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2006 Alfa Romeo Brera, 2010 GLK350, 2018 BMW 640i GT, 1997 Subaru SVX, 2012 Moto Guzzi Norge GT8V
It has a timing chain. You'll get all kinds of answers as to when to replace it. The consensus of opinion I have read is to replace it when it gets noisy. It should last easily 200K plus.
From my reading, they last the life of the engine. There’s no service interval in the manual. 100k on a 2010 is impressive. I'm at 135 on my 2013. No startup rattle? Keep the oil changed every 5k to keep that problem at bay I also read.
I have a 2011 with 120k miles and it's the base model rwd. It doesn't make any noises and it's great. It does have the rpm fluctuation which wasn't fixed with a transmission oil change so I will have to replace the torque converter pretty soon. No startup rattle or nothing. Use good oil. I personally use liqui moly on mine.
From my reading, they last the life of the engine. There’s no service interval in the manual. 100k on a 2010 is impressive. I'm at 135 on my 2013. No startup rattle? Keep the oil changed every 5k to keep that problem at bay I also read.
Thanks for the info. 100k miles on the 2010, so yes pretty low. Got the car in 2019 with about 80k and was a good deal. The car has been good and have not done much to it. Doing only about 5000 miles a year with yearly oil change, so hopefully kind on the engine. Here in Canada we have a Canadian Tire brand oil made by Shell which is rated 229.3 and 229.5 5W40 which goes on sale at $25USD, so pretty good. Last year it developed rumble strip noise in the back under load. Seems like just flex discs/Center bearing being repaired now.
(Also fixing some rust just in front of rear wheels. Mercedes used thin metal there and there is a blind cavity i there that really needs to be rust protected.)
204.987 is a 4Matic, if I am correct. Since you’re doing drivetrain work, have the front driveshaft from the transfer case to the front differential checked for play in the u-joints. Vehicles in the northern US & Canada see a lot harder winter environments than in the south, so 100k is a good time to start looking. There have been failures of the u-joint documented on this forum that caused a lot of damage.
204.987 is a 4Matic, if I am correct. Since you’re doing drivetrain work, have the front driveshaft from the transfer case to the front differential checked for play in the u-joints. Vehicles in the northern US & Canada see a lot harder winter environments than in the south, so 100k is a good time to start looking. There have been failures of the u-joint documented on this forum that caused a lot of damage.
That is very good info. Thanks for that advice. I will have the U joints inspected (or try to do myself if qualified?). I have wondered if there is anything you can do for lubrication to make these sealed U joints last longer?
(I had a Honda CRV and the U joint failed. Replaced with a new Honda part and it only lasted a year. Then had it rebuilt with grease fittings and will probably last forever (for the new owner).)
If you have a clunking noise when shifting or from idle to throttle , rush to check driveshaft u joint , if it breaks going fast it can destroy the transmission, differential and more. My 13 has no bracket to contain the driveshaft if it breaks. One person here had an older Glk that MB wanted 10,000 to fix . I ruined my ujoint getting stuck in snow.
If you have a clunking noise when shifting or from idle to throttle , rush to check driveshaft u joint , if it breaks going fast it can destroy the transmission, differential and more. My 13 has no bracket to contain the driveshaft if it breaks. One person here had an older Glk that MB wanted 10,000 to fix . I ruined my ujoint getting stuck in snow.
More great info. Vehicle seems to downshift into 3rd a bit rough sometimes but I think that is just a characteristic of the transmission. I will be very alert of clunks as you have described and will inspect u-joints.
Not sure what you mean by your ‘13 having no bracket to contain the driveshaft. Is that a good or bad thing, a negative condition or an improvement, or just the design of the ‘13?
No bracket is inherent in the GLK 4Matic design (and a lot of other AWD vehicles). It’s a bad thing. That’s why checking the health of the u-joints is important.
For probably 50-100$ I could get a friend to put on a bracket, so if the driveshaft fails on the highway it doesn’t damage 10,000$ worth of my drivetrain and body. It’s really dumb mb didn’t spend maybe 20-50$ on a simple bracket to contain the driveshaft incase of failure. If yours was bad you would notice a clunk shifting from park, and when decelerating then accelerating . Mine had a definite clunk,
Since it's a Canadian car, you should check rear subframe for corrosion. Mercedes extended warranty on it to 20 years.
Also you should replace all the pulleys and water pump if that hasn't been done.
Coolant flush if you are doing waterpump and might as well replace the thermostat.
Check condition of the crank pulley as well.
Hopefully your transfer case will hold up.
Front and rear diffs should be flushed.
Check rear hatch gas struts, they are cheap and easy to replace.
I have 2010 since brand new, and a lot of issues happened around 100k miles including transfer case bearings. The front shaft had zero play.
Oh and it will need a new intake manifold. Otherwise its pretty good car.
I've found that the downshifts on my 2011 GLK are a bit more noticeable than most other cars I've owned (really as much of a feature as a problem).
If the "clunk" is significant, it could be motor mounts (which are suspect at that age / mileage). Not a fun job, BTW (drop the front exhaust half, and remove both axles, etc.). And it could be a worn front driveshaft (as mentioned) or rear driveshaft (aka propshaft) center support bearing... or really, one of a dozen other less likely things (most of which would tend to cause other symptoms).
Motor mounts result in vibration not a clunk.
If you can feel engine running with foot on the brake then engine mounts are worn.
I replaced mine at 88k miles and the were bad for a while.
Awesome. Thanks guys for all the service info around the 2010 GLK350.
Luckily I am pretty handy with DIY to avoid MB labour costs.
