StevethePilot

So for anyone who's been following the continuing saga of my 07 GL320 CDI, the list goes on. First, of course, it was the turbo hose - what was it, three times? four? Then there was the leaking strut on the left front. The blown strut on the right front. Some solenoid that cost almost nothing but racked up a lot in labor because of its location and difficulty in getting to. Then of course there were the bushings that cannot be replaced, meaning I had to throw out perfectly good control arms from both sides to replace about $8 in rubber bushings. Then, of course, a part on the turbo malfunctioned and the whole turbo itself had to be replaced. Now something is leaking again in the air ride system, and the rear end of the truck sits down about 8 times out of 10 when I park it, which I've decided is an annoyance and no longer worth my money. And then starting last Wednesday, the transmission would slip and clunk going from 2nd to 3rd. This morning, I took it in to the shop, first one in for the day. At 5pm I called to see what the situation is, and my transmission and torque converter need to be replaced. There's metal in the bottom of the transmission. Not even looking at the back end, I'm out more than $7000 to replace the two.

Can somebody tell me, do I have any recourse with MBUSA other than fixing it yet again and then selling it?

STP

dbtk

I would write to MBUSA Customer Advocacy department.

Karen Matri
Mercedes-Benz USA
Department Manager, Customer Advocacy
3 Mercedes Drive
Montvale, N.J. 07645
office 201-573-2940
cell 201-218-1483
fax 201-476-6316

captivabenz

Amazing bad luck. My 07 cdi has 44,000 miles and luckily has had no significant problems. I am worried though as I approach 50,000 miles and the warranty ending...

43221B

If you bought it where you've had it serviced and you're willing to try another one, maybe talk to the GM at the dealership about trading it as is for a VERY good deal on a 2010. They shouldn't want to permanently lose your business and no sane GM would come to any other conclusion if they reviewed your maintenance records. Tell them they've made plenty of money off of you.

BlownV8

Get a second opinion on the repairs. It may be a solenoid issue. How much metal? When was the last time you changed the fluid and filter? How many miles?

As far as contacting Mercedes, they are not going to do a damn thing for you. Even when they are required by law to fix something out of the standard 50,000 mile warranty, like catalytic converters, it's an act of congress to get them to act. Sure, go ahead and try but don't expect them to do anything. Even if it is a known issue that every car they ever made suffers from, they will not fix out of warranty unless made to do so by the NHTSA or EPA.

The dealership is your only option and hope they will use some of their allocated good will money from Mercedes to fix your car. I'd suggest going to the dealership that sold you the car. Put some heat on them and basically threaten that it will be the last Mercedes you buy from them if they don't fix. It may or may not work but it is worth a try.

Sorry you have had issues with your GL. I have around 80,000 miles on my GL450 and have had no major repairs. Of course, I've had issues with the hatch alignment causing it to not properly close but the problem was eventually fixed. I also had a cracked wheel fixed under warranty and a few minor cosmetic issues that were also fixed under warranty. Given that I drive so much, I did purchase a 4 year unlimited mileage warranty from Chrysler service contracts but have yet to use if for anything.

StevethePilot

The car has 94,000. They serviced the transmission 4,000 miles ago. I don't know "how much metal" but I believe it was a significant enough amount they didn't feel there was another option.

The dealership has already sort of offered. Unfortunately, the place I bought it from is not the place I am having it serviced. When the turbo went and I talked to the place where I purchased it, they basically told me how much a new one cost. Sort of a "Well, we have this one on the lot and I can let you have it for [insert full retail amount here]." The place where I'm having it serviced really basically gave me the same offer. I've already put so damned much money in to this thing it's a matter of stopping the bleeding. Putting another big chunk of change on a new version of the same thing really isn't in the cards at this point. Everything they've fixed on it has been done right, and (with one exception) the first time.

My wife's convinced the fact we had to drive with the turbo hose blown off, trying to force it to manually shift with the paddles, caused extra wear on the transmission. I don't know, but it is interesting that a car with a turbo hose problem has had to have the turbo and now the transmission and torque converter replaced.

By the way, the SA came out when I drove up yesterday, saw my car squatting down in the back, and said those wonderful words I just love hearing from him - "Geez, I've never seen anything like that before in my life!" Great.

Fourdiesel

I know from reading your saga (actually more like a horror thriller) over the years that you have had atrociously bad luck with your rig. Have you checked the lemon law requirements in Arizona and can you show that your car qualifies as a lemon? If so - proceed with that process.

nynd

94000 is pretty good mileage. Sounds like the turbo hose being off could have put more strain on the tranny but if you had service 4000 miles ago, I'm just wondering if they did everything right at that time - right fluid, right amount, etc, etc.. You would have thought that at 90K they would have seen metal as opposed to 4000 miles later - makes you think a little.

All in all, the engine should last another 100K easily so instead of taking a hit on re-sale, I'd say put whatever you need to into it and you should be getting some warranty coverage on the new tranny. Other option is to look at wreckers for anything out there, but then you don't know history/mileage at times.

StevethePilot

All in all, the service advisor said (before he knew that this problem existed) I should get another 90,000+ miles out of the transmission. So that said, "the engine should last another 100k easily" is about as comforting as "you should get another 90,000+ miles out of the transmission."

I've looked at the lemon laws in Arizona and they seem to be geared towards used cars. Also it involves a car not being able to be repaired after a certain number of times or after a certain amount of time. And it involves issues that are not under warranty, if I'm not mistaken, so the turbo hose wouldn't count (plus I'd have had to have made a complaint at that time). Everything that's needed fixing on the car has been done right the first time.

