To begin, I want to say that I am a huge fan of this car. We use it almost exclusively for long trips, and it has faithfully been through hurricanes, snow storms and everything in between. After much research, and noting the obviously meaningful statistical correlation with my own experiences, I point no fingers at the dealership. I am also not angry, just disappointed...largely due to having the luxury of an extended warranty and the way it's used. Daily drivers wouldn't be so kind.

Since buying our CPO 08 4 years ago, it has had major service 14 times. Six struts/air bags have been replaced, all four failed while 1000 miles from home and were replaced (I count this as one major service btw), the new ones on the left side were replaced and the pump was replaced later. Both rear shocks were just replaced.

It didn't start with the suspension, though. My rear left wheel bearing was the first thing to fail, followed by the ESP sensor. After replacement, it now exhibits random, undiagnoseable ESP warnings that "lead to a no action" in the diagnostic workflow, but leave my car stuck in park and unable to go into gear. Again, not angry.

After the ESP sensor replacement, the sunroof and power steering pump failed. It's annoying to have your sunroof stuck open in Florida with our mild *cough* afternoon rains, but I'm told that the sight of a GL450 thundering down the highway with viskween flapping madly on the roof is quite humorous to M3 drivers.

Let's not forget the major services that have directly followed maintenance. Oil change? Centrifugal pump failure. All lights in each headlight cluster the next week. Both rear taillights twice later too. Shock replacement? Right curtain airbag failure (this is my favorite one, btw, I didn't even leave the service driveway before it failed...they "reset the faulty code"...I got to the entrance before it failed again). I'm getting depressed just going through all these, though the thickness of my service file is worse.

The drivers side window switch unit failed. Have fun with that when your window is down. Hint, there is no solution, but a front floormat will work in a pinch.

Oh, and tires. Six of them. The suspension issues destroyed the first set getting my family home on that road trip.

So yes. I am disappointed with my "Mercedes experience".

 

I'd be so pissed and would dump that thing in a heartbeat unless it's cost prohibitive, and would never look back at benz

However, we have a way of getting over things, and perhaps you'll give another benz a try in the future.

I went through two back to back buybacks on 2014 E550's that had the same transmission "thud" with certain shifts that they could never get right... also various electronic gremlins.. I hear ya

 

I wonder if the OP's car was involved in a flood? The air suspension and power steering issues are all very common but the rest isn't.

 

Not that I am aware of.

Interesting update, the dealership shop foreman has been attempting to diagnose the airbag issue for three days without success. They are on the verge of ruining our Thanksgiving family trip.

All in all, they've had the car under repair for almost two full months (out of my hands and in the shop) over four years. Anyone else think Mercedes needs to extend my warranty for free?

 

Gotta give MB Maitland some credit. Apparently, a team of techs and the foreman worked on it until 7pm, and two more have picked up on it this morning. They are calling me every hour, which is quite impressive. I understand that they've hand validated the harness, sensors and fuse box from the rear right bumper forward. Still nothing...no corrosion, no damage. Car apparently looks new.

Having once done something similar on a vastly simpler car, I can only say damn. Now THIS is why I got a MB, actual service, not a blow off.

Personally, I'm starting to suspect the ECU.

 

Ha, loose connector behind dashboard. Problem solved. Will be interesting to see if we can make the whole trip without a warning light.

 

It usually comes down to something simple, like connections, when computers and electronics are involved (in general)

You have to wonder if there is some grounding issue somewhere, that is shorting out everything in the chain domino by domino, fix one thing, the next thing fails. Who knows. Such a complex vehicle

 

Just fyi you can close all of your windows using your remote. Just hold down the lock button close to the driver door handle and hold the unlock button to open all windows

 

so here is a fun update...we just recently crossed 100K miles and brought the car in for service with some AC problems. The result? An alleged $19K in repairs are needed and magically now my suspension is failing again after visiting the dealership. They kindly offered me $1000 to trade it in. I am not ****ing kidding you.

Leaky power steering rack: $5K
Fix leaky AC system (requiring complete dashboard removal): $5K
Replace both front air struts again (now the 11th and 12th *replacements*): $4K
Long list of various other fixes: $5K

I'm completely disappointed in this car, MB, and MBUSA. It has been nothing but a constant lemon. Bear in mind this is an 08 that just crossed 100K. It’s basically parked all day. Now I don’t know what to do...no dealerships will take it now that these failings have been entered into the system and my best chance to trade it would be spending about $10K to get about $14K. What a ****ing turd. Nobody should be buying the GL.

 

Your dealership is.taking you to the cleaners. Go to a good independent.

On the struts, get them from Arnott. They have a lifetime warranty and will be less than half of the dealerships struts. I've found the Arnott rebuilds to last longer than the factory struts.

