TK2023

Bought a new C43 AMG on 10/01/23 at the W.I. Simonson dealership in Santa Monica. Noticed the check engine light a few hours after I purchased the car. Less than 40 miles on it.

Brought it into service the next day on 10/03/23

They asked me if I wanted them to just "turn the light off" since sometimes check engine lights come on on new cars for no reason. I said nah absolutely not please check what's wrong with it.

10/04: Service tells me a valve for the cooling system is leaking and needs to be replaced.

I express my concerns after reading all of these posts about contaminated coolant online (including yours) but they insist that they will not be replacing the thermostat and it's just a "defective valve." They tell me they need to order the part from Germany. They put in the order for the part and tell me it will be ready next Tuesday.

10/05: After repeatedly asking for a loaner they finally agree to give me one, with an update on the ETA: suddenly the part has been delayed and car won't be available until Friday the 13th.

**TEN DAYS LATER**

Today, 10/13:I call service. They tell me they haven't received the part yet, and it should be ready "some time next week." They tell me the car is "new" and "not a lot of parts are available" for the c43. I am amazed that one part takes two weeks to arrive, that it's not available anywhere else and needs to be exclusively ordered from Germany?

Five minutes later, the case manager from service center calls me back telling me the part is in "Tenessee" and will be arriving Tuesday. I ask her again when the car will be ready. She tells me it takes a day or two to "flush" the coolant and reset the system. I ask again if they're replacing the thermostat and she says no. She also confirmed they will not be putting a lot of miles on the car to cycle through/reset. I'm very frustrated at this point and based on all these posts about defective C43 engines coming from SoCal dealerships I don't believe everything they're telling me.

It's such a huge bummer and inconvenience. I really wish I had read up on these posts about the amg c43 defects and issues with the coolant/thermostat. I would *never* have bought the car if I had known. I feel like they're really giving me the run around and biding time until next week. Next Wednesday will be 15 days in service already and I'm really grossed out by the whole experience. Bad customer service too. I had to beg for a loaner. They don't call when they say they will. Don't respond to texts and don't call back from the service center. It's hugely disappointing. Seems like I got one of the cars from the same container as all the other defective c43s in SoCal. Now I'm just counting the days until next week when they'll come up with another excuse. Meanwhile I'm sitting here like an idiot paying insurance and all the leasts costs on a new car I never drove.

There are 383 Mercedes dealerships in the US-- 50 local dealerships in California alone. Wouldn't one of the 383 have a valve for this engine they could ship to them? For a coolant issue that is well documented for this specific car? Is it crazy for me to assume this? I just don't believe it takes *three weeks* to get one valve. What do you guys think?

Thanks for your help!

Cubla

What happened with this? I bought this car for my wife for Christmas. It through the CEL in less than 50 miles and has been at RBM of Atlanta now for three weeks. The part is on “worldwide backorder” and they’re saying the end of MARCH maybe. This is absolutely ridiculous and we should not have to pay for a vehicle that is unusable.

gmpalm2

Sounds like you have the common coolant system issue. There was a big manufacturing flaw with this engine and molding sand got left in the engine block. It gets into the coolant system and throws a CEL almost immediately. Good luck getting it fixed. To my knowledge the dealers just have to continually flush the system and hope they get it all. Honestly I'd push for a buyback and just get an M340i.