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I brought today my GL350 to the dealer for FM (Vancouver, Canada). VIN is valid, car is eligible. I'm not the first owner of the car and I don't know its hystory, but I suspect that engine was replaced at one point (not surprising, hah?).
Service advisor tells me if they check and find out that engine is not original, they will refuse to do FM. Is that right?
Last edited by ranchero; Mar 30, 2023 at 03:19 PM.
Just got mine back today (2009 ML320) in time to submit the claim, but when they gave me the paperwork I noticed that there was no mention of the Intake Port Shutoff Actuator (swirl flap motor). It's shown when I check the "lookup by VIN" info on the website (https://bluetecupdate.mercedes-benz.ca/en/home):
I think perhaps the crankcase ventilation valve was also not done, but forgot to follow up on that part. For the swirl flap motor, I showed the printout to the guy helping me with the service, and he was surprised... took it to confer with their service manager and they said that it was covered under the extended warranty but not included in the workshop instructions for the field measures, so they didn't know why it was in the list on the consumer end.
Any ideas on this? Does anyone have a copy of the dealer instructions for Canada so I could double-check?
By the way, if anyone's curious, I did a rough calculation on the value of the other work and it comes to about $8.5K for parts and $3K (16 hours at 189/hour) labour. For a 2009 with 150K km on it, I suspect that the work exceeds the market value of the vehicle but probably has very little impact on what someone would actually pay for it. Thankfully we like it and it's great for towing so we're planning to keep it anyways.
In USA all the parts used in AEM were marked as "rebuild" and well below retail.
I had DPF priced at $3000 before, when the 1 used in AEM was quoted $1800
The swirl flap motor is part of the left? Intake... So if they replaced intakes the motor would be replaced.
Cant you check if the pcv valve was replaced? Its on left head by firewall.
The $8.5k is cost of parts, not retail. Retail of all those parts is pushing $20k
Wow - I just looked up the more expensive parts online to see what the cost was, and approximated the exchange rate to get my CAD estimate.
The swirl flap motor isn't part of the intake, but sits just under it. It's a known failure point, and sends the car into limp mode when it's not working properly. I bypassed ours with a resistor to keep it open (usually it closes at lower RPMs and opens at higher ones to improve fuel efficiency) so it wouldn't go into limp mode anymore, but did give me a permanent CEL to warn me that the flaps are stuck open. Just picked up the car yesterday, but no CEL so far, so either they left my resistor in place and it just hasn't triggered the CEL yet (but likely will in the next day or two), or they removed the resistor and connected my old, busted swirl flap actuator (in which case it will trigger a CEL and go into limp mode, but may not show up for a while). I guess either way I can get it taken care of under warranty now, but it will be a real pain if I have to wait until I'm towing the trailer and out in the middle of nowhere when it decides to stop working...
Engine Failure 100km after Field Measurement recall done
So i’m an unfortunately deal with my 2013 ML 350 being a complete write off. submitted my maintenance records today to Mercedes Canada to see what they can do but i’m told my engine (155,000km) is blown. the scan says it’s due to piston 6.
I think this has to do with the recall work done last monday , finally took the ML out on the weekend this past saturday and within 100 km the vehicle shut off and was a 1300$ tow to a dealership. I’m told it’s a 30,000$ repair.
not sure if anyone has heard of an engine blowing right after the field measure recall repair and and idea what would cause a complete engine failure?
According to the VIN look up on the MB site... My car is not eligible??? What gives... I looked up other 2015 ML 350 BLUE TEC's (that were on sale on the market) VIN's and they're all eligible except mine. Does anybody know why? I can't get an answer from MB customer service
Originally Posted by keman58
We are getting so frustrated with the Bluetec settlement group in Vancouver. They have sent me a letter stating that my VIN is invalid. I told them initially and again for a second time that they need to contact MB Warranty to confirm the VIN since I had originally purchased it in the U.S. They have said that the VIN entry system they check, is for all of North America and I disagree. The system that they are entering my VIN into is specifically for cars purchased in Canada. They are telling me that I am wrong but if that is the case, why did MB Thornhill perform the Field Measure update after contacting their MB Warranty Team? Any ideas on how to rectify this? Thx!
Hi. I was wondering if you can help me out, I am having the same issue.
According to the VIN look up on the MB site... My car is not eligible??? What gives... I looked up other 2015 ML 350 BLUE TEC's (that were on sale on the market) VIN's and they're all eligible except mine. Does anybody know why? I can't get an answer from MB customer service
....
There might be several explanation why Bluetec is not eligible.
Being import from different country would be the 1st guess.
My Sprinter was special ordered to USA as a shell and then converted to limo in Las Vegas. I am always having trouble to have my VIN being recognized by system.
What CS did you call? 1 800 FOR MERC ?
Who and how determinate what made the engine to blow?
A mercedes Dealership made the assessment. Don’t think anything was done except they tried starting it and and ran a scan which said
failure piston 6. attached is the high quality report lol.
Calgary area has 3 other ML 350 Blutech with engine failure after the field measure. trying to get in touch with those owners.
"Engine is knocking" and "Found metallic filings in the filter" would indicate that the engine is indeed toast. And, the field measure installation does nothing to the motor itself, so good luck trying to blame it on the dealership. What does the engine data say? Were there any warnings on the dash? There seems to be more to the story here.
