MountainStone

So I had three major C32-related developments in the past two weeks. While out test-driving possible replacement cars I was offered just under $9,000 for my C32 in trade (Manheim auction price). The same day the transmission began shifting oddly (hunting, vibration & noise). Attempted to contact the company that wrote my extended warranty only to discover they have gone out of business and I no longer have any coverage. Found out from the dealer today that I have glycol contamination in the transmission fluid and they recommend a new radiator, transmission and torque converter; total bill will be $7600. Add to that repair bill the cost to repair the driver's seat heater that stopped working this month and the faulty COMAND unit that recently stopped accepting CDs (and the Navigation CD also) and I need about $9000 in repairs.

I owe just over $13K on this car, it is worth $9K in trade if it is in working order, but it needs $9K in repairs to bring it back to working order. If I subtract the cost of needed repairs from the trade-in value, the car is worth nothing.

I've never been upside-down on a vehicle before. I would love to hear some serious advice on what I should do next. Insurance fraud is not an option. Am I stuck with this car for the foreseeable future?

moosejaw

get a second opinion............
that might save you money

ohlord

did not examine the innards of the trans they are praying on you.
Many 722.6 trans has been saved from the valeo radiator issue by r/r radiator and a full system drain of fluid.
Get it to an indie shop or diy.
Radiators radiator.com no tax
fluid valvoline maxlife is mb/nag1 spec.
A fully rebuilt 722.6 is about 2500 You can get one installed for way less than 7600

the command issue pull the fuse and see if it resets the system
Find an indie shop plenty of good ones in your area.
Don't give up

1stmeez

+1 on that. Just put the radiator, condenser, heat exchanger into my C32 rebuild project. Really easy R&R, radiator is <$200, flush fluid a couple of times, maybe fixes the issues. Why would you want to trade? Nothing else has same bang for the buck.

i_am_amused

when I was in high school, my friend's dad would park their Plymouth Fury III out on the street with the windows down and the keys in the ignition.

It's not fraud if someone drives off with your car

Njamg55

Best advice is just try to trade it in a lot of dealers. Go to used car dealers they will probably take it

dontbanme

559EVO

I'd clear the check engine light if its on with a obd2 scanner and trade it in asap before it gets worst. 4k upside down is not alot, just dont buy anything to expensive or unreliable. If that happened to me I'd make sure I get something with a pre owned warranty.LEXUS/BMW both have good pre owned deals with warranty.

gt4awd

So, just a few days of weird shifting, and the transmission/torque converter are completely shot? I call BS on that one... Do the work yourself for around $600 dollars, and tell the dealership to F*** off.

MountainStone

Nice car Moose; I've always had a soft spot for those little monsters.

The service adviser at the dealer said they recommend I R&R the radiator and flush the transmission to see if that would cure the symptoms, but then gave me the estimate for a new trans and converter because he wasn't confident a mere flush would work. I didn't realize that Valvoline made a MB-spec trans fluid; that has to be cheaper than the $22-per-bottle fluid the dealer quoted me today. Is the trans in the AMG identical to the trans in the "regular" C320? They quoted me $2700 for the trans and nearly $1500 for the torque converter.

Thanks for the tip on the COMAND fuse; I'll try that tomorrow but my luck has been poor lately...

Agreed on the bang-for-the-buck, until this issue.

I admit I considered that, but if the car is recovered with the keys in the ignition I'd be screwed (the military frowns severely on fraud).

We are considering this avenue. I won't sell it to an individual with this problem, but I'll trade it without qualm. Just having a hard time accepting the idea of rolling negative equity into a new loan.

Unfortunately I leave in three days for a six-month deployment to the desert. I have no time to sort this out before leaving, so I'm challenged with resolving this from the other side of the world. There was a time I enjoyed wrenching on my own stuff, but I seem to have less spare time nowadays and don't want to spend it in the garage anymore. I do like the idea of telling the dealership to F*** off, though.

Genuine thanks to everybody who chimed in. I'll let you know what happens next...

gt4awd

Dealership will charge you around $900-1200 to swap radiator, and flush the transmission. I'm sure you can find a good shop that knows what they're doing for around $200-300 dollars. Buy the BEHR radiator on ebay for $160. I got 20 liters of FEBI for $220 shipped (europartsamerica). Same fluid of OE labeled Mercedes. You only need 14 liters for full flush.

I've been down this road with the dealer. Recent trip cost me $2200 whereas work myself or another shop would have been half that cost.

TemjinX2

i would change the radiator first and flush the tranny and see if the you still have the same problems. The c32 tranny is pretty robust so if you catch the problem early enough, it shouldn't have any problems.

I suggest you just invest $160 behr radiator plus $200 install and $60 tranny fluid first before you decide to lose $4k.

RobertG

Glycol attacks the glue that bonds the friction material to the clutch plates,
flushing it might fix it but the question is for how long?

Childish///AMG

Definately "Shop" around to see who might be able to do it cheaper My cat went out, just missed the warranty by 3k miles. Took it to a shop, paid the same price for the cat as would MB, but only paid $120.00 for labor

O3/E out

MountainStone

Good question. I'm gonna try the flush first obviously in hopes it works.

How does glycol ruin the torque converter? I know its a 'lock-up' converter but I didn't think there were clutch plates (friction material) inside it. The torque converter is nearly $1500; I'd love to reuse the one I have if it can be trusted (if full replacement becomes necessary).

RobertG

If you have small chunks of friction material floating around in the fluid, then it is a good chance that it might plug a passage to the torque converter.

thtguy

Most Insurance companies won't cover a loss if the keys were left in the car.