balthus

Does anyone know if there is a North Texas area Mercedes Benz regional person and if so how I could reach them? I am so frustrated with ongoing issues with our 2004 E320 wagons that only has 56,000 miles on it & was a pre-owned certified that has always been well-maintained and is now becoming a money pit.

We have spent over $6K in repairs between June-August (almost half on rear bellows) and yesterday the front passenger suspension started to go low on us & we dropped it off at local indy shop. If we need to do same as in rear, we're looking at $1,800 for left only or another $2,600 for the front. We have owned MB's since the 80's with hundred's of thousand's of miles on them and have never had issues like we are having with this car.

When I add in normal service plus what I am paying on after market warranty (which did pay $2K of some of the work), the cost savings of not having a car payment are blown.

We have bought 7 or 8 cars from 1 dealer in Dallas alone over past 15 years and feel like we have been very poorly treated. When asked what they would give us for the car when deciding before we spent the money earlier they only only us $10K - as a trade only - whether we had any repairs done or not.

I want to at least see if there is anyone at MB USA up the food chain who I can try to speak with about this issues.

Thanks.

Shadow5501

The airmatic suspension is not my favorite feature of these cars. There should be some information on escalating the issue in your ownership documents, or you can call the 1-800 number. I don't think there is any chance you will get any help, because airmatic struts are pretty much a wear item.

There are less expensive repair alternatives. Search through the threads here for information on Arnott Industries. They rebuild the air struts, and many folks have had good results. You'll have to use an independent mechanic, as the dealer certainly won't install aftermarket parts. Labor for the front is much less than the back, so you may be able to cut down the cost of this repair to a reasonable level. I've no personal experience or connection with Arnott, but other forum members have used and are pleased with their product and pricing.

thegamemodo9

The dealer will install some aftermarket parts. Ewing Autohaus would have installed my Arnott strut when mine went out in June, but Arnott sent us a faulty strut out of the box. DO NOT USE THEM. Their claim for "satisfaction guaranteed" or "lifetime warranty" is laughable. They refused to send me another strut on expedited shipping despite their error and also attempted to keep my core (which my dealership had already sent back) and not refund my entire balance. It took over a month before I got the situation sorted out. I wanted my core back and a full refund because I'd rather those jacka$$e$ not make money off my part. If they were local I would have gotten it back. It isn't worth risking honestly, because you could potentially lose out on all your labor charges before finding out the strut was defective anyway. If it wasn't for me having a good relationship with my SA, I would have paid an extra $300-$400 for installing their useless product. She didn't include it on my bill though. You're better off sourcing a new part off an MB website than taking your chances with such a shady company.

Try to get the part number and get your parts from here:
https://www.getmercedesparts.com/oem...des-parts.html

Where are you getting your car serviced? Park Place, Ewing, or Mid-Cities? Have you thought about visiting another dealership in the area? I think your best bet is to ask the GM or someone at the dealership that you would like a regional rep involved.

balthus

I had been taking the car to PP (Lemmon) which is where I have always purchased and serviced my cars but after being made to feel like my years of loyalty, money spent, referrals and business was worthless to them and getting terrible service from SA after we did the $3,400 repairs in late June, when the rear suspension finally stopped raising about 7 weeks ago, we went to an indy shop in Addison who had been recommended.

They replaced the 2 rear bellows/air springs for about $2,600 with a 1 year warranty versus $4K quote from PP in late August.

We dropped car there yesterday and he just contacted me on today's front driver side issue: The Car needs a left front Strut assembly. Unfortunately it is not covered by after market warranty and we are looking @ $1490 to fix it.

He also said that these air suspensions have been a weak spot in the Mercedes that have this option and that he has replaced quite a few this summer.

I had called MB Customer Service his morning and after venting for about 15 minutes I finally stumbled upon the right words to use which are "post warranty assistance" but they said that I would need to take the car to a dealership to be inspected and for case manager review.

Has anyone ever had any success with this or would it be a waste of time?

I am too far from Mid-Cities.

I have never used Ewing since cars never were bought there but they are actually closer to us than PP.

We do belong to the MBCA Club but can only get the 10% off at PP.

Another $1,500 and we're $7,500 in 3 months.

I am very depressed.

balthus

It it reasonable wear at 55-57K miles?

[QUOTE=Shadow5501;4848108]The airmatic suspension is not my favorite feature of these cars. There should be some information on escalating the issue in your ownership documents, or you can call the 1-800 number. I don't think there is any chance you will get any help, because airmatic struts are pretty much a wear item.

balthus

Also was told today:

The part is $1,100 and the labor $285

The vehicles has Air suspension struts on all four corners of the car.

After this 3 of them will be new.

The other one always has a possibility of failing at some point but it appears ok for now.

The front one are more expensive but less labor.

balthus

We are just going to go ahead and Indy Shop do repair.

The hassle of picking it up, driving to a dealer, having 1 car for indefinite period of time only for a slim possibility they may help us out just doesn't seem worth it.

Now the decision is whether to keep this car or not.

We love this car and it is beautiful but I don't know how much more $ we should be putting into it

konigstiger

Another factor to keep in mind when replacement is needed is MB recommends replacing struts in pairs if mileage is 50,000 or over.

balthus

Why is that?

Did that with the rears as there was a true cost benefit in relation to labor but just moved my parents into assisted living last month & did a slab repair for a leaking hot water pipe so $ are real tight right now.

Will rob Peter to pay Paul for $1,500 repair now - no way can I outlay $3K.

konigstiger

New strut installed in a high mileage vehicle would not match with the used strut and thus impair ride comfort and or vehicle dynamics and as such, it is recommended that they be replaced in pairs only after the vehicle has reached a mileage of at least 50,000 miles. In cases where the strut may have been previously replaced, the mileage differential between struts must be at least 50,000 miles.

OEM new @ parts.com $786 each

Shadow5501

[quote=balthus;4848270]It it reasonable wear at 55-57K miles?

I'll avoid discussing whether it's reasonable or not. Let's just agree that for better or worse, it's typical to replace one or more struts. It may well be that your relatively low mileage is less significant than the fact the car is now 8 years old. The rubber parts in the air spring last only so long.

I am unsure regarding whether they struts should be replaced in pairs. I think the strut is simply an air spring. It is shock absorbers that should be replaced in pairs, and I think the shock is a seperate assembly.

balthus

All we could manage now is replacing the left driver side. I asked the owner of the indy shop about this and maybe because he knows how much $ we have spent in less than 3 months and that we only average 500-600 miles a month he did not push me as possibly we can do the driver side in a few months.

He told us that he has had more MB"s in his shop this summer with these issues - much more so than usual - in spite of this being a known issue.

Makes one wonders if the triple digit heat we had in Dallas for months was a factor.

Now to start thinking about where do we go from here.

When does one cut their losses?



[QUOTE=Shadow5501;4848652]

Shadow5501

The challenge there is that if you like MB wagons, what do you replace it with? The only alternatives are minivans and SUVs that are large, unattractive, don't drive very well, and suck fuel.

Oh well, can't advise you on what is the right path. If you decide to sell the wagon, shoot me a PM or email. I currently am using a w203 C class wagon to carry around my bicycles and dogs, and it's a bit too small, so I'm kinda sorta looking for a nice E wagon.