2006 CLK350 Dumb me
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From: SoCal
C350 '12
2006 CLK350 Dumb me
A friend of mine had his car literally catch on fire and I'd been wanting to sell my babied coupe 04, and I just jumped on a pretty 06 CLK 350
WITHOUT seeing the sticky or warnings about the balance shaft issue.
Until now. The day after.
No warranty, private party seller.
So what do I do? I do have a good relationship at my local Benz dealer, my warranty on the coupe actually just ran out this year.
HOW DO I FIND THAT STUPID ENGINE NUMBER? I have the vin of course, but now I need to double check I"ve bought a complete lemon.
WHERE IS THE ENGINE NUMBER?
I have a printout of the error codes and an indie mb mechanic did a check on the car, it did have some oil leaking and at 53k miles I suspect this is the beginning of problems on this stupid car.
If I gave someone my vin, could you tell me my engine number? Thanks
WITHOUT seeing the sticky or warnings about the balance shaft issue.
Until now. The day after.
No warranty, private party seller.
So what do I do? I do have a good relationship at my local Benz dealer, my warranty on the coupe actually just ran out this year.
HOW DO I FIND THAT STUPID ENGINE NUMBER? I have the vin of course, but now I need to double check I"ve bought a complete lemon.
WHERE IS THE ENGINE NUMBER?
I have a printout of the error codes and an indie mb mechanic did a check on the car, it did have some oil leaking and at 53k miles I suspect this is the beginning of problems on this stupid car.
If I gave someone my vin, could you tell me my engine number? Thanks
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From: San Diego North County
2015 E400 CAB, 2010 Jeep Compass, 2009 E350 Sedan
List you Vin here.. https://mbworld.org/forums/clk-class...aft-issue.html
Last edited by Louie D; Nov 18, 2012 at 12:08 AM.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2007
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From: SoCal
C350 '12
List you Vin here.. https://mbworld.org/forums/clk-class...aft-issue.html
my car (one day old) engine has the balance shaft issue almost 100 percent.
What do you guys think? The previous owner says she will assist me in trying to get the dealer/MB to repair it -- but this means I will probably have to go to her dealership where she was taking the car instead of my own.
Don't know what to do. It was spotting a little oil on presale inspection, I didn't think anything of it, but now think it is a sign of this problem coming on.
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C63 AMG
Wow sorry too hear about this, sucks too be worrying about repairs instead of enjoying your new car. Similar thing happened too me when I bought my C230 coupe. A week after I purchased it from a private party seller the EIS went bad and I had too spend $1,600 repairing it and 2 weeks in the shop. Good thing the previous owner is helping out with the repair, do you know if she had any knowledge about the issue prior too selling it too you? I would talk too the dealership she says she normally goes too have maintenance done at and see if they have any reports of informing her about the issue in the past. Either way keep us updated and good luck with it all, Hope it works out for the best.
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From: SoCal
C350 '12
Wow sorry too hear about this, sucks too be worrying about repairs instead of enjoying your new car. Similar thing happened too me when I bought my C230 coupe. A week after I purchased it from a private party seller the EIS went bad and I had too spend $1,600 repairing it and 2 weeks in the shop. Good thing the previous owner is helping out with the repair, do you know if she had any knowledge about the issue prior too selling it too you? I would talk too the dealership she says she normally goes too have maintenance done at and see if they have any reports of informing her about the issue in the past. Either way keep us updated and good luck with it all, Hope it works out for the best.
Yeah, pretty much ruined the joy of it.
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It was spotting a little oil on presale inspection, I didn't think anything of it, but now think it is a sign of this problem coming on.
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Lemon laws in the USA only apply to new cars, and there are specific rules by state (i.e. number of repair attempts within a certain number of months, only covers critical failures, not rattles, etc.) On used cars, there are no such laws. A few large used dealers (Carmax) offer warranties and even full money back guarantees. Otherwise, it's caveat emptor.
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Thread Starter
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From: SoCal
C350 '12
Not sure if I should take it to the dealer or the indie mechanic tomorrow -- p.o.'ed that the indie guy had no recollection of this huge issue.
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From: SoCal
C350 '12
What do you mean 100%? Is the MIL illuminated 100% of the time with the 1200/1208 DTCs (OBDII codes P0016/P0017)? Or are you just saying you are 100% certain that your engine falls within the affected range?
A common source of oil leaks with this engine are the cam plugs on the back of the head, on the left side (US driver's side). These are cheap and easy to replace.
A common source of oil leaks with this engine are the cam plugs on the back of the head, on the left side (US driver's side). These are cheap and easy to replace.
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From: Llandudno, Cape Town, South Africa
late 2009 CLK 350 Coupe Elegance, '65 Jaguar S Type wires
MIL = Check engine light or CEL
Don't do anything unless the car persistently shows codes 1200/1208 (OBDII codes P0016/P0017) together. Not all engines in the range give trouble. Some sprockets were not properly hardened. You might never have an issue.
Don't do anything unless the car persistently shows codes 1200/1208 (OBDII codes P0016/P0017) together. Not all engines in the range give trouble. Some sprockets were not properly hardened. You might never have an issue.
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06 CLK350 -SOLD! 2010 Cadillac SRX Premium Turbo
I agreed. Don't jump the gun. Good luck with it.
