BlownV8

Unobtainium mined from the moons of Pandora to be exact.

chassis

Time for an Indy shop or DIY.

whitewagon

will likely try DIY... anyone done this?

whitewagon

For those who may think this is BS... Here is the text I received...
"Good morning, the technician found in fact that the engine mounts on your vehicle are collapsed, causing the jolting when braking your wife described to me. The replacement of the engine mounts will run you $3,884.19. Please let me know how to proceed."

So at this time I don't even know if the mounts are truly collapsed... my wife is out of town and had a CEL and took the GLE to a dealer...

Their average shop rate is $295 per hour... unbelievable

hyperion667

That's such a vague, curt and odd way to reply to a concern. Without a doubt get a second opinion.

chassis

Doesn't seem *too* hard. Time consuming probably. Engine lifting bracket needs to be thought through. The MB engine support tool allows proper balancing. A rented engine hoist would need a threaded adjustable spreader bar, which is relatively common.

The majority of the work is getting other parts out of the way to get to the engine mounts.

If I was doing this I would start at 5pm on a Friday with the goal of having it buttoned up by 7pm Sunday.

amusa

You can check on the mounts from inside the vehicle with the hood up and the vehicle running. Hold down brake at the same time hit the gas while it's in D and do the same in R. If the motor lift up it's bad mounts.

I usually buy OEM motor/trans mount online and install it myself or take it to an indy shop (friend shop) with the parts depends on how I'm feeling that day. It be allot cheaper then the dealer to take the parts to an indy shop.

I have replace my motor and trans mount on my old M113 (5.0L V8) around 100k miles. My GLE400 I have under 78k miles and my original mounts are still good.

kajtek1

I had my E class for another recall this month and they always make "courtesy safety inspection"
This time they found my brake pads at 8 mm. When I notified the SA that those are the same pads that a year ago were noted at 3mm, he had no comments.
So always verify what stealers say.
Coming to DIY, the job is not for just anybody. Over the years I did MM on at least 5 different MB and the jobs scope can be on quite different levels.
Just weeks ago I did MM on my E250 BT. When the driver side was child's play, the passenger side required DPF removal.
I had "some practice" with DPF , but even with lift that was 1/2 a day job.

whitewagon

Well, I tested my motor mounts via the put in drive and rev to 2,000 with brake on and no extreme movement in the engine, so now I am really PO'd at the dealer.

I am thinking of sending a note to MBUSA...

Stealership for sure

chassis

Engine mounts start to fail in a subtle way. Normally more vibration is felt at idle, but no major engine movement or clunking is experienced. The subtle failure is the hydraulic passages cracking or tearing, but the weight-carrying aspect of the mount remains intact. Technically "failed" but not catastrophically. Dealers will take any opportunity to charge for service work given the slightest reason, for example a subtly failed engine mount.

hyperion667

Are you 'pissed' at them for trying to make money off you? Well, now you know not to trust them I hope. Lesson learned, don't beat yourself up about it.

whitewagon

my wife was at our family house in South Florida and they tried to take advantage of a simple situation. I'm pissed because I would have expected them to be leaning more honest than sleazy.

hyperion667

I feel as if the SA's at 98% of dealers are, not necessarily sleaze as you say, but willing to compromise their social/moral contracts to make their own bills and 'look good' in the company's eyes. And always figure MB customers 'have the money'.

juanmor40

This has to be coincidence. Just returned from the Indy.

Sister just picked up the 2012 ML350 (M276 engine), and our Indy told us (I took her to pick up the car) to start thinking about engine mounts (tires were 1st priority) for the next oil change or two max. (we do 5K miles intervals).

Estimate for 2 engine mounts plus tranny mount ~ $1200+ (including all the typical fees). Therefore, anything above $2K is robbery.

===

Thank you @chassis for posting the procedure documentation. I was ready to look for it. It saved me already some time. Need to think it through for either the 2015 ML (when the time comes), or if I volunteer to do the 2012 ML