So, my 2003 CLK 55 started making a funny whine when I gave it some gas, and about 10 miles later it went into limp home mode. 58K miles, and it is a late service date car so it's about 50 months old.

I felt nervous about driving it to the shop I like so I had it towed there and got bad news, then worse news. The bad news was that I'd apparently gotten *way* too used to the loud startup noises; the car was extremely low on oil and needed some sorts of adjustments and other service. This done (and $1K lighter including the tow), the techs were comfortable enough with the engine to rev it and work out the loud transmission whine.

Then comes the bad news. After taking the transmission pan off it's full of metal shavings and other detritus. Diagnosis is a failed transmission - my personal guess is that the pump is tearing itself to pieces. Cost for a dealership transmission: $7K, plus around 6 hours of shop labor to swap them out. (Rebuilt is $2700 from Sun Valley, but I'd lose all pretense at a shop warranty)

Now, to my question: This car is about 1 month and/or 8K miles out of warranty. Would it be at all reasonable for me to take the car to Mercedes and ask them to cover a fix? A $90K car shouldn't experience such a major failure this close to the end of the warranty, IMHO, but is it at all reasonable to ask for this?

Thanks for any advice,

A

 

drive it off a cliff...call insurance company

 

Great....now I'm not going to be able to sleep at night. Isn't the computer suppose to tell you when the oil is low?

 

Not in the tranny. Only in the motor.

 

Get the rebuilt transmission and then look into purchasing an aftermarket warranty for your car. There are plenty of warranty companies out there,just look for a reputable one that covers engine and drivetrain. This way you won't have to come out of pocket because the tranny will be covered.

 

i had the same issue this past summer...whining noise, the car was XTRA hot etc etc...long story short, i got a rebuilt transmission thru MB which came with a 2 year warranty which MB honors; which took them forever to find, and they screwed up the order and got me a new one from germany...that woulda been a cool 7K; had that sent back,then ended up finding one down in north carolina after not having my ***** for bout 3 months...the used rebuilt trans. from MB cost bout 3500 *ooowweee*, but has been running like a dream since...i had my personal mechanic install it as well to avoid giving MB any other monies...

 

Change that transmission fluid regularly boys. That's the first thing I did when I got mine. The mechanic was like "its lifetime fluid according to mercedes"...I don't think so.

 

A "free" transmission?

You can ask, but I wouldn't hold out any hope of that happening. In fact, if Mercedes-Benz gives you more than a 25% courtesy discount, you should go into marketing, because you are good. For a free transmission, you have to convince the service writer to go to bat for you. Not just give you lip service and say "I'll ask", but to actually walk into the service manager's office and convince him that you should get a FREE transmission for a car that’s 8 thousand miles out of warrantee. Typically the service manager will ask if you're a regular customer, and he may ask if you bought the car there (that's the service manager asking the service writer, he won't ask you anything). Basically, the service manager is looking for a reasonable excuse to say "no". If the service manager likes you more than money, he will probably have to kick it up to the regional rep to OK a new transmission. If this were a Porsche, the regional service rep would be required to give his blessing for you to get a free transmission. Mercedes-Benz probably works the same way. If Mercedes-Benz IS like Porsche, someone along the line is going to ask, "Do we look like we’re in the 'giving away transmissions' business?"

However, in answer to your question, "asking" is reasonable.


But hey, it’s not all gloom and doom.

This is what I think has the highest likelihood of happening: Without anyone's OK, the service writer can look you in the eye, smile and say, "we're going to take care of you", then mark the price down 15 to 20% for both parts and labor. The service writer will still make money and you'll save money. 15 to 20% is the MBCA discount. If he doesn't offer, "I think" that says something about the service writer.

 

man, sorry to hear about your misfortune.but was your car ever in the dealer for any related transmission problems? if so, you could dispute that there was an existing problem that they never resolved and maybe convince them of fixing your trans.its worth a shot.

 

There were never any transmission problems or anything that got worked on there - it just decided to take a dump one day. WRT the engine oil, there was no fault or low-pressure light of any sort. Before the CLK I'd driven two Porsches, and they did an oil check on startup that I'd come to rely on. So, now I'll know (and you should too) to check the oil from time to time. All other service was done by Mercedes (both warranty and scheduled maintenance) but as far as I know there were no transmission-related issues.

Thanks everyone for the advice - I sorta figured that if I was 80 miles out of warranty that's one thing, but 8000 miles is something else. 8000 miles is just enough to feel that it should be a warranty issue, if it were 16K miles out then I'd just suck it up.

There's an outfit called Sun Valley in Merced, CA that has a rebuilt CLK55 tranny (so they say) for $2700 - are there any other recommendations for a good shop that can provide a rebuilt tranny and torque converter in this price range?

 

good luck!

