this makes my troubles with EuroCarOC seem like nothing. Fingers crossed! Good luck with the new car.