ksinclair

Has anyone had this happen? Check engine light due to leaking oil into camshaft position sensors contaminated engine electronics. Dealer said $5,000 to repair. Waited 3 days for parts, now rattling noise and now it’s $7,600 parts and $5,800 labor. This was 10 days after spent $4,900 for thrust arms, bushings, sway bars. Appreciate any comments.

Odd Piggy

Oil penetrating the camshaft position magnets is not unheard of and it can eventually reach the ECU. Search “oil penetrating wiring harness.” I’m not sure if that’s a good dealer price or not. How that would lead to $13,400 more in repairs is questionable, though. What is the diagnosis? Can you post the repair estimate?

I would hope not, but some dealers have been guilty of finding problems that are much greater than what an older car is worth to convince the owner to buy a new one. You will be into this 10 year old GLK for $23,300 after all this work. That’s the price of a new RAV4. This bears more investigation.

Mmr1

I didn’t know a sway bar could wear out . I think they are crooks

calder-cay

First off ... how many miles on the GLK?

Number 2, I'm a bit confused. Are you stating they initially quoted $5k, then the rattling started before the fix, so they gave you a new quote for $13,400?

Or did they do one fix for $5k, then the rattling happened after that $5k fix, and now quote an additional $13,400 for a 2nd fix??

ksinclair

ksinclair

I’ve added the estimate. Thank you for commenting.

ksinclair

It has 155,000 miles never had check engine light on and always dealer serviced with 5k oil changes. I went in for routine service and they provided photo of torn left thrust arm bushing and sway bar replacement. That cost $4,900. 10 days later cel came on and I took it back to dealer. They quoted $5k for the leaking oil into camshaft sensors, reseal front cover, clean other connectors, m.e. pins, steam clean. Service then called after parts came and before starting the $5k fix to say there was a 10 second rattling noise and quote is now $13,920.63. I asked if there was oil in ecm they said no but who knows if they’ll find something else. The advisor said the tech wouldn’t know engine leaking oil inside engine.

andreigbs

From the looks of it, the dealer is trying to scare/pressure you into a new car. If you've had it serviced there its whole life, they figure you can afford it. That quote is more than the car is worth, but they can probably fix it for about 10% of that and then turn around and sell it as a "good used car".

Unfortunately, we don't know nearly enough about the car nor what other options you have available to you. Having it dealer-serviced was no guarantee of anything other than getting overcharged regularly; a good Euro Indy shop would've been my preference rather than MB stealership. Unless you can tow it elsewhere for a 2nd opinion, your only options are to haggle with them to cover some of the costs (since it was dealer maintained) under goodwill, or just trade it in for something else.

Odd Piggy

I’m skeptical because my GLK350 had 155k miles when it was totaled in an accident and it didn’t need any of that. But every car is different. How it was used and where it was driven has an impact on when parts wear out. I’m not really surprised by the suspension needing attention.

Have they already disassembled the engine to look at it? If not, that’s a worst case estimate and if you agree to it, they could then open it up, fix only what’s needed, and charge you for the whole job. Some will do that, some won’t.

What I noticed:
That is not the “official” MBUSA repair documentation format. They’re using Zerex antifreeze, which is very unusual for a dealer, although that is mechanically okay.

What I know:
When the camshaft adjuster goes bad, the camshaft does not need to be replaced. If the adjusters are actually bad, the timing will be off and a DTC will be set and the CEL will come on. An engine with 155k miles on it does not need all its components brought up to factory tolerances — it’s an SUV, not a commercial aircraft. If I was doing this job (I don’t do outside work), I would let the customer know this could be the total and inform along the way as to what could be used and what must be replaced.

I won’t repeat @andreigbs comments because I essentially agree. With a vehicle that old, an MB dealer is going to wholesale it to an auction house unless it’s an absolute gem that they think they can sell quickly for a nice profit.

Good luck going forward.