I'm going to preface this post by saying, there's a lot of rambling. I'm writing this after i've written the post. I didn't mean for it to be so long, but i just need somebody to talk to about it.

So, i'm going to explain this in pretty great detail just so the whole story is here. Honestly i'm to the point where i don't really know what to do. I bought my car, a 2007 Mercedes E350 in September 2014, on my birthday. It was my third car, and i was so excited to have it. Was everything i ever wanted in a vehicle, large, comfortable, and with enough get up and go to get out of the way. I did something stupid though, i fell in love with the car before buying it, and before taking it to an independent mechanic. I bought it from a dealership, however not a Mercedes dealership. The car at the time had a check engine light on, but it ran perfectly. Never missed a beat, i put it through its paces and everything seemed perfect, i expected it was just a sensor and they told me that they'd get it fixed for me.

I bought the car, and got a 2 year bumper to bumper Lubrico warranty with it. A short while after i bought it, they stuck to their word and it was brought into the shop to have what we thought was going to be a sensor changed. It came to 250 or something, was the o2 sensor if i remember correctly. At the same time they paid for the service that was due on it. However, immediately after i got into the car the check engine light came right back on. I called them up and told me about it, the mechanic took a look at it and said they'd have to order the part. Here i waited, and waited a couple of months while they kept telling me they were ordering this part. Eventually i got sick and tired of waiting so i drove up to the dealership and said enough is enough. They call the shop up and it turns out they needed the car there to even know what part to order, because they had to get to the engine. At this point i'm pretty pissed off with the lack of communication, but i'm happy my car's actually going to be fixed. They give me a piece of crap loaner car and i bring my car into the shop.

Now, the only reason i went to this shop is because it's where the dealer recommended i go. It by far would not be my first choice. They had the car there for a month and a half, i'm still not sure exactly what they did to it as i'm still waiting for them to give me the damn papers. It's been at least 3 or 4 weeks since that point. They had the engine out of the car, scratched the car all to hell, did some shoddy *** work and broke all the engine cover clips. Who knows what other damage they did. When i got the car back i didn't notice these things, i was just so stoked to finally have my baby back that i immediately went for a drive. Everything seemed okay, honestly seemed exactly like it was before i brought it in, except no check engine light. Took it for a good pass on the highway, got onto an off road and suddenly red lights everywhere. The god damned radiator hose popped off, they must have worn out the clip that clips it on. Anyhow, i limp the car back to the shop, as it's just down the road. They put the hose back on and send me on my way. Same thing happens a week later, i go back they put it on and order a new clip.

Before the clip even comes in, i hear a loud whining noise from the engine bay after i take it for its first decent length drive after out of the shop. I find out pretty quickly it's the Alternator, and the check engine light comes back on. Bring it back, they replace the alternator and tell me my car's ready. I come down, the damn thing starts and it's louder than ever. When i first start it up, sounds like there was no oil in it, the grinding noise goes away almost immediately though and is followed by the clear sound of the belt and tensioner, and the check engine light's still on. I bring the Mechanic out, have the hood open and he pokes his head around a bit. It's obvious that the serpentine tensioner is shot, and there's grease or oil or something on the belt as well. From what it looks like, the engine was leaking oil from somewhere. I tell them to keep the car until it's fixed.

About a week later, just a couple of days ago, they come by my work and tell me it's ready again. I kind of chuckle, and say okay i'll go try this again. At this point, i'm about to give up, don't really know what to do anymore. I go, everything actually seems okay. It's quiet, sounds smooth, runs okay. I don't really put it through much, just drive it slowly. Drive it a bit and it seems to be down shifting very rough. Try to brush it off as if it's nothing, i just want to be with my baby again. No luck though, i do a hard acceleration from 0-80km/h and suddenly it's like the car just shifted into neutral. I can press the gas, the RPM's go up, but there's no acceleration. It seems to stay this way until i get under a certain speed, then it down shifts properly.

So i took it out for one last run tonight, to see if maybe the problem has fixed itself. I let the engine warm up, go for a nice slow drive for around 30 minutes. Then i take it for a few hard 0-100km runs. First one seems okay, the down shifts are still a bit weird. Second one though, down shifts extremely hard, throws me forward and i lose power again. Once again, press the gas pedal and no acceleration. This time the check engine light's come on once more. Got home, the engine sounds normal, seems to be a faint smoke coming from the lower back though, transmission perhaps? Can't really tell, as it's past midnight.

