konigstiger

Engine # 30 057743 is within affected range, clean point is 30 088611.

GodfatherE550

Thanks so much for saving me money

Vik888

My VIN is WDBUF72X68B217781

The Russian site says my engine is 273 960 30 180 042

So this problem does not apply to my engine since 180042 is higher than 088611? The reason I ask is because my check engine light came on briefly for 24 hrs and has gone back off and the indep shop told me it is for this issue.

konigstiger

30 180042 should be fine, have them provide fault codes via MB DAS (diagnostics).

Vik888

Thanks as always konigstiger! I'm going to take my car to the dealer and have them pull the codes.

relinuca

The above postings focus on how reliability standards might have been lowered in recent years. Maybe so, but show me some data, please.


On the other hand, owner maintenance discipline has certainly deteriorated; perhaps its a generational thing. I'm old school; i.e., a bit fanatical about oil/filter change intervals...each 5K miles. But my kids and their friends think the only required mntce. is responding to weird noises and/or electronic reminders about long over due mntce. issues.


While not wishing to condemn the younger generations, the importance of preventive mntce. has been sadly overlooked by many. Could these M-B balance shaft concerns be influenced by owner mntce. regiments? Good question, say I.


relinuca

konigstiger

Defective parts installed at production.

kjb55

Very relevant information. What is the actual (with credibility) failure rate?

gfmohn

You are right that it is always a good question. And asking it always presumes that the problem is the fault of the owner (especially if the owners are of a younger generation). However, your insinuation is a rebuttable presumption. It is rebutted when insufficient hardness of metal is the problem by the fact that lack of maintenance does not affect hardness of metal.

kjb55

The hardness of the metal is indisputable. I think we can all agree on that. The failure rate, purely anecdotal, is probably next to nothing. Reasoning? Number of reported failures across various sites, posts, etc. etc. against the number of engines supplied across all models. I incurred with several dealers and the response has always been "eh, we haven't seen as many as you'd think". Biased source? possibly. Owners have reported high mileage examples with no failure.

I'm sure we can all agree that lack of maintenance can take out components with even the best of metal compositions. What would be great to know is if the lesser metal composition of the gear simply didn't agree with the longer maintenance intervals implemented by MB? When I had a <5 mile commute with a C300 at the time and changed the oil every 5k - the fuel smell in the oil was very noticeable. The car just wasn't driven enough to burn off moisture, fuel etc. Take that scenario to a lesser metal gear and go 10k or 13k on oil and I could see the makings of a worn gear.

My '06 E350 with a commute of >12 miles now, oil changes at 5k, and zero smell of gas in the oil, and much cleaner oil at every change. I don't have a worry about the gear wearing out. Only time will tell.

cetialpha5

It's been estimated that the failure rate is 10-25%. They didn't actually sell that many E350's, around 50k in the US in 2006. Plus some people have taken their cars to independent mechanics for the repairs and a few others went the DIY route. As mentioned earlier, frequent oil changes are not going to affect whether the metal is too soft or not. If anything, I think it would make it worse as you would have more fresh detergents in the engine more frequently. There could be a downside to changing it too frequently. People who do used oil analysis typically report that the oil ends up being good for several thousand more when they change it at 10k.

I think in Europe they spec 15-25k oil change intervals, they reduced that down to 10-13k because MB felt that the US couldn't handle oil changes on that long an interval.

kjb55

This is as good a mystery as IMS bearings on 996/997s. With as many as 90% without failure, the metal being constant, what are the other contributing factors? Chain tension, lubrication in some form (or lack of)? It would interesting to understand why some fail and others don't.

Wooly

would someone please pull datasheet. possibly buying tomorrow.
Thanks!
WDBUH87X49B403829

konigstiger

You're fine.

Wooly

Thanks for the quick turn Konigstiger!

Wooly

Konigstiger I ended up buying the vin # auto. Took a trip to purchase and it was in great shape. When something goes wrong I will blame you;-) thanks again for the help! :-)

tru1man

Ran vin for R350 2008 on Russian website
Super easy to do
Thanks
272967 30 882068

Jayce Johnson

hi have an 06 e350 vin is

WDBUF87J06X185453 can u check it for me to see if my engine may be affected? Thanks!

Jayce Johnson

Can anyone check

WDBUF87J06X185453?

konigstiger

Within affected range, 272 clean point as of 30 468993.

hem1tp

can you please look up vin 4JGCB65E77A052952 ? Please and thank you, Tim

konigstiger

Fine.

hem1tp

Thank you sir!

tommy gee

I Got WDD2193561A030862 - how does that look ?

konigstiger

Within affected range (clean point 30 468993 >).