I just did :
1) rear differential drain and fill with Royal Purple (what looked like the world’s best and most expensive gear oil at Canadian Tire)
2) Flex Discs front and rear (Meyle brand eBay), and Center bearing (Japanese brand bearing from Napa Auto parts) and Center bearing mount eBay.
Am planning:
1) Accessory belt, 2 idler pulleys and a tensioner pulley (Amazon) if not mistaken.
2). Whatever else makes sense based on your suggestions (front differential fluid etc.)
Car condition is very good for rust except for thin metal, blind cavities in front of rear wheels. I am working on that.
The drive axle work was undertaken because car developed a noticeable “rumble strip” noise when power is first applied anywhere from 30-60 mph (50-100kph). After done, car is a lot better, It still a bit of rumble strip noise occasionally when power is applied. It does nothing wrong with heavy power applied.
Called our local MB aftermarket expert. He said that some clutch transfer case sticking can cause that especially for vehicles that sit around too much and this car does. He says a transmission fluid/filter change combined with driving the car a certain way will often solve the issue. He thinks the car is safe to drive this way so I am going to risk a 2000 mile drive to the United States and hopefully do not damage anything. Alternate plan is removing the whole transmission. Ouch.
Fcp euro is a good place to get everything, and everything has a lifetime warranty, even oil, yes you can return your old oil and get credit. Change the transmission fluid, I think mb times for motor and trans are too long. Mine is better after a change. Can you check transmission level? Mine is sealed so no way to know if it’s low. Make sure fluids you use have the proper mb rating. It doesn’t matter if it’s royal purple or whatever. It is the specification. FCP has everything you need .
There is no clutch in the GLK transfer case (trust me, I've been into mine plenty to make sure). ;-) It's basically a full-time front-wheel drive with the rear propshaft being driven through a planetary gear arrangement. Simple, but there are a couple things to watch out for (especially when the car is making odd noises).
1) Check out that front driveshaft VERY closely. You don't want it to come apart (the car I bought suffered from this, and I bought it at a $8-9,000 discount as a result).
2) Grab the rear of the front driveshaft and see if you can move it more than a tiny bit in any direction. If so, the U-joint inside the transfer case is going, and will be a big, but do-able DIY repair (if you're good with a wrench).
3) A number of GLK 4Matic vehicles develop rumbling noises due to bad bearings inside the transfer case. Again, a big job though not horribly expensive unless you rely on a stealership ($10K for a new tranny) or good indy (probably $5K).
I'd really want to rule out those three possibilities before starting out on a long roadtrip. The folks I bought my GLK from got stranded about 800 miles from home when the front driveshaft grenaded (taking that front output shaft internal U-joint with it).
There is no clutch in the GLK transfer case (trust me, I've been into mine plenty to make sure). ;-) It's basically a full-time front-wheel drive with the rear propshaft being driven through a planetary gear arrangement. Simple, but there are a couple things to watch out for (especially when the car is making odd noises).
There are friction disks in the planetary assembly.
There is no clutch in the GLK transfer case (trust me, I've been into mine plenty to make sure). ;-) It's basically a full-time front-wheel drive with the rear propshaft being driven through a planetary gear arrangement. Simple, but there are a couple things to watch out for (especially when the car is making odd noises).
1) Check out that front driveshaft VERY closely. You don't want it to come apart (the car I bought suffered from this, and I bought it at a $8-9,000 discount as a result).
2) Grab the rear of the front driveshaft and see if you can move it more than a tiny bit in any direction. If so, the U-joint inside the transfer case is going, and will be a big, but do-able DIY repair (if you're good with a wrench).
3) A number of GLK 4Matic vehicles develop rumbling noises due to bad bearings inside the transfer case. Again, a big job though not horribly expensive unless you rely on a stealership ($10K for a new tranny) or good indy (probably $5K).
I'd really want to rule out those three possibilities before starting out on a long roadtrip. The folks I bought my GLK from got stranded about 800 miles from home when the front driveshaft grenaded (taking that front output shaft internal U-joint with it).
Thanks for all the info.
1) I will be checking out the driveshaft carefully. It is not making any clunking when driving, shifting into/out of gear, so hopefully will be OK until properly checked out in a couple weeks.
2) Good to know that job can be DIY. Thanks.
3). I don’t think I have a bearing problem. But good to know about. Hopefully the fluid change in a couple weeks combined with fairly low mileage, will help prevent this. Out of curiosity, is this potentially a DIY if I can get the transmission out of the car, as 5k would be pretty painful for a car of this value?
Regarding “clutch”, apparently there is something called a multi-disc clutch item 8 in the image below? I think my local indy mechanic was saying these can cause some rumble strip noise from disuse, and fluid change can help. I had no option but to take the car on the trip, and did 800 Km today. So far so good. No real issues on the highway. A bit of very mild rumble strip sometimes when power applied a slower speeds, 25 - 40 mph usually. Nothing serious. The Indy guy did not think the transmission was at risk driving it this way. Transmission overall is working perfectly. I am taking it easy though in general and the car is getting the job done easily.
Again thanks a lot for relating your first hand knowledge of the transmission. Very much appreciated.
FWIW, "clutch" includes a method of disconnecting the input and output, while "friction discs" doesn't, but allows for some slippage (in this case, to allow for a slight variation between the front and rear tire outside diameter, or during a sharp turn where the front and rear tracks might be different lengths).
The MB system seems to be a lot simpler than many others, with no computer control of anything in the transfer case at all (unlike my previous car, a BMW 5-series wagon with AWD). If you think MB over-engineers things, get one of those! ;-) Based on the gears that provide the output to the propshafts, the GLK front wheels are always engaged at 100%, and the rears go through the friction discs and the planetary gears. I'm not at all sure how far out of sync the front and rear has to become to cause a problem (it was ~0.5% on the BMW -xi model).
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