Daremo

My girlfriend has a 2007 CLK 350 she bought last summer. It currently has 75k on it. (she does a ton of highway driving from NYC to RI and put 30k on it in a year)

We have had various squeaking issues up front with idler pully/tensioner and the other day the water pump started leaking. So after joining this forum to do a little research about it, I came across the "dreaded balance shaft" issue for the M272/M273 motors.

I have the VIN of the car, so could someone tell me if this car falls in the range of affected engines?

If it does, and we have not yet experienced any issues with it yet, is there an expected mileage range where it becomes highly probable or is it just a "it fails when it fails" type of thing?

Furthermore, if it is in the affected range, should we just look to get out of this car ASAP? What's the chances of a goodwill repair from MBUSA if it happened at this milage?

VIN WDBTK56F07T075756

Thanks!

Mka77

There are a couple of folks here that can run the VIN for you. I do believe it is in the affected MY range.

As far as will it happen sooner rather than later, hard to say. Some have had low mileage failures, some high mileage.

Rudeney

Unfortunately, that VIN WDBTK56F07T075756 has M272 engine serial number #407965, which is in the affected range (up to #468993). The main drive timing gear, which is a forged part of your engine's balance shaft, will fail. I know that sounds really bad, but the reality is that all timing gears in all engines will eventually fail. A guy I work with rebuilt his Ford Bronco engine at 380K miles and said his timing gear was so thin, he was able to break the teeth of with his fingers. The MBZ balance shaft issue is that the material used is just too soft and it fails "prematurely". I would say that anything in the 300K range is good. Anything under 200K is "premature". The gear on my CLK550 starting showing symptoms around 35K. There were over half a million (between the M272 V6 and M273 V8) engines made that have the potential to fail early. I'll bet fewer than 10% have had any problems at all. My local dealer said they had dealt with less than a dozen.

MBZ did "goodwill" my repair, but my car was only out of warranty in time (about a year) but well within the miles. I have not heard of anyone else being successful with getting a goodwill repair. I have heard of several people with cars over 80K being denied. MBZ can be very finicky with their goodwill repairs. It requires getting the right person at MBUSA corporate, and having a dealer willing to go to bat for you.

My advice is to trade the car. I only say that because you are concerned. You might be able to put another 75K on it with no trouble, or you may get the dreaded 1200/1208 DTC's tomorrow. If you aren't willing to put up $4K or more for the repair, then you shouldn't have to drive around worrying about it.

Daremo

Thanks Rodney. It will be in the garage for most of the winter, so in the spring we can start looking for a replacement. She wants to go to the E-class anyways.