So, at this point i don't really know what to do. Bring it back to the same shop, go back to the dealer and demand something, call my warranty. I really don't know. I'm at a loss, i absolutely love this car. I just want to be able to drive her again, but it's been over two months now. I keep getting it back for a day or two, then she's gone.

TL;DR - Car was at the shop, serious engine work was done. Engine was completely taken out of the car from what i was told. Don't have any papers yet. Transmission is down shifting hard, and hard 0-80 or 0-100km pulls the transmission seems to shift to neutral when i let off the gas. No acceleration, but an increase in RPM.

 

My guess is that you had the balance shaft problem mentioned earlier. What's the vin or production date? Early 2007's still had the problem and you had to take the engine out in order to replace the parts. Quick guess on the transmission would be conductor plate or connector. Those are a couple of the major problems with this model, hopefully once they're fixed, you'll have a smoother ride. At least you don't have SBC or airmatic.

 

I'm almost certain it was something to do with the balance shaft, as when i got my car back the first time i found a explanation of how to replace one in the trunk of my car...

Vin is: WDBUF87X07X213239

 

That pause in your acceleration may be a throttle position sensor issue, from what I am told. My 2007 E350 does that on occasion. I have not had it fixed because it is infrequent enough to live with.

I have had the balance shaft replaced and the conductor plate replaced. On the conductor plate, I was having sudden and unexpected downshifts of at least two gears (like dropping from 4th to 2nd while going 40 mph), and it would really jerk the car. Changing the plate made a huge difference, and the car now shifts beautifully. It is a common issue.

 

Yep, your car was made on 7/21/2006 and engine number is 272972 30 428353 which is in the affected range. Well at least you won't have to worry about that anymore. Did your car come with the bluetooth puck in the center console? Otherwise it sounds like a nice car, real leather and you've got the bixenon headlamps, but no keyless go.

 

Yup, has the Bluetooth. It's a beautiful car, and i love her. I haven't been able to drive it for the past two months though. I think the shop might have incorrectly torqued it when they put the heads back on.

Either way, bringing it to a different shop on Monday. It's hard to find certified shops around where i live, i'm pretty sure the one i want to bring it to is certified though. Going to ask if the further repairs can be done under warranty, and to maybe take a look and see if there's anything the other shop messed up other than my paint.

Also going to see about calling up my warranty company and telling them exactly what's been going on. Not really sure what route to take, but in the end my car's working worse than when i first brought it in, and it's got scratches all over it, oil all over the engine block and the engine cover's clips are all broken. Somebody's going to pay for it to be repaired, and it won't be me.

 

Updated with some pictures.

The scratches are like that across the whole passenger side fender next to the hood. And the rim is scratched as well as the center cap, where it previously was not.

The engine was also clean before i brought it in to them.

 

omg look at the sealant job they performed on those cam magnets/cam sensor covers. BLUE sealant.... no way jose haha. You arent paying these people correct?!

 

No sir, my warranty company is. So, good idea to send these pictures to them monday and tell them the story? Try to get something done about it...

I'm still not sure what to do, this is where my Dealer told me to go, so it's where i went.

Edit: Also that blue sealant is everywhere, here's a couple of closer pictures. I honestly don't know enough about these cars to say what's out of place and what's not. Only vehicle i've ever worked on is my Canyon and Accord. Going to guess that's not exactly MB Approved sealant.

I can only imagine the damage they've done to my poor car.

 

Found out the location of the smoke i was talking about too. Went out side, started it up and let it run for a bit. Revved the engine a bit and the smoke started coming, continues as the engine's off. Might be fluid on the engine block heating up? Not sure. Coming from the back passenger side of the engine, pictured here.

Going to leave it run for a bit, think it's leaking oil too. It's on dirt now so i can't really tell, going to put a piece of cardboard down to see.

Going up to the dealer tomorrow with an ultimatum. They can bring my car to a proper shop, have it completely looked over and fixed properly, as well as the cosmetic work that needs to be done. They can buy the car back for the price owed on my loan, with some additional money for my trouble and money already spent on it. Or i'll be calling up the warranty company with pictures, explaining the whole situation to them. Call the better business beurau as well, and try to bring in some lawyers. At this point i bought the car from the shop, under the pretense that the Check engine light would be dealt with. They sent me to a mechanic that didn't know what they were doing, and wasted their time screwing around with my car. They are charging my warranty company for problems they've made.

