HoustonRider

First visit at 1600 miles, two weeks ago. Went in for first visit/checkup. Left mirror was not holding adjustment after they unfolded, and was loose. Dealer said he had to order some parts and would call me when they came in.

Following week, he called to let me know parts are in, and made an appointment. Took the truck in, and also let him know that it felt like the left rear shock was bad, and was making noise. 30 minutes after I arrived, he let me know the parts for the mirror were the wrong parts and would have to re-order the right ones. He also told me he had to order a bushing for the rear shock, but the shock wasn't leaking.

Fast forward to this Wednesday, 3300 miles in the clock. as I'm rolling to the dealer, I noticed a bit of white smoke coming from the rear. I pull up and let him know, he (after quizing me about what type of diesel I use) looks under the rear and says "yep, that rear shock is really leaking now". I said "I thought you ordered some bushing that was bad?" He said "Yeah, but the shock comes with the bushing"... whatever...

They get the rear shock and mirror replaced in about 2 hours. I get on the road and start driving and instead of the rear shock bottoming out, the shock is fine, but now there's another deep rattle noise coming from the rear (weird thing, is that in the raised mode, I don't hear it, so it must be something close to the underbody thats rattling). Called the deal and made another appointment.

just a short history, I recently finalized a lawsuit with Nissan over an Armada that was in for a few small repairs and after a year in litigation, it was resolved in my favor.

I was so happy to get into this truck and finally not have to have some lingering small issue and repeating visits to the dealer, but I find my self going down the SAME road as the last 2 years.

I'm just venting a bit, I'm hoping when I call MB on Monday we get this solved. If not, I have an atty that will be happy to take a few bucks from MB.

BeanCounter

I would give your dealer a chance to get the bugs worked out and if they can't fix it right the first time you might have to take it to another dealer. These are great cars and I am sure you will love yours as much as most of us love ours once you get past these problems (which hopefully is in short order).

carpersn

SOunds like your dealership's manager needs to be made aware of your service department's recently lacking service/knowledge (how do you order the wrong part on a brand new vehicle?)...also let them know of your recent experience-might make them walk on eggshells a bit more/be more careful with your car.

StevethePilot

Do not give up on this one! You weren't around for the turbo hose fiasco, which we finally got a recall done on (disguised as an emissions recall). To be blunt, Mercedes has spent the better part of the last, oh, 15 years with some serious reliability problems and while they're emerging from that quite nicely, they're not done yet. That said, there's absolutely no excuse whatsoever for the type of treatment you're getting from your service shop, and if the dealership's not immediately very forthcoming with some acceptable solutions, you should keep moving up the food chain, to MBUSA for instance.

HoustonRider

yep, thats my plan... take it up the food chain just to keep everyone informed.

UPDATE: I noticed last night my air suspension wouldnt move up or down, its in the up position now. Even though the light flashes and the dash monitor tells me its lowering, its not going anywhere.

I'm about to come unglued.

BeanCounter

With all due respect to your dealer, it sounds like they are the root of your problems and screwed up the airmatic system when they were "fixing" your original problem.

HoustonRider

update :

driving this am, my airmatic "malfunction" light came on, I called the dealer and told them I was bringing it in after my appt.

I also called MB customer care, and said "I don't want this truck anymore" he said "lets get you out of that truck!". He said it may take a week or so, but a Regional guy would call me or contact my dealer. I'm not sure what he meant by that and I didn't ask, we will see.

On a side note, the same guy owns the Nissan place and the MB dealership.. turns out, my service manager for MB is the serice manager at the Nissan dealership where I had to sue them to get my truck fixed. Coincidence? lol

I'll keep ya posted.

StevethePilot

Wow, that's pretty serious! It does sound like it's something your dealership did more than a reliability issue; I had my 320 in for a front end vibration perhaps three, four times before I took it to a different dealership in town and had the problem fixed the first time (wheel balance on the identical machine, both supposedly calibrated at least weekly if not daily, I have no idea why one did it when the other couldn't). The only reliability issue I had was with the turbo hose, which was eventually (and I believe finally) taken care of with an emissions recall (sneaky buggers).

I wish you the best of luck. I'm really saddened by the fact that someone has the same truck as I do but not nearly the same experience. I can't imagine how frustrating that must be, especially at this price point!

Steve

scottybdiving

My sentiments exactly. I have read about the different issues (turbo hose, oil level sensor, airmatic, erattic shifting, etc.) hoping they were revised prior to my build date, however HoustonRider purchased his after I did.

It scares me because I would rather have teeth pulled than to take a car back to the dealership for warranty work. In fact, over the last 5 vehicles I have owned (4 Ford diesels, 1 Chevy Diesel), trips to the dealer have been rare to none. I am hoping for that same kind of reliability with my 1st MB but it has some very big shoes to fill.

P.S. I should mention that so far, it has been nothing but a pleasure.

StevethePilot

Sure, but you're experiencing nitrogen narcosis so that doesn't count.

(Buddy breathing with the fish again, are we?)

vinceching

i really doubt they are going to lemon the car for you and buy it back. a lot of people including me have experienced early airmatic failures before 4,000 miles, along with some other annoying problems.

if they replace it for you, more power to ya

HoustonRider

the dealer called me at 5pm, told me it would be ready to pickup tomorrow. he said it needed a new air compressor (suspension). I asked him about the rattling noise that I heard last week (and told him about last week) after he installed the new rear shock, and he said "oh, I never heard about that". I reminded him I told him last week and the compressor failed during the time I told him and the time I brought it back. He said "well, it was probably just the compressor, are you SURE it was a noise from the rear suspension?".. I said "dude, I know what I'm talking about, don't call me about this truck again until your 1000% sure its all good".

so we will see. I'm going to followup with MB tomorrow afternoon to see whats what as well.

FYI on the lemon law (at least in Texas). If a vehicle is dubbed a lemon, its tagged as such on the title (like a salvage title). If they bought this one back and resold it as used (or demo), they would get a hell of a lot more for it than one tagged as a lemon.

scottybdiving

Now your telling on yourself. Maybe you should be called Diver Steve instead. They stopped teaching buddy breathing when they started using an alternate octopus, like in the 80's. When I got my C-card, we had to buddy breathe and do an emergency buoyant ascent. Also, the BCD's had CO2 cartridges for emergency ascents. They stopped all that due to liability.

HoustonRider, I know you must be frustrated, especially after the Nissan episode. Maybe this is an easy fix and all will be well.

oknish

My $0.02 here is to make sure that you have every complaint documented at the dealer. That is the only way you will have a trail of what you reported. Else it will be you said/dealer said.

All the best to you and hope you find a resolution that works for you.

HoustonRider

thanks, been down this road before... I spent the last 2 years in litigation with Nissan and it was settled about 45 days ago. Its all too familiar