xabo

Went out this morning for some "spirited driving." After about 15 minutes of driving saw white smoke in rear view mirror. Then I saw white smoke coming from front of vehicle from under the hood.

Pulled over raised hood, sure enough smoke everywhere. First thought was coolant leak as I saw wetness on driver's side of engine and smelled fluid burning.

Made it home, raised hood and she's really smoking now, flames and all. Extinguished flames, looked at front of car and saw this:



Don't ever remember sitting this low.

Started car, the front started to rise and saw this:



Had the car since March of this year. Will CPO warranty cover cost of replaceing pump and system flush?

Guilty

That's sad! Only 35k miles? They better fix it for free since it's still under warranty

BlownV8

Notify NHTSA. A hose blowing and causing a fire should be reported. The NHTSA recalled a hose on the 215 CL for just such a reason. However, the recall didn't go far enough in my opinion.

xabo

Thanks for the replies.

Please forgive my ignorance but how would I go about reporting this NHTSA?

WHTEVO

Hope you get it fixed for free. Good luck.

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

Aaron

xabo

Dealership states failure due to "o-rings being dry rotted" and that the o-rings are not covered under CPO warranty. WTF?

Car was purchased in March of this year and has 35,000 miles.

awiner

OMG, I hope it didn't take the ABC pump out with it.

radride

That should be covered under the warranty but the $0.05 washer won't.

R.K.

alx

oh, that is a new one....

the creativity.....

xabo

SA states that o-rings, gaskets etc. are considered maintenance items. I asked at what service intervals am I supposed to disconnect ABC pump and inspect the o-rings?

Contacted MBUSA and spoke with manager. Will be replaced under CPO warranty as a line replacement.

BlownV8

I wonder if that dealer was going to charge you and also claim under CPO warranty to MBUSA? Wouldn't put it past a dealership to do so.

While you were in there did they recommend to change the blinker fluid and spark plugs to the unobtanium tipped ones? Glad you did not accept that BS!

Guilty

What are the o-rings???

WHTEVO

That's great that you ended up getting it covered. Let us know how it goes.

Aaron

Guilty

Can someone please answer my question?

awiner

An O-ring, also known as a packing, or a toric joint, is a mechanical gasket in the shape of a torus; it is a loop of elastomer with a disc-shaped cross-section, designed to be seated in a groove and compressed during assembly between two or more parts, creating a seal at the interface.
The O-ring may be used in static applications or in dynamic applications where there is relative motion between the parts and the O-ring. Dynamic examples include rotating pump shafts and hydraulic cylinder pistons.
O-rings are one of the most common seals used in machine design because they are inexpensive, easy to make, reliable, and have simple mounting requirements. They can seal tens of megapascals (thousands of psi) of pressure.


O-Rings are used in all the lines where they interface or mate with components to avoid leaks.

Guilty

Thanks awiner but I still don't understand

slonar21

it's a rubber gasket, in a circular shape.

Look here
https://www.google.com/search?q=o+ri...w=1347&bih=875

slonar21

.

Guilty

Thanks guys! So what kind of maintenance this thing needs?

NRL

I've never heard of this O-Ring.. which specific one?

alx

If you mate together two metal surfaces alone they will not be air/ water tight. You need something in between them to make them air/ water tight. You can glue them together, but you can't take them apart nicely after that. You can put special paste- but it gets messy. Or you can put rubber or cork. Those are called gaskets. Rubber o-rings are just that- round gaskets for mating hoses and pipes.

They are not wear item and they are supposed to last the life of the vehicle. In reality it does not work so and leaks (or blow-outs in the case of abc) develop.

xabo

Car was repaired under CPO warranty but not without a fight. The SA wanted to charge me $490 to replace the drive belt and steam clean the engine as it was contaminated with ABC fluid. I said that said contamination was a direct result of the failure which was covered under warranty. He said belts are not covered under warranty.

Contacted MBUSA again and got the issue resolved. Unf^&*ing real.

Guilty

Your SA is such a douche. You should find another dealership that appreciate you as a customer. Did you buy the car from the same dealership?

xabo

AGREED........this is my 4th Benz and the only one I didn't buy from them.
I've had all of them serviced there in the past. The shop foreman is very knowledgeable about Benzes especially AMGs. He's the only reason I go there.

Petej

It is because of this type of service that had me questioning if I should buy a Benz. At times I have considered if this will be my last. I know that there are good dealers and bad but if MBUSA cared they would take action on the bad service advisors/dealers that condone this type of action.