jortdubyabusch

Hello, I recently purchased a 2011 GL450 for my wife. We have had it for just over a month. I am somewhat mechanically inclined and I looked over the vehicle before purchase very carefully It had more miles than I was happy with (99,000 miles) but it appeared to be a great vehicle and it was in immaculate shape and we got a great deal seemed like. Upon bringing the vehicle home and driving it a few weeks the ABS lights (amber color) came on and continues to come on as soon as your crank it and the drivers front wheel grabs twice when you get up to about 5 mph in Drive then it brakes normal besides the ABS light staying on saying inoperable. I also noticed the CV boot on the driver side front had a small seap of grease on one of the inner ribs of the rubber boot and was slinging grease inside the wheel. I keep it checked and clean it weekly I have a new CV boot on order and will replace it as soon as it comes in. I Got it checked by a mechanic and replaced the right rear wheel speed sensor and fixed the problem instantly. Not even 2 weeks later same problem again. Father in law suggested testing the battery which ended up being bad and very weak. I thought that may be the problem so I purchased a new battery (starts much better and glad I replaced regardless) but no fix. Took back to mechanic yesterday and he cleared all the codes which had 10-15 different ones including every wheel speed sensor and he said that was likely due to the low voltage battery and for me to drive it a couple of days and bring it back as soon as the ABS lights came back so he could narrow down which wheel speed sensor or bearing etc is faulty. Within a couple of hours the ABS lights came back on! Its currently sitting at the mechanic shop and hes going to check it with his scanner again. He is a great mechanic in my opinion and has worked on MB before and I trust him over my MB dealer. But if we can't get this narrowed down and fixed I will have to bite the bullet and fork out the big money at the MB dealer....

Has anyone had this much bad experience? I just want my wife to be able to drive her car and enjoy it and not have to worry about mechanical issues. We LOVE the vehicle I just really hope and pray this vehicle isn't going to be a money pit. I thought MB was supposed to be a very dependable vehicle that's why I wasn't too concerned with the mileage. I have tried the "turning the wheel left and right while in park and switching it off method'' and cleaning the connections of the wheel speed sensors at both ends. Brake lights are working so I have not replaced the brake light switch which I have read is a common problem. I am losing sleep and running out of ideas!
Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

alx

a weak battery will throw all kinds of related and unrelated codes. a strong battery is a must to eliminate random errors. so... now when you have a clean slate your tech should be able to isolate the offending parts and address the core issue.

patience i say.

SndsoftheSbrbs

Most Mercedes-Benz owners find the vehicles to be relatively reliable and exceptionally durable. However, Mercedes-Benzes are VERY expensive to maintain, and are VERY expensive to repair. Your Mercedes should last you at least 175-200k miles. In my experience, you can expect annual maintenance and repair costs of $1-2k based upon 10k miles per year. Some mileage milestones will be more costly than others. I would strongly suggest you reach out to an experienced Mercedes owner (or an enthusiast club) about locating a local independent mechanic, preferably factory-trained, to service your vehicle. In my experience, the dealer is generally not worth engaging unless you have some sort of electrical issue with the COMAND system or a CD player for example.

BlownV8

You can get way more than 200k out of your GL. Heck, that's not even half used at 200k miles.

johny75

I hate so say it but you guys are dreaming.., Mercedes is not a very reliable vehicle, and the fact that you put 1-2K cach per year proves it. With such repairs yearly any vehicle can reach 200k because by the time you are that millage you have replaced everything : ) . I am in the same boat, love my MB, but luckily the guy before me replaced a bunch of major things, before reaching 100K, now I am dong my own maintenance which is the only reason I can afford that car. However, I love it when it drives!!, what can I say... I hope the tranny stays strong as this part is hard for DIYers.

Captincvmn

I do my own work when I'm able but some things are dealer repairs or at the least diagnosed.

If your indie mechanic doesnt doesn't have dealer level diagnostics then they're shooting blind IMO. Great mechanics are great but with the sheer number of sensors in these cars a trip to the dealer coupled with a one hour minimum for diagnostic work with the appropriate Star diagnostic computer can save you from yanking your hair out by the roots.

PS, anybody have a used Star machine for sale?

SndsoftheSbrbs

How many Mercedes-Benzes have you owned? How many do you own currently?

ItalianJoe1

Those trucks are notorious for faulty wheel speed sensors. There are updated parts and a revised bracket but your 2011 may already have them.

We replace them at minimum in axle pairs, and ideally all 4 at once, when one fails. Reason being, they are a magnetic sensor that reads the proximity of the trigger wheel in the bearing and generates a wave signal, and the quality degrades over time. As you replace them one by one, the new one sends a much cleaner/stronger signal than the old ones. The abs/ESP controller uses comparative performance to fault check, so when the previous 'good' ones now read 'weak' compared to the new one, you get faults.

Change them all, they are cheap and easy to change.

jortdubyabusch

All codes were reset and re read. Mechanic said it was the drivers rear wheel speed sensor. I replaced the passenger rear already I guess I should of replaced both at the time but MB is new to me so live and learn. I plan on going ahead and ordering the front two just to have on hand in the next week or two. Got the one needed ordered should be in tomorrow. Will swap out and post results. Thanks for everyone's response!

BlownV8

My GL has around 250k miles and bas been very reliable. I personally spent less than $3k in the last 10 years on my GL. My warranty covered most everything that went wrong. I did have to replace the plugs and a magnetic pickup on the cam and all 4 tire pressure monitoring sensors in the wheels. I proactively changed the CPS, plug wires, and all coil packs. The intake flappy arms were changed but I could have driven forever without it working. I also changed the power steering rack mounts. And, of course, all 4 air struts in the last 100k miles were replaced.

Do you have a GL?

johny75

Yep, I have an 08 GL320. I think the diesels are more problematic than the V8, but they hold their value better

BlownV8

Yes to more problems on the diesel and they do carry a slightly better price and it is very slight on the wholesale market but, from what I read, KBB has the diesels worth less. There are much fewer diesels than gassers so the value is the rarity.

jortdubyabusch

Installed drives rear wheel speed sensor and is working perfectly. Going to order the front two just to have on hand since they have never been changed. I hope this thread helped somebody! Thanks for everyone's help!