racyb

I have just noticed a constant intermittent squeaking noise coming from the engine compartment. It seems to increase in the frequency of squeaks as the RPMs increase. This was not present at delivery of the vehicle a couple days ago. Is this the idler pulley issue that others have experienced?

I can certainly understand that no car is perfect, but this squeaking is so aggravating on a 2 day old $70k+ car.

03LX470

I can confirm the same noise was present in the GL i test drove. Also, a relative's S Class had the same noise. The dealer fixed it (dont know what they did). The noie returned after few months.

racyb

Wow, that's not very encouraging to hear. I guess I will wait for other issues to crop up before I go in for the complimentary service.

carpersn

never heard what you describe...hopefully an easy fix for you. i'm at 5500...

StevethePilot

No noise at over 7500 miles on the GL 320.

2thfixr

No noise after 15k miles for me.

racyb

The squeaking noise mysteriously disappeared at 125 miles. Now at 220 miles and not a squeak. Maybe one of the accessory belts had to "break in"? In any case it's all good and enjoying the smooth and quiet ride

StevethePilot

Those of us in Arizona know, there's more water on the ground right now than the total amount we normally get in an entire year, and more than has been for quite a long time. Plus, of course, even in Phoenix it's colder than usual with a few 32F nights (yes, I know, not "freezing" per se but cold for us at least).

I found that my front end the past few days has been squeaking whenever it's gotten a good compression, like going over a speed hump or significant rise in the road under moderate braking. It seemed to come and go a bit, so I ignored it for a few days and finally called my SR, Sam over at Schumacher. He told me my bushings needed to be lubricated, partly because it'd gotten cold and possibly due to rain. It'd take a couple of hours (probably just because they're usually pretty busy) so I'd drop it off, pick up a loaner (GLK - more on some observations later) and pick my car up when it was done. I also mentioned to him that sometimes it seemed like the truck was out of alignment and other times it didn't, and sometimes it felt like a tire was out of balance at highway speeds and other times it didn't. So he added an alignment on to the service and sent me on my way.

Later yesterday, I got a call from Sam and I could tell right away (as he's had to do this to me before with other issues with my truck) this had turned in to something more than we had expected. As it turns out, my bushings in the front end are torn. Okay, I've replaced bushings on an antique car of mine before, a pain in the butt but not very expensive or shouldn't be. But as it turns out, on the lower control arms of the truck you can not replace the bushings! Mercedes has designed these things where the entire control arm must be replaced to replace the bushings! I'm flummoxed. This makes absolutely no sense to me. Plus the price tag, $2000 installed, is another slap in the face from Mercedes. It wouldn't be anywhere near this expensive, even at a Scottsdale-based service center like Schumacher's, to just replace the bushings!

I did something I've not done before; I called another guy. Schumacher doesn't know I did this, but after the third serious front end problem, I just had to touch base with someone else and see what the theory was. I won't name the shop because I don't want to, but we'll start with one fact that's confusing; my truck is only 3 years old. Sam checked the build date for me, it just turned three. Next, it has 80,000 miles on it. This is not even a teenager in Mercedes diesel terms, so it seemed like a truly shocking idea that maybe I'm driving it to much. Why the heck did I buy it, if not to drive it?! I'd say 70% of those miles are highway miles, and the remainder surface streets. I've done maybe 10 miles on unimproved roads and none that could be considered "off-roading". So imagine my surprise when the other guy's response of 80K miles and the bushings being torn was, "yeah, they're about due." Geez, who chose the bushings? I told him I was told the entire control arms needed to be replaced, too, and he said he'd check it out and get back to me.

Two things have happened since then. The first is that I went in to Schumacher and spoke directly with the service manager - forgive me, I am very bad with names, really, and even though he told me twice I've forgotten it. Not only did they listen to my complaining, with me explaining that I in no way blamed the service center but was just amazed at the amount of trouble I'm having with the front end, they made me - who owns one Mercedes, though I do always bring it to them for service - feel like they want me to continue being a customer there. They got MBUSA to help out on the bill, on "good will", and this is not the first time. And the second thing that happened is the other shop didn't even call back to say, "Hey, I can't find out yet so I need until tomorrow." Not nearly the level of customer service.

I guess my point, besides the whole service center thing, is that it just amazes me that I have to throw out two perfectly good control arms, just to replace some bushings. (Which, by the way, explains the alignment and possibly the vibration issues.) Who thought of this? It's not like they don't trust the guys & gals in Alabama to put bushings in properly, because most, if not all, of the other suspension bushings can be replaced. Has anyone else had this problem with the front end, and if so have they had to replace the whole control arm to replace the bushings? The SA and manager said there's a possibility the control arms would be replaced with bushings that can be replaced but either way in another 3 years and/or 80,000 miles I'd probably have to replace them again.

Go fig.

STP

lkchris

Lots of things are designed such that they cannot be "maintained," and Mercedes has done this for decades. Lot more quality control back at the factory than with some mekanik with a hammer.

StevethePilot

I understand, not everyone gets an "A" in mechanic school. I'm just really, really annoyed at throwing out not one but 2 perfectly good control arms! I guess if I had more experience with the line I'd have been more aware of it. Thanks for the info, though!

STP

Kar don

dunno if they were perfectly good if you were having alignment issues.. ball joint could be no good. Regardless, 2k sounds like a lot for some control arms.

gild

StevethePilot, you had me concerned about these prices so I did some research. GetMercedesParts.com shows an exploded view of the front suspension and it shows that I can get a replacement bushing for $16.50. EPC net shows the part number to be A 164 333 03 14.

If I'm mistaken about this, please correct me. I've experienced the need for regular replacement of rubber components on Mercedes suspensions but I've found that they've always been built to replace parts rather than the whole assembly.

StevethePilot

Well, it's possible that they have changed to replaceable parts on the latest "version" of the arms, I'm unsure of that. As for the arms being bad, I was told the one set of bushings involved the camber and the other set involved the caster? Not sure.