My greatest fear is owning a bluetec outside warranty, I just envisage repeated errors and crazy costs with the sensors and DEF tank

 

The Bluetec system is part of the emission controls. As such, it should be warrantied well beyond the basic car warranty. 7 yrs perhaps??

 

I think you are correct. In the USA, the manufacturers are required to cover emission systems for 7 or 8 years, but I'm not versed in the specifics of the coverage. I may do a little research and report back!

 

check out this document:

http://www.epa.gov/obd/pubs/420f09048.pdf

and this from MB

http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/servic...parts/warranty

 

LesF's post confirms the 7 or 8 years for certain emission control parts. I know it applies to catalytic converters and I am almost certain the Adblue system would be fully covered.

One car we owned had an automatic clutch. The clutch stopped working. As it turned out, it was controlled by the Engine Control Module. This module also controlled certain emission control functions. MB replaced the module free of charge on the 7 year old car.

Our GLK250 is covered for 6+1 years anyway, because I paid for the Extended warranty up front (MBCanada have a better deal for the warranty than what I believe you can get in USA).

I wish they would make the cars more simple rather than more complicated

 

Have any of you had an issue with hearing a swishing sound when you stop in your GLK250? I recently got my 10K mi maintenance service. I had never noticed it before, but when I stop, I can hear fluid swishing back and forth in the back of my car.

My MB dealership said it's a "normal" sound that they hear in all their new GLK250s. I'm having a hard time believing them, because I have not had an issue with it for the past 10K miles...

Any feedback would be helpful, thank you.

 

Nope ... never hear that... and I have over 71,000 km on my GLK250.

 

That is the sound of the Adblue fluid sloshing. It happens on mine when I fill the Adblue tank. After the level goes down some, I do not hear it anymore.

 

That makes perfect sense, never heard it myself but eyes and ears are the first things to go after retirement...

 

Interesting. You would think it would slosh about more when it was only partly filled.

 

That's what I thought, too.

Thank you all for your responses!

 

Well, others have chimed in already, but it is obvious to me that you have a dealer problem. more than a car problem. When our GLK encountered the AdBlue warning, it took only a few hours for the fix to be applied via software download by our selling dealer in Portland, OR. Now to be fair, I had the number and description of the fix [see my post from earlier this year], so they did not have to search much to find the issue and solution.

I too found Roadside Assistance pretty useless when this problem popped up in the middle of Nowhere, Nevada on our way home from Vegas - we too were told to simply top off the AdBlue fluid, which of course is nonsense in any car with less than 10k miles. Fortunately, they did put me on the phone with the nearest dealer [Medford OR] that had an open service dept on a Saturday. and the rep I talked to knew all about the problem, gave me the number and description of the software fix, and helped us decide it would be OK to finish the trip back to the Portland area.

This is not the first time that the difference in dealer competence is all too apparent to me - wish it were otherwise, but it's simply a truth. I've been pretty lucky in 45+ years of MB ownership when it comes to dealer experience; and by the way, my first Mercedes was delivered when I had just turned 23 years old, so I do know about that sense of not being taken seriously enough by people in this business.

And yes, I would recommend this car to everyone who can afford it - we love our diesel GLK. Just drove from Portland to SF and averaged over 36 mpg in the process.....and for a change, diesel is selling for less than regular gasoline at every stop we made. Very happy with this car.

 

The fix is already available. You just need a better dealer to apply the fix.

1-800-367-6372 is MBUSA's Customer Assistance Center. MBUSA is well aware of the AdBlue problem and will help you with this if you aren't getting results from dealers on your own.

I am not trying to defend them, but it is probably their insurance that prohibits them from loaning cars to customers under 21. If they do and something happens that isn't covered by your insurance, their insurance wouldn't cover it either. So they can give you a loaner but they take on more risk by doing so.

Don't confuse the dealership with Mercedes-Benz. You are horrified with the dealership. You apparently have not contacted Mercedes-Benz. Find a new dealership and/or call MBUSA. Regardless of the size of the dealer, MBUSA has a vested interest in keeping you happy and they are able to apply pressure to dealers that are not meeting MB standards.

By the way, "HUGE" dealerships often have terrible customer service. They compete on price knowing that they make it up on volume, and with that volume, who cares if they lose a customer. It would cost more to keep the customer happy than it does to lose the customer's repeat business.

 

This was already covered in my posts around #320. Understandably you didn't read that, and some other parts of the thread as they 'disappeared'. He's gotten the car fixed after we talked about my dealer to whom he went.

Here's part of what was eliminated:

"My dealer is part of the Von Housen Group, Mercedes Benz of Rocklin. The Service Manager to whom I'm referring is Chris Roth. I've had my cars into the other two dealerships this group owns and I've never been impressed and won't go back to the other two.