When doing the field measure, the intakes and turbo are removed. The only thing that I can think of to cause potential damage is getting debris into the oil.
I did intakes myself last year and was extremely careful not to get anything in there.
Also after the field measure I was checking fluid levels daily. Did it run low on oil?
If it was leaking oil due to a bad seal it would lock up engine potentially.. to prove that is next to impossible at this point.
Aerohill engines from Canada sells rebuilt engines, in case OP is interested
When doing the field measure, the intakes and turbo are removed. The only thing that I can think of to cause potential damage is getting debris into the oil.
I did intakes myself last year and was extremely careful not to get anything in there.
Also after the field measure I was checking fluid levels daily. Did it run low on oil?
If it was leaking oil due to a bad seal it would lock up engine potentially.. to prove that is next to impossible at this point.
Aerohill engines from Canada sells rebuilt engines, in case OP is interested
What is removed depends on the model year. On my 2015 everything was done from the underside... as in the plastic engine cover didn't even come off. Having said that, the turbo is indeed removed on some of the older engines, but even if there was a subsequent leak, you would get a low oil warning on the dash way before any engine damage can occur as a result.
The ECU stores enough engine running data to essentially act as a black box on an aircraft... so unless it was a completely sudden mechanical failure (as in a connecting rod snapped with zero prior indication), whatever condition may have occurred that led to the failure is recorded on the ECU. Even if it was leaking oil as a result of something they did, if you drove the car with no oil and didn't check the dash, or you drove it with a flashing CEL for more than a minute or so (the amount of time it would take you to safely come to a stop), the onus for the failure is ultimately on you. There was someone on the board not to long ago that killed the motor after they drove the car after part of the cooling system failed - and they weren't paying attention to the temp gauge or the resulting warning message(s) on the cluster for like 20 minutes. The engine repair / replacement was on them, not on the dealership.
To the OP - get a copy of the ECU data (which the dealership will have pulled - even the W/O itself says they did) and tell us what exactly happened. Chances are they are on fairly solid ground that it was not their fault.
What is removed depends on the model year. On my 2015 everything was done from the underside... as in the plastic engine cover didn't even come off. Having said that, the turbo is indeed removed on some of the older engines, but even if there was a subsequent leak, you would get a low oil warning on the dash way before any engine damage can occur as a result.
The ECU stores enough engine running data to essentially act as a black box on an aircraft... so unless it was a completely sudden mechanical failure (as in a connecting rod snapped with zero prior indication), whatever condition may have occurred that led to the failure is recorded on the ECU. Even if it was leaking oil as a result of something they did, if you drove the car with no oil and didn't check the dash, or you drove it with a flashing CEL for more than a minute or so (the amount of time it would take you to safely come to a stop), the onus for the failure is ultimately on you. There was someone on the board not to long ago that killed the motor after they drove the car after part of the cooling system failed - and they weren't paying attention to the temp gauge or the resulting warning message(s) on the cluster for like 20 minutes. The engine repair / replacement was on them, not on the dealership.
To the OP - get a copy of the ECU data (which the dealership will have pulled - even the W/O itself says they did) and tell us what exactly happened. Chances are they are on fairly solid ground that it was not their fault.
If the data shows it was there fault I highly doubt they would give you that info without some kind of court order.
"Engine is knocking" and "Found metallic filings in the filter" would indicate that the engine is indeed toast. And, the field measure installation does nothing to the motor itself, so good luck trying to blame it on the dealership. What does the engine data say? Were there any warnings on the dash? There seems to be more to the story here.
No there was no warnings . the Vehicle started to vibrate, sounded like an exhaust leak which went away when i pulled my foot off the gas… and then engine shut off, engine light came on. drifted to a stop on a HiWay.
It is YOUR data on YOUR car... they have no choice but to tell you and/or give it to you. Besides, all it can possibly show is that the OP ignored a CEL or warning and proceeded to drive for x number of kilometers or minutes.
As I said earlier, there seems to be more to the story than what we're being told.
No there was no warnings . the Vehicle started to vibrate, sounds like an exhaust leak and the shut off, engine light came on. drifted to a stop on a HiWay.
What exactly did the dealership tell you? Do they still have the car or do you? Can you do a UOA and/or prove proper maintenance prior to the failure? Get them to put things in writing... it may give you a possible recourse if they somehow screwed up, although I still can't see how them doing the field measure installation can possibly lead to a seized engine. Did they change or top up any fluids?
It is YOUR data on YOUR car... they have no choice but to tell you and/or give it to you. Besides, all it can possibly show is that the OP ignored a CEL or warning and proceeded to drive for x number of kilometers or minutes.
As I said earlier, there seems to be more to the story than what we're being told.
The only report they gave me was what I attached. I have towed it to a shop that specializes in Mercedes . I will have them pull the data.
As for more to the story. All i can say is the weekend before the field measure was done, the vehicle was driven 1000 km without a problem. oil was changed ahead of that trip. to . I brought in Monday morning … picked up Monday evening . parked all week as i walk to work. Filled up with Diesel and driven to the mountains Saturday morning. First indication something was wrong was what i mentioned. that was 100km from the gas station.
Last edited by 7milemaster; May 23, 2023 at 10:01 AM.
Ask them what caused the engine to fail ~100 km after the field measure installation.
Also ask for the full field measure installation work order... what the dealership sees is considerably longer than the abbreviated copy they give you.
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