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Like Glyn said, just because the engine serial number is within the affected range, that does not mean yours will fail. No one but MBZ knows the details for certain, but from what we have gathered, there was a problem with the heat treatment process when the timing gear (or entire balance shaft for the V6) was forged. This did not allow the part to harden, which makes it softer than the timing chain and it wears and/or stretches. It's likely that not all of these gears were improperly manufactured; maybe it was 10%, maybe 50%, but we aren't seeing every M272 or M273 fail, and the ones that do fail seem to do so early, under 80K miles.
My guess is that bad parts cannot be distinguished from the good parts based on engine serial number. The facility that made the parts probably didn't assigned serial numbers to them so the bad ones aren't traceable to specific engines. All MBZ knows is the last engine serial number that could have had a bad part.
So, your engine falls into this range and all that means is that you have some percentage chance of having a bad timing gear. Common belief is that if it goes over 100K miles, it's probably OK. That's not a certainty, but it does seem to make sense if only a small percentage of gears were bad. In my case, mine started showing symptoms under 30K miles.
My guess is that bad parts cannot be distinguished from the good parts based on engine serial number. The facility that made the parts probably didn't assigned serial numbers to them so the bad ones aren't traceable to specific engines. All MBZ knows is the last engine serial number that could have had a bad part.
So, your engine falls into this range and all that means is that you have some percentage chance of having a bad timing gear. Common belief is that if it goes over 100K miles, it's probably OK. That's not a certainty, but it does seem to make sense if only a small percentage of gears were bad. In my case, mine started showing symptoms under 30K miles.
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From: SoCal
C350 '12
Like Glyn said, just because the engine serial number is within the affected range, that does not mean yours will fail. No one but MBZ knows the details for certain, but from what we have gathered, there was a problem with the heat treatment process when the timing gear (or entire balance shaft for the V6) was forged. This did not allow the part to harden, which makes it softer than the timing chain and it wears and/or stretches. It's likely that not all of these gears were improperly manufactured; maybe it was 10%, maybe 50%, but we aren't seeing every M272 or M273 fail, and the ones that do fail seem to do so early, under 80K miles.
My guess is that bad parts cannot be distinguished from the good parts based on engine serial number. The facility that made the parts probably didn't assigned serial numbers to them so the bad ones aren't traceable to specific engines. All MBZ knows is the last engine serial number that could have had a bad part.
So, your engine falls into this range and all that means is that you have some percentage chance of having a bad timing gear. Common belief is that if it goes over 100K miles, it's probably OK. That's not a certainty, but it does seem to make sense if only a small percentage of gears were bad. In my case, mine started showing symptoms under 30K miles.
My guess is that bad parts cannot be distinguished from the good parts based on engine serial number. The facility that made the parts probably didn't assigned serial numbers to them so the bad ones aren't traceable to specific engines. All MBZ knows is the last engine serial number that could have had a bad part.
So, your engine falls into this range and all that means is that you have some percentage chance of having a bad timing gear. Common belief is that if it goes over 100K miles, it's probably OK. That's not a certainty, but it does seem to make sense if only a small percentage of gears were bad. In my case, mine started showing symptoms under 30K miles.
The SA and the mechanic there knew precisely of the problem. Called it "Cam sprockets" problem.
Rudeney -- did you have to pay out of pocket for it -- probably not -- if it was under 30k miles, right?
If there is any wear and tear on those gears that seems excessive, I want it taken care of!
Feel like I'm driving with a sword over my head, ready to drop...
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My car was out of warranty by a year on time, so I had to ask MBUSA to cover the repair under "goodwill", which they did. It seems people are having mixed results with out of warranty repairs. I have heard of some with higher mileage (80-90K) denied. MBUSA's decision to cover repairs under goodwill are based on individual situations - the customer, the dealer, and the regional representative are all part of the picture. In my case, I was very cordial and respectful in my requests, and I have a very good relationship with my dealer.
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From: SoCal
C350 '12
My car was out of warranty by a year on time, so I had to ask MBUSA to cover the repair under "goodwill", which they did. It seems people are having mixed results with out of warranty repairs. I have heard of some with higher mileage (80-90K) denied. MBUSA's decision to cover repairs under goodwill are based on individual situations - the customer, the dealer, and the regional representative are all part of the picture. In my case, I was very cordial and respectful in my requests, and I have a very good relationship with my dealer.
I had to pay for the inspection and got the call after the mechanic and head mechanic looked at the cam gear thing ---
NO PROBLEMS.
It's fine. I was almost hoping it had the problem so I could figure out how to pay for it and fix it and never have to worry about it again... the SA said he'e love to charge me for it but my car was FINE. He said the mechanic said if it looked like there would be a problem down the line, he'd flag it but it showed absolutely no problems.
YAY!
Thanks you guys so much!
That was a car service bill well spent.
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That's good news. How many miles are on it? You mentioned an oil leak at 53K. How about transmission service? DO you know if it was done at 39K? If not, you need to do that ASAP. And I'd recommend changing it at regular intervals of 30-40K miles.
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From: SoCal
C350 '12
It was under warranty previously and I believe it went in for all its scheduled services at the dealer.
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From: Llandudno, Cape Town, South Africa
late 2009 CLK 350 Coupe Elegance, '65 Jaguar S Type wires
Make sure they drain the Torque converter when servicing. We have found that many dealers don't. See W204 forum.
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C63s Cabriolet, BMW M4, Civic
There's alot of post about draining the Torque converter. My 2009 C350 and 2009 Slk55 both has the transmission services and paper work showed no drain fluid on the Torque converter. I complained to MBUSA. They investigated and called me back after 3 days and said that it didn't required because there's no Torgue converter drain plug. I still don't believe them but there's nothing else I can do.
