trumpet1

My 600 has 18000 miles on it and I took it in for service B today. I've been noticing an increasing louder whining sound coming from the engine bay. Turns out I have a faulty idle pulley located at the upper left area of where the serpentine belt spins. It has a rather annoying grinding sound coming from it when you are looking straight at it while someone revs the engine. Will take a 3 days to get the new pulley and they are replacing it under warranty. Just thought I'd make mention of this to report it just in case someone else has this come up. I will keep you posted once things get fixed.

konigstiger

FYI: Any whining or high pitch whistle noise coming from the front section of the engine, this noise may be caused by a faulty upper idler pulley. Mention DTB P-B-13.22/01b.

trumpet1

Thank you very much. That makes me feel better in terms of the diagnosis. At least I'm not the only one.

Again, thanks.

WSH

Thx for reporting this, Trumpet....helpful to know what issues arise w/these cars

Hope MB comps you in some way for a car being out-of-svc for 3days.....part of why I trade-in cars every 3-6mos is lack of desire to deal w/loaner cars and mtce downtime (and spending oppty costs of my time)....kudos to MB for engineering/building arguably world's highest-tech, yet most robust cars in new-gen S/CL, but MBUSA needs to step up when owners of $150K+ MBs are inconvenienced w/>8hrs mtce downtime....most well-run businesses know how to tier svc levels vs profitability of each cust.....

trumpet1

I agree. If it's for regular service , I don't mind driving a C class for the day. Kind of fun to drive. Today I drove an Infiniti M35. Not bad at all.

But if it's going to be quite a few days for warranty headaches, I think they should let me drive a used S class. Hopefully one in the same color I have (black) to keep the observers from asking me: "Where's your car?". I hate to tell them my Mercedes is broke down.

konigstiger

Tell the “observers” it is in for modification to keep it current and up to MB standards! In addition, there is no reason why your vehicle should be out of service for three days while waiting for parts to be delivered unless of course for it is for safety or serious performance reasons. Look at it this way you have another vehicle you need not worry about where to park or how much mileage is accumulating.

trumpet1

Great points. They let me keep my car while waiting on the parts. My dealership really treats me well and so far has never let me down with service issues. I think they will get the car in and out in a single day (maybe). I don't know what all is involved in taking the belt off and getting to that pulley. It's easy to get at. With proper tools and technique, it may not be that bad for a trained mechanic. I hope the rest of you owners don't have this problem. This is the FIRST time I've ever had a significant problem with a MB and I have been driving them for many years.
BTW, Konigster, are you a dealership technician or an employee at a shop? I really appreciate your knowledge about these cars and their issues.

trumpet1

A follow up: It is taking a tad longer to fix the problem as not only did they need the pulley but also a new valve cover and gasket (maybe just the gasket, I kinda got lost in the conversation to some degree). The valve cover and gasket were not damaged but are in some way an integral part of the problem unknown at the initial visit. The nice thing is my SA always informs me of things throughout the day, gives me heads up as to whether or not they are going to finish today or tomorrow, etc. In other words, they are not keeping me in the dark.
The SA said that tomorrow (the 3rd day) will absolutely be the last day they should have it.
IF you have this problem, make them understand that it involves more than just the pulley. Somehow it involves components further back towards the valve cover area.

WSH

Only upside to loaner cars is that they make one appreciate one's own car much more.....

Haven't had to suffer a loaner car in yrs....but I've become so accustomed to driving new MB/AMGs that I dread business trips (or any travel) where I need to drive (inevitably) lame (even high-end) rental cars.....

After all, used cars are used cars....and many allegedly premium-brand/model cars quickly reconfirm for me why I don't aspire to ever drive them.....

trumpet1

Yea. I know what you mean. You sometimes forget what a nice car you have until you have to drive a smaller, less featured car. Even a C class seems strange to me.

trumpet1

Update. Day 3. My car is still not ready. They said they got the valve cover back on and were about to wrap things up when a bolt needed to mount the pulley had to be ordered Said it should be finished on Monday. I doubt it. Probably Monday they will get the bolt, then it will take all of Monday and Tuesday to sew the car back up
Either the bolt was lost or broken that was originally on the car OR the bolt had to be replaced due to the possible fact that these bolts can only be used once due to torquing. In many cases, a bolt can only be torqued once. After that, it has to be replaced. Regardless, it looks like mine is the first one that they have encountered.

I don't mind the wait. I just hope it's done right.

NJS430

Agreed, sounds to me like they are learning how to do this with your car and have made a few mistakes on what they needed and how to do it. Suggest you make sure its purring like new with the service manager standing beside you before you leave.

trumpet1

I called back to get a better explanation. They told me that the front engine cover, the valve cover and the pulley are all bolted together. The reason that they had to replace so many parts is because MB has modified/improved the parts to keep the problem from happening again and they are wanting the newer revised parts and bolts to be put on the car instead of going back with the old parts.

They said everything is going fine but it is just a waiting game on the parts that they didn't anticipate on needing. They originally thought it was just a tear down and put back using the original covers and bolts. Not the case.

NJS430

That makes sense. Its commendable that they are taking the extra time to get the correct parts. Sounds like you have a good service department. Better they think it through to the root cause instead of just repairing it and having it go bad again in another 18,000 miles.

trumpet1

It does make sense. I wish I could find a good diagram of one of these engines (kind of like an anatomy book diagram).

WSH

Hope your svc dept gets it right....