We'll see how it goes. Probably not well.

 

Damn, they could have at least pressure washed your engine bay/engine and replaced that leaking centrifuge cover which i'm sure is dripping on your exhaust. This looks like hack work. Explain to me again why the dealership wouldn't cover the balance shaft repair. I know my dealership covers 95% of balance shaft/idler gear (M273) repairs. Obviously customer has to pay some money, but MBUSA is suppose to be footing the bill for these repairs. Not to mention the dealership makes money on warranty/goodwill repairs, because MB corp pays the bill not the dealership, so I'm a little confused as to what your dealership isn't doing. Couple that with the fact the shop they referred you to seems like a complete hack job. It does scare me though how there's black sealant on bank 1 and blue sealant on bank 2. Almost as if they only removed one cam adjustment cover which would explain why your check engine light is or was back on, because in order to do the balance shaft repair the entire front cover needs to be removed......... I'd be getting with a shop foreman or Service lane manager at your local dealership and have the vehicle checked over and diagnostics ran. This kind of work infuriates me, Mercedes, Honda, Lexus, Aston martin, Chevy it doesn't matter, take pride in your work. This is where surveys can be your best friend if you are a customer. I'd be getting on them, the shop that did the repair, yelp or yahoo or any survey kiosk and bash them. Sounds harsh but this is some bull you know what and I'm not even involved haha.

 

Yes, that would be your centrifuge cover leaking onto your exhaust. my guess is it's original and needs to be replaced. something you can for sure do yourself.

 

It wasn't bought from a Mercedes dealer, that's my mistake. It's the last time I'll make the mistake as well. The mechanic they sent me too is an independent shop. I agree as well, looks like hack work from people who don't know what they're doing. The man that runs the shop is supposedly certified to work on Mercedes, the man they had working on it was not. I don't even know if he's a proper mechanic, as i'm now learning they hire a bunch of random people down there without a license. There is no local Mercedes dealer nearby, the closest one is about 4 or 5 hour drive away. There are other mechanics I can bring it to though.
I'm seeing now, there's a local mechanic that I know does decent work, but i'm not sure if he works on Mercedes. At this point i'm willing to pay out of pocket just to have my car back.


I went and spoke with the dealer today about it, they put the entire blame on the shop. The shop that they referred me to. I took a closer look at both my Warranty contract and the contract I signed when I bought the car. The Warranty states that the dealer can not put a warranty on the car if it is not in good running order to begin with. When I bought the car, there was a check engine light on the vehicle when they put the warranty on. They told me that they would deal with it, and this has been an ongoing process now for the past 6 months. Additionally, the slip that I signed when I bought the car, is not sold as is. It was sold as a working road worthy vehicle with nothing wrong with it.


Supposed to have a talk with the shop mechanic tomorrow about it. We'll see what he has to say about it, I know he won't be too happy. I'm certain it's going to come to the point where i'm going to have to call up my warranty and explain what's going on. Not even sure if that'll save me now. Most likely they are just going to void my warranty. Perhaps prevent future warranty's from being sold at that location, and prevent service being done under their warranty at the shop.


I never realized when I bought the car what a headache I was getting myself into. I figured i'd be fine after buying the warranty, I knew that it wasn't going to be a cheap car to maintain. I never would have thought that the shop they would send me to would just butcher my car further.

 

Centrifuge is a common problem, even mine had it. There is a diy article about it somewhere. The worse part is having a shop do it that hasn't done them before. I think there's some other thread about the same thing happening to someone else, didn't quite run right afterwards and he thought the guys who put it back together skipped a step or something. You would have been better off with a 2008 or 2009, but I think you've now run into some of the major problems that a 2007 would have so it might have been ok if the shop hadn't screwed up the repair.

 

Took it for a drive a bit earlier to get some gas real quick and just get it moving for a bit. Shifting terribly now, hard up and down shifts through all gears.

 

Got the papers today of the work that was done on it. This is the gist of it, seeing about bringing it to another shop tomorrow.

• Removed engine and replaced balance shaft
• Sprocket kit
• Timing chain
• Various seals
• Change oil, filter, and lubricant. Antifreeze and A/C service

Then after i took it back for additional problems.

• Alternator
• Belt tensioner assembly

 

Stranger on the Internet can you tell me if this car was affected

 

Well it's not in the balance shaft range. It affected cars up to engine number 30 468993 and you're well out of that range.