Calspeed

Hello,

I just did a quick business roadtrip to Las Vegas and then to Los Angeles back to San Francisco. The car was awesome! But...

When I returned to the Bay Area I had to drop it off at the MB dealer for service. On the good side I got over 21mpg for the entire trip. Lots of power for the highway. I mean lots... If you know what I mean.

But one the way back the rear window shade started grinding when retracted. The courtesy features such as steering wheel tilt and electric seat stopped working. So I had to drive the last 400 miles with the wheel fully tilted forward.

Also, every 800 miles or so the "low coolant" light coems on. I always have to add about a cup to the reservoir. I am concerned that this may be the beginning stages of the radiator/transmision issue.

Fortunately I am still within CPO and San Francisco MB is checking it all out. More to follow shortly. But on the bright side I was able to shoot some beautiful pics while touring the Mojave desert and the small towns that surround.

Miguel

boohooramblers

Glad you like the car!

Fortunately you have a warranty - make sure they don't let this issue go until the warranty is out!

Yes - I would be very worried about the low coolant issue. You either have:
A) a leak in the coolant system that pertains to hosing or something like that or....
B) leaking into the motor via the intercooler
and / or....
C) leaking into the transmission (in which case this usually doesn't lead to significant decreases in coolant volume like you are observing)

Unfortunately, it sounds like you have B).

I just DO NOT TRUST dealership service departments. Please make sure that they go through all the TSBs for the car and for peace of mind, pull the top air charge distributors off and look down the intake runners for the presence of coolant caked to the sides of the intake walls. It's very obvious - there are several threads on this forum with photos.

Also, print off some threads from this forum and show them to your SA if you think that might help.

turbo16lbs

Im just going through B). Let me tell you it's expensive. They had to replace the supercharger and the intercooler. If your problem is B) then I suggest you also do an oil change and change out your oil pump.

Fifth Ring

Ouch. Doesn't the coolant enter the engine after the supercharger? I would think that the coolant might foul the intake runners and valves, but the supercharger is "upstream" of the mess.

boohooramblers

+1
I was about to post the same thing - I'd be very interested to hear more about your supercharger woes and how your service department came to the conclusion that the supercharger was damaged (if of course they say the issue was related to the leaky intercooler).

Calspeed

Thanks for the information. I spoke with my service advisor this morning. He advised that they did a pressure test on the cooling system and found no leaks. Then they ran a gycol test and found no contamination in the tranny. I will take a look at the intake runners when I get it home. The car has already been released from the service dept.

As for the other things, a bad seat module was found and replaced. Also a new rear shade was installed.

Thanks MB folk!

Miguel