Your episode is making me realize why I trade-in cars before having to deal w/mtce issues/downtime/loaner cars, etc etc......as much as I like my CL63, I'm now tempted to trade-in in Spr to get SL63 030 to avoid downtime/hassles of oil change and new rear tires.....

tbenz

if you can afford it thats the way to do it, sometimes though dealing with those issues are half the fun

trumpet1

Well to some degree that is true. I don't like it, but at the same time I'm willing to deal with it while in warranty. I just hope this ends my troubles for a good while. I was so proud that my car was completely trouble free up to this point. Hopefully this is just an isolated event with my car. I feel it is, as I sense no other problems at all.

As far as what WSH said, if you can afford to do that, that's wonderful, but even if I could afford it, I tell you what I hate about trading. It's not the price of the car or choosing options or signing the loan papers or dealing with the salesman. The part I abhor, despise, hate, loathe, and dread is going to the courthouse and getting the title and tag transferred. I'd rather have a root canal than go to the courthouse over and over and over due to their inconsistencies and incompetencies. Here in Alabama at least, getting anything accomplished at a courthouse is as time consuming as building a spaceship. The dealership part is like going through a fast food drive- thru compared to the courthouse experience.

trumpet1

Believe me, I will!!

tbenz

the dealer does`t do that for you, here in texas the dealer handles the tax,title and licence for you, i agree though i hate going to the court house too!!! nobody is in a hurry to do anything

trumpet1

I got my car back this evening and everything seems just fine. Glad to get this over with. Love the W221. Love the S600.

It was a 7.5 hr job. Would love to know what this would have cost if it was out of warranty.

You don't know what you've got until you've been without it for a week.
I'm telling you, the S600 is a fabulous car. No doubt.

WSH

Trumpet1, glad to hear you got your 600 back; hope it's flawless

Previously drove new Porsche Turbos (MY05 and MY07); had numerous stupid issues/glitches (really irritating; given how technically primitive are Porsches vs S/CL, would expect bugs in a new S/CL, not an archaic-tech Porsche)....prob developed my deep loathing for loaner cars back then (even though my dealer would graciously loan me near-new Audi A8s, only learned how poorly engineered are Audis)....

Wow, didn't know about this courthouse nonsense in AL; does leasing make process any more efficient? (IIRC, CA has some of most efficient car lease structures in US, but many places like Chicago have rather archaic car lease structures....really varies by state)....my entire leasing/trade-in process is typically about an hr and all at my dealer....my biggest hassle is reprogramming/activating seat position memory, TeleAid, sat radio, Btooth, etc etc...but a pristine, new car is always much enjoyed by this OCD car nut....

trumpet1

Thanks. It's raining today so I probably will take the truck to work. I've never owned an Audi but I have owned its cousin.
I have had a few VWs in my life, mainly 25 years ago. Then 3 years ago I bought a VW Phaeton. Just was tempted to give it a try. It was a very well built car but , like Audi (one of the VAG cars), it had several electrical/computer gremlins plaguing it. Mine wasn't too bad but the VW forum was loaded with gremlin threads. If you didn't visit the forum daily, you would have pushed the car off of a cliff. If Lexus or Honda had built the car, it would have been the car of the century.

As far as the car tag thing, cars like mine are so rare, almost every member of the courthouse personnel wanted to go out and see a car that cost $140+K. They have to visually inspect it with the MSO in hand. I felt like a freak of nature.

EinMD

Took my car in for the exact same problem today before I saw these posts. They recognized the problem immediately as the pulley problem. I'll find out tomorrow (Wednesday) how long it will take. Other issues I hope to get resolved:
1) Squeeky brakes. I told them not to "bake" the pad but to change them
2) Two rattling noises in the back, one while starting the car on a cold morning (they believe a clamp is loose) and a typical rattle on the RR while going over rough ground.
3) Intermittent creaking noise in dash. Sounds like plastic against plastic.

Has anyone else had the rattles or creaking? Thanks.

cjf_moraga

Actually I have encountered two cases of creaking in the dash area and after some diagnosis the problem is now solved. It turns out the problem is known to MB.

The first instance was an occasional creak that occasionally manifested itself (apparently) in the upper glove-box/dash area when traveling over very rough roads. (ie: Oakland!) In my situation I had an iPod adapter fitted at the dealer (as it was not in the factory build) and assumed a cable or something was loose as a result of that fitting. After rechecking by the dealer and filling the area with felt the problem seem solved...

...but it came back again a few days later. As it was quite difficult to locate from the drivers position I drove over the roughest roads with my sons ear glued to various parts of the dash, and it turned out the occasional creaking was coming from the upper door area just behind the seat controls. I suspect the creak noise may have been transmitting though the hollow areas behind the dash which was why it was spatially hard to locate from the drivers position and led us down the iPod blind alley.

I called my SA (who has always been immensely helpful and given priority attention to this issue) who by chance said a new service update has just determined that in rare cases the clips that are holding the inner door upholstery/lining to the framework of the door are somewhat too small and should be replaced with new larger clips. I took the car in, the dealer added more and larger clips, felted certain areas to be sure, and the problem has gone away completely. The car is as slent as a tomb now.

Now the creak was not that bad and it only appeared occasionally on very rough road surfaces, but of course the S-Class should be about perfection. I have no complaints however as my SA and MB took care of the issue very quickly.

If like me you have the 19" wheels with the Y (firmer) tires the slightly greater transmitted vibration might be accentuating the problem somewhat and why it is unnoticed on cars with the standard tires? So if with the help of a friendly ear you can isolate the noise to the junction between the dash and the door it may well be the clip issue that your SA should now know about.

I suspect that paradoxically it is the amazing silence of the S-Class interior that actually accentuates small issues that would pass unnoticed in any other car.

Good luck with this and let us know what happens!

Chris