Look online to buy your parts and call around for install costs. These vehicles are not overly difficult to repair so it shouldn't be an issue finding a mechanic to fix your GL.

 

So they offered 19K worth of repairs on something that is worth 1K in their eyes.

What repairs do you actually need? AC problems? Not sure where are you located. Probably south that you took in for AC problems in January LOL
It would be easier to repair if you believe that you are fixing something that is worth 1K LOL. I wouldn't think for a second before trying stop leak formulas in Power steering and AC if any of my vehicle is worth 1K. You can still try stop leak in a power steering system if rack is destined to be replaced anyway.
Suspension? you didnt bring it in for that repair. If no problem, just wait for it to give you a problem and then replace it with Arnott or Bilstein from FCP Euro. You will get lifetime replacements with both of them.
Electrical systems might be complex but mechanical systems are just nuts and bolts.

 

No, I get this . What I find bizarre is that a vehicle with almost no mileage since the last front suspension replacement (~6K miles) with no problems going in, comes out of the dealership with two squeaking, failing air struts. They diagnosed this supposed issue on my second visit. I find myself wondering if they struts can "fail" after being put on a lift improperly. If we replace these, it will be the fourth time the front struts have been replaced (as a pair) and the 11th and 12th struts overall. I had no idea there are now cheaper air suspension parts available in the aftermarket, this was not the case three years ago to my knowledge. Yep, 6K miles in 3 years. That's how little use this car gets. We don't drive very much and that was roughly when the extended warranty expired. I find it very suspicious that all these failures have happened suddenly after said extended warranty expired.

$19K in repairs is what they quoted overall. I can trade it in without the repairs for $1K. In great shape, it's supposedly worth $14K. You can see the issue.

We brought it in with AC problems we have been ignoring since August, where we spent ~300 miles of a road trip through Georgia at 100 degrees (inside). We knew there was a problem (obviously). I already tried leak stop, it did nothing that I can determine. Everything else was discovered during their standard "inspection" service. We did most of the secondary repairs already (mileage service, brake rotors, replaced brake lines, a couple hoses, replaced battery, etc.).

I'm seriously wondering if this dealership is crooked. I've never heard of so many problems...just look at my history in the previous posts. Same dealership.

And no, I am not incompetent mechanically, I have a Subaru rally car that I've wrenched on pretty hardcore for over a decade, having done my own transmission swaps (to the 6 speed) and engine rebuilds from the block up (swapping pistons, rods, billet crankshaft, doing some gentle porting, etc.). It's partly why I've chosen to respect the dealership's diagnoses thus far. That might be stupidity.

 

Sorry to hear about your experiences. Nothing much to add to this thread but some sympathy for your predicament. Not sure what mileage you have on yours but 08 GL450s with over 100K miles are selling for $10K-$15K in my area. Maybe take it to CarMax if it is drivable and see what they offer you. One of my constant fears with driving out of warranty Mercedes is being stuck with a big repair and being unable to offload it without doing the repair. If your car is drivable I would offload it as soon as you can. I have been kicking the idea of buying a GL450 to replace my 2005 C240 Estate but I have always been concerned about the Airmatic, which is a known failure point on these cars (it was the reason we bough an ML350 without Airmatic for my wife). I likely am going to move away from Mercedes in our next cars sadly - as you can see from my profile I have owned several but I don't believe the GL class is reliable overall (in spite of many folks claiming to be in the 200K mile point with theirs), even the newer addition.

 

Thank you for the support! I must say, I am still a big fan of the GL. It flatly drives better than any other large SUV I've tried and as I said in there (somewhere), it has been totally reliable aside from the airmatic issues and things that I think (frankly) have been caused by the dealership. I was fortunate to have a warranty to 100K, so I didn't really worry about it before, but like you, it suddenly concerns me quite a bit.

Great idea on the CarMax sale! I had forgotten about that but you jogged my memory that it's a popular place for people with modified vehicles to sell their cars. Lately we've been eyeing the new Lincoln Navigator but it's far too early to get one used. It might make sense to hunt for a low mileage 2014-2015 GL, I have heard that the airmatic may be more reliable in the more recent ones (but who knows really).

One funny side note: It drives and compensates so well that you have to be careful if you happen to get a flat tire. We got one while it was very cold out and we had been conditioned to ignore the pressure warnings on cold mornings. I drove almost two miles before I realized the right rear was flat...you just couldn't tell by the way it was driving!

 

The aftermarket air struts have been around much longer than 3 years. I would go someone else, again, as advised above.

 

I just replaced one of the front struts myself recently and it's $600 for a re-manufactured MB part from a dealer. Both fronts would be ~$1300. Even with labor, it should not cost $4K to replace them at a dealer. $5K for a rack? no way. I suggest you find a different shop. I would expect $5K total bill for everything you listed.