neodoc

This afternoon while driving to a shopping mall, and with no warning whatsoever, the windshield wipers started working on their own. They moved hesitantly across the glass and stopped in various positions. At first, I was able to switch them on and off to move them back to a resting position, but this was impossible after a while. When I parked the truck, I noticed that the little parking lights stayed on, despite turning off the light switch and locking the vehicle. When I returned a few minutes later and started the truck, all seemed fine, but with a shudder, the engine suddenly stopped. I started it a few times, but it kept shutting itself down, until it stayed on and I exited the parking lot in limp mode. I drove a few hundred feet, and again it stalled. After restarting it, I aimed for the MB dealer and got on the highway no longer in limp mode. All the while, the dash lights kept turning on and off, the wipers going, the headlights turning on and off and the command screen doing the same lunacy. I stopped briefly at a friend's shop and connected the truck to the MB computer, which said the CAN was not communicating. On the way there, the A/C quit and I lost the turn signals as well.

Now with some sort of diagnosis in hand, I set off on the 8-mile trip to the dealer. About 5 miles from there, I smelled something burning, and then I saw smoke coming from under the dash and from the vents . I immediately pulled over and made sure there was no fire. I then called roadside assistance, only to be told that they would have to send a third-party towing service to my location, as the new dealer had not set up a contract with a towing service yet. This, of course would result in a bill for me, so I called AAA, who towed me and my dead GL to the dealer. Beyond the obvious fact that there was a short somewhere, I don't know how bad the damage is. But, the dashboard mesage did say "Drive to repair shop." At least the loaner car is decent. It's a brand new Chevy Impala with about 500 miles on the clock. Not a Benz, but not a Corolla with a scent of cigarette smoke mixed with air-freshener either. Yes. I was given one of these once. I'll know more in the next few days and will post updates for whoever is interested. Who knows? I might be able to get out of my lease if the truck is a total loss and get the 550 after all.

oknish

Sorry to hear this, Joe. Hang in there and all the best. Maybe that new 550 is going to happen, after all

MomsBenz

This is horrible! My GL seems to "catch" whatever is going around these boards. I pray it doesn't get this! GL, and I hope that a 550 is in your future. I am not sure about you, but I personally would not trust it again. Shorts are scary and you never really know the extent of the damage. Things continually pop up over time.

mbslk350

Sounds a lot like this...

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...ighlight=smoke

neodoc

How interesting that oinick's GL had a problem with the liftgate a few weeks before the meltdown. Mine did the same exact thing a few weeks ago as well. I got a call from the body shop manager today to say that he was taking the truck to the body shop to leak test it because there was a ton of water inside the vehicle. If you recall, this truck was hit from behind last year and it took about 6 weeks to repair. The shop manager was a gentleman then and still is, and he promised to look carefully for the source of the leak. If it was something they did, he said he would take care of it. Let's see where this goes. I'll have to make him aware of the sunroof issue. That 550 is looking better every day.

neodoc

I wanted to publically thank mbslk350 and oinik for being instrumental in solving my electrical meltdown problem. Thanks to mbslk350's post above and oinik's unfortunate experience, my truck's diagnosis was made today. I received a call from the body shop manager, who became involved in this when the guys at the service dept blamed him and his repair of my truck after last year's accident, for the current computer problem. I spoke with the service advisor beforehand and told him about the sunroof leak oinik had experienced and he basically blew me off. When I spoke to the body shop manager about this, he immediately asked that I send him a link to the post and went to work. In his call today, the body shop manager said there was a "huge" leak from the sunroof that was responible for the death of the computers under the driver's seat. He found a smaller leak around the back but there was no possible way for this water to track all the way to the area under the driver's seat. The truck will be sent to the main dealer in Coral Gables on Monday and the repairs will be made. I will have a very nice conversation later with the service advisor at the dealer where I took the truck and somewhere in the conversation the words "I told you so" may come up. Thanks again to mbslk350 and oinik and look for more updates next week.

BeanCounter

Joe,

Great news to hear that the root of your problem is being addressed and corrected. My dealership is the exact same way with me that they were with you. You tell them your problem, provide them with the solution from others on this forum who have had the exact same problem, and they blow you off with some smartass comment like "we know what we're doing" or the equivalent. It continues to blow my mind how ignorant they can be. In any regard I feel better now after my vent. Hopefully they will get your GL back in a timely fashion and thanks for your post. Hopefully I will never go through this issue.....

Jeff

oinick

You're very welcome. However, my GL has had two more mysterious shuts downs in traffic since the original smoke filled meltdown. The first was attributed to a low battery, and the one yesterday was blamed on letting my fuel get below 1/8 tank causing a "low rail delivery" situation.

Right now that Yukon or Escalada Hybrid I've been considering looks pretty good.