barrykaye

Here's my tale of woe:

Two weeks ago I took delivery of a 2005 Certified Preowned C240 Wagon with 9850 miles on the odo. Prior to delivery, I noticed a resonance/vibration that could be heard and felt at 45MPH, was pronounced at 50MPH and gone by 55MPH. The vibration could be heard and felt throughout the car. The salesperson said it might have been flat spots in the tires and noted it in a "we owe" so that if it didn't go away, it would be on record for the service department to fix under warranty.

Over the course of a week I put nearly 1,000 highway miles on the car. Over that time, I noticed that while the resonance/vibration went away at 55MPH, it came back stronger at 80MPH and above. I brought the car back to the dealer for that and for a wheel alignment problem (pulling to the right), both of which should have been corrected before the car was listed for sale as a CPO vehicle.

After three days in the shop, I picked the car up and noticed that while the alignment problem had been fixed, the vibration had not. While the noise was the same, the vibration moved to the steering wheel. Supposedly, all the suspension and driveline components were checked and found to be within factory specs. They rotated the Continental tires (which might explain the vibration moving from the seat to the steering wheel), re-indexed the tires to the wheels and force-load balanced them on the advanced Hunter balancing machine.

After three more days in the shop and a new set of tires (Continentals again), I got the car back today. I was told that the shop foreman and the QC specialist had driven it and declared it to be perfect. I drove it and found it to be exactly the same as the day I took delivery.

At this point, I am extremely frustrated. When I took delivery, I knew it wasn't a tire problem. Looking back, I should have made them fix the car before I took it. Regardless, here I am now, about to go to the General Manager and insist that he take the car back and replace it or refund my money.

Anyone have any experience with a similar problem, any advice on how to deal with the GM or any thoughts in general?

kjb55

Hello Barry:

I took delivery of a brand new 2003 C240, and it exhibited exactly what you are describing. The Conti's were a contributing factor, the dealer swapped them for Michelin's and there was an improvement. Ultimately what ended up being the problem was a defective universal joint. It had a section in the rotation that was stiff and caused the vibration.

MB supplies an entire assembly that replaces the driveshaft and all u-joints completely. I would push for that, and not just a u-joint change, as the driveline has been absorbing this vibration for 10k miles.

The dealer replaced the entire assembly, problem solved.

barrykaye

Thanks a million for your input. The '05 doesn't have u-joints. It has Flex-discs. Supposedly checked and double checked and found to be okay.

I owned the car for three weeks. They had it for two weeks, I had it for one. In the end, I got fed up with the situation. I talked with General Sales Manager of the dealership. Told him how dissatisfied I was and that I would purchase a new '06 out of his inventory if he agreed to take the '05 back. I am now driving a new '06 C280. They made many changes and improvements from '05 to '06. While this is a sedan and not a wagon, I am totally happy.

For anyone else who reads this, the key to how this situation worked out is how I handled things. I was rational, reasonable and patient. I never once threatened them. I did everything they asked. I gave them every opportunity to fix the problem. When they couldn't fix it "to my satisfaction" (those are key words), I made a reasonable proposal and they accepted. Ultimately, they do not want angry customers running around out there. And they definitely don't want people giving them bad marks on the customer satisfaction surveys.