I'm really not sure what my next move is. My perspective is, take a hit on resale that I know or take another (nearly equivalent) hit on some other horrendously expensive repair that I cannot forsee.

STP

teeth

Your experiences are why I encourage anyone to stay within the warranty on these expensive-to-repair cars. I have a tendency to lease, but that doesn't work with your kind of mileage. We bought the factory extended warranty (7yr/100k miles) on the 07 GL450, which cost over $5k.... but the peace of mind is worth it. Recently, after 59k trouble free miles, the GL was squatting on the driver's front side. Not sure what it would have cost to repair... probably not the full cost of the warranty... but was nice to not have to worry.

sheepdog

I know the dealer you are having the car serviced at (as it is the same for me). My experience is that they are first rate (albeit expensive). My suggestion would be to set up an appointment with your service writer, the service mgr and Chris or Michael Schumacher to delve into the alternatives that are available. Make sure your service writer provides them with a complete history of your car before the meeting so that they can due their due diligence and possible discuss the situation with the MB regional rep. My experience is that they are an extremely professional operation. I understand that they are under no obligation to do anything special for you but my guess is they will come up with something. Best of luck.

StevethePilot

I agree with your assessment of the dealership and in numerous big-ticket situations they've worked with me already. I did meet with the service manager and he's a very nice guy. At no time have I felt anyone was saying that's too bad, you're out of warranty. Business is down for everyone, including the service drive, and they appreciate business and it shows. I don't know how much I can do through the dealership itself, and I get the impression that MBUSA - unlike the dealership - really doesn't give a crap.

We'll know more tomorrow, eh?

STP

SPLe320

Steve, how did it go at the dealer?

StevethePilot

The dealer's the dealer, thanks for asking though. I'm still waiting for some information back from MBUSA. I got a call back from a person named "Simon" on the 26th. It was interesting because one thing he wanted to know is how I got in to the system. I told him I'd called Karen Matri, whose voice mail told me to call Paul Harman, with whom I also left a voice mail. Paul is the supervisor, so I'd called the boss directly. He said he was just being sure the system wasn't broken, so could I let him know how I got the number. I told him, "Honestly, I am a member of an online group ..." I will be calling Simon back today, but with this being about $8,000 to repace both (I'm thinking labor's involved in that, too) I imagine it'll be a while before they make a decision.

I'll let you guys know if anything changes.

STP

ddcha

good luck steve.

SPLe320

An earlier post mentioned a used unit. That might not be a bad idea. Is there an import shop in town that you trust? Or a shop that specializes in automatics that also does imports? The one good thing is that the 7-speed box is common across the MB line. I think that it has been in use since 2006, so there should be some used ones in the used parts dealer systems. For $8000, I would at least spend a few hours exploring this route. Is the car driveable? Have you made your mind up to keep it or sell it?

Brocktoon

you have had the worse luck, Steve. i hope your next car is better to you...

StevethePilot

It does seem like just one thing after another with this truck has gone wrong, doesn't it? But I think on the one hand it's fair to say Mercedes has come through with some help on the truck, even though it is no longer under warranty. Ultimately, they're recognizing that I am and have been loyal to the brand and that I've always had the vehicle serviced at the dealership. In this case, they've come through with half the parts cost plus another $1000 in customer loyalty, and it's not just the transmission but the air ride switch block they're including in this, and the transmission will have a 40,000 mile warranty.

That's where we stand now on my truck. There is one thing about the truck, something I even noticed on my loaner (just a little C 300). When you're going down the highway, "at speed" as it were, you can't help but get what my friend from the UK calls "that smile factor." Okay neither vehicle is a track-ready supercar, but they do highways, even American highways, really well overall. I have to say, having owned other SUVs both big and small, that this one's the most car-like over the long haul drive.

I'll leave it at that!

lwain56

Checking the forum and it is great to hear that Mercedes stood behind its product, not withstanding having a loyal client!

StevethePilot

Indeed they did ... unfortunately (and this is simply a fact of life), I'm out for a couple of weeks waiting for parts from Germany. I decided I wanted to have a little more room so I turned in my C300 loaner for another car. Normally it'd be a "rental" (which, of course, Schumacher is picking up) but I had hoped for at least a GLK. The guy behind the desk said the GLK'd be back soon and I could wait, or I could take this SUV he was just raving about how great it was, a Cadillax SRX. I fell for it.

Moving beyond the fact that it is ugly as sin (though not the ugliest thing I've ever seen), the engine seems kind of iffy, weak (even in "Sport" mode). Acceleration is lackluster. Fit and finish are okay, but the seats are about as soft as slabs of granite. The ride hovers somewhere between jittery and rough, and it's always busy. There's a roof-long sunroof that's kind of nice but rather massive. It has a Tardis-like impression of everything inside being massive but the space feels very tiny. Visibility out the back is fair to poor. Handling is uncertain and I don't feel confident in it. The controls take an advanced engineering degree to figure out and are poorly placed - it took me five minutes to figure out how to adjust the temperature. Rear windows are not auto-up-auto-down but the front ones are. Driver and passenger seats are power, the driver seat has memory and a thigh support that slides (manually) forward. This one has a keyless-go type system that has an auto-start, kind of nice but absolutely counterintuitive to use despite the only indecipherable button (an arrow bent into nearly a complete circle) being involved.

Suffice to say, Caddy's smaller SUV is not the truck for me! I may keep it just for giggles and I may get tired of it in about a minute and beg him for his GLK. Maybe that'll have a GPS in it as well? At least the Caddy has Bluetooth. But I can tell you that driving this one down the road gives no "smile factor" like my Mercedes does!

STP