I don't have much faith in ANY service department because of the pressures put on them by management to generate income and I've stated this to the 'ground' people, which is how I got involved with this service department. I've gotten two cars from them and have voiced these opinions which put me together with the service folks. I spent quite a bit of time with Chris and I liked him and I specifically discussed these issues and the Ad Blue issue. I've been fortunate as I've never had a warranty problem on either of the two cars I've gotten from them so I have no first hand experience with their MO, but I had a very positive reaction to the conversations and emails I've exchanged with him. In the A service I did on an E350 BlueTec I was specific on the work I wanted at one of their other dealerships and had them itemize item by item. Mercedes of El Dorado Hills is much closer to my home, but I've had major problems with them on my wife's car.

If you like, PM me and I'll give you his email address for contact. I do intend to try them for my first service on this car in the near future and I will then form a more accurate opinion. I'm expecting to do my own Ad Blue and expect to be specific on what they will do item by item and how they price each, not for an all inclusive "A" service and their fixed price. If they don't like the way I want it I'll drive off to a certified indie. The only thing for which you need a dealer is warranty work and you don't have to pay for that. If you get screwed it's your own fault."

Since I didn't get any message from a moderator, if there is one, I'm presuming the posts weren't purposely removed, so the thread is incomplete as it sits. I know of no rule that's violated here of which a good moderator would have advised so I presume some glitch.

 

I'm reposting this in case the information herein is useful to anyone who didn't want to go back that far in this forum...

 

Very thoughtful of you, thanks. I made a note of the code in my phone just in case I ever get the hated msg.


So far so good. Almost 5000 km on the clock and no trouble other than a single incident with the sat radio. I can live with that.

 

I am a MB fanboy but the dealer has my new 2014 after it stranded me over DEF fluid software defect. Has only 5400 miles and the starts left countdown started, I added a gallon of DEF, which is supposed to be good for 1,400 miles. But it did not reset itself like the manual says so it stranded me. I don't know if the dealer will charge me or not, but I am not a happy camper, my 30 year old Benzes have never stranded me.

 

Agreed that there is no way I would own this car outside of the warranty. Our car has been in the shop three times and 560 miles have been put on the car due to dealer test drives. We have never been told that it is fixed, just fixed for now. A software problem has never been mentioned. If it is, in fact, a software problem, then it is the responsibility of MBenz USA to inform their dealers of the fix. Individual dealers should not be figuring it out on their own. Our attempt to contact Mercedes Benz USA has been met with phone calls and emails not answered or returned. We received one letter from MBenz stating that they have reviewed our case and deemed that our car did not fall under the lemon law, even though we were not considering the lemon law at that time. There was no contact number or email listed on the letter. I would say that we are now being very careful about our documentation and will turn this car in as a lemon at our first opportunity. Our car is a 2013 GLK so it's disappointing to see that people are having the same problem with the 2014 model.

 

I guess you are lucky you are in CA, I hear the lemon laws generally skew towards the consumer. 3 trips to the dealer for Adblue error should be enough to enforce, no?

 

I had the AdBlue warning at 2500 kms on my wifes 2014 GLK 250. I was very disappointed when it happened. I have also had a few other minor issues that have required a visit to the service department for repair but nothing major. Although I was and still am disappointed with the adblue issue, the issue appears to be resolved in my car. I don't get to drive the car too often but when I do, I am reminded that it really is a great car. I took the car in today for its first service A at 14,500 kms. So it has been about 12,000 kms since the adblue issue appeared. Hopefully it continues to operate trouble free and hopefully Mercedes gets this issue dealt with on any future production.

 

The Adblue problem only cropped up as an inherent problem on the 2014 model. You did not say what problems you had on your 2013 that resulted in the car having to go to dealer so many times. On the 2014, dealers have been made aware of the Adblue problem and the fix. Where MB failed, I believe, is in not recalling all 2014 GLK250s and doing the upgrade. I contacted MBCanada, and as a result, dealer did upgrade mine just after delivery because I was leaving on a long trip. No problems yet at 6000km.

If your 2013 has the Ablue problem, then cause would be different from the one the 2014s have and perhaps that is why dealer has a problem with diagnosis. If yours is not the Adblue 8 starts left problem, then this is the wrong thread

 

I had the adblue issue with both the 13 and 14 models.

 

I didn't realize some 2013's were having this issue


I have +75,000 km on my 2013 and no problems so far.

 

After first AdBlue fix in November 2013 at 1600 miles on my 2014 GLK there are no problems so far with total ~6000 miles. I will report later after coming back from another 1700 miles trip next week.

The vehicle is beautiful and I am thinking to get second diesel GLK next year. I am not sure about timing and what is coming with 2016 year model.
Last year my order was on May 21, 2013 and I was told that I can order only 2014 model. So what I can expect next year, in the fall of 2015?

 

I didn't realise you owned one of each.

Dont remember reading about anyone here having adblue problem on 2013. But I think there was a report from someone in Europe. Did you post about the problem on your 2013 when you had it?

I think my dealer said something about the fix for the 2014 actually posskbly being a reversion to the 2013 software version. But I might have misunderstood.