 

There is a place called Sun Valley Mercedes Dismantlers that has been rebuilding Mercedes-Benz transmissions for over 15 years. They are in Sun Valley California, have a two year warrantee, and are quite well known. Call them up at 818 768 0704. One guy on this list had a rebuilt transmssion for his CLK55 shipped to Korea from this same Southern California rebuilder.

 

Go right to the service manager or dealer manager and indicate you have purchased the finest of the Mercedes line the AMG model and expect that a transmission on such a quality and top of the line Mercedes should not destroy itself after only 58,000 miles but you would like to be discrete.

I have had some success by indicating the obvious, that this is an AMG 55, and that your only 8,000 miles out. Also stress that you don't want to cause any sort of fuss or bad press, but that you do expect more out the the top of the line AMG 55. I would refer to the Speed Channel Test Drive where Mercedes is openly participating in track testing of thier AMG line and that your driving and car use are in no way similar to that kind of wear and tear.

Also, as you can see you most likely will not end up with a free tranny, so don't push for that. Let them know you would be willing to share in the cost and then give them a figure. Say you have $1,000 you would be willing to make this happen, etc, etc.

My best deals have come when I was resolute in being discrete and willing to share in the cost but also being firm with the fact that the tranny is toast after just 58,000 miles is not what you expect from an AMG Mercedes, Ford, Toyota, etc

Best of luck.

 

i like speedybenz's advice. they should at least suck it up and pay half. 58k is unreasonable. i wonder if this stemmed from the glycol issue that was previously posted. there is a test they can perform at the dealership that measures the amount of glycol in the tranny fluid. if it exceeds a certain level they are required to replace the radiator. which is apparently the culprit.

this is a bit scarry. i would be livid if i had to replace the tranny at 58k. do they service the transmissions prior to 58K on any level?

 

Thanks everyone for the advice, appreciate the concern. The dealership basically told me that they could discount MB parts some but that was about it - the problem is that they'd be discounting parts that are way too expensive to start with. After reviewing my tolerance for future problems, I've elected to put the OE wheels and stereo back on the car, to trade it in, and buy my way out of the loan. This is a dick move on my part, since eventually it'll run through a wholesaler to a dealer to some poor buyer who will overpay for it, but at this point I don't have much choice.

I have a 55 mile commute to work plus I go to grad school, so I'm often far from home in the dark and rain - I just cannot afford a breakdown. It's cheaper for me to fix this one problem, but if something major happened with the motor, then fixing the car and staying in it will be a bad move. With the large variety of warranty and now non-warranty issues that I've had I'm no longer willing to take the chance.

This is disappointing, since I really like the car. And, I'm not keen to write a 5-figure check to buy out of a loan. But if I were to pay thousands to fix it now, and then have the $30K motor blow 6 months later (note the oil shenanigans in my original post), I would end up being the punchline of someone's Mercedes horror story. So, I'm buying a new Infiniti M45x, rather than the CL 550 that I probably would have gotten in a year or so if Mercedes had stood behind their flagship coupe.

On a related note, I'll be posting an advert here for my take-off audio system. It's a kenwood DNX7100, with all the mounting hardware and fascia kit to allow someone to install it in a W209 CLK (or similar). It'll have navigation, XM radio, Bluetooth phone, integrated traffic reports in the nav, aux audio/video input, USB input, plus about $2K in reference amp and component speakers (plus their mounting hardware and photos of where they went in my car if anyone wants to self-install). Won't need them in the Infiniti - if anyone's interested let me know and I'll send out pics and specs.

 

Oh and the wheels - they're Lorinser 19" LM6 replicas, 1" wider than stock, with Michellin Pilot Sports. I'll get photos ready for a classifieds post, but if anyone's interested in particular let me know.

 

I realize these transmissions are supposedly "sealed for life", but did you ever have the transmission or diff fluid changed?

 

the lesson here is to simply pay up front to keep some kind of extended warranty in place. otherwise you get the shaft from MB.

 

Damn i was thinking about gerttin a 03 clk55 amg too, time to look elsewhere.

 

+1. Not such a bad consideration.

 

this is not a common problem. just keep an extened just in case warranty.

 

It was suggested above that you look into an Aftermarket warranty for your car. This would run you a couple of thousand at most.

If you try to pay off the loan etc. - It will most likely cost you MORE than the warranty. Additionally - what makes you think another car will not have issues? There are alot of cars companies out there that have great reputations for reliability - HOWEVER that doesn't mean the 1 car you buy will be any different..

IMHO..

 

I don't know why there is no dipstick for the tranny fluid in those cars.

 

sorry to hear about your tranny. my service advisor made very clear to me that these trannies are circa 6-8k and basically told me 'never own one of these cars off warranty.'

i would certainly try to fight for some kind of compensation, but the reality is that the warranty is the warranty. it says, beyond 50k miles, there is no coverage. that's the deal you get when you get the car. i'm not sure what case you can really make, but i say go for it if you're comfortable doing it.

after spending a few months trolling around some of these forums, it still astounds me that anyone owns these (AMG) cars without a warranty.