klonsbury

I'm just about ready to purchase several mods for my car. I want to make sure that I don't need to address the balance shaft issue 1st.

Can someone check my serial and tell me if I'm affected?

2007 CLK 550
WDBTJ72H47F210290


Thank you,
Kyle.

klonsbury

Btw, whoever can look this up, please PM me with the verdict. Thanks.

Rudeney

Kyle, that is M273 engine #65983, which is within the affected range.

joebajoe

Hello,
Can somebody please check my vin # for balance shaft issue?
I have R350, 2007 vin # 4JGCB65E67A035981
Thank you very much!
Vladimir

Rudeney

4JGCB65E67A035981 has M272 engine #384411, which is withing the affected range.

chrono12

How about WDBTJ56H17F219334? The VIN Decoder doesn't list that, right? Or am I overlooking Engine #?

Rudeney

WDBTJ56H17F219334 has M272 engine #533984, which is beyond the range for bad balance shafts, but still could have the (easy/cheap) cam sensor magnet problems.

chrono12

Thanks a ton!

Louie D

From my understanding from my SA they did a recall on the cam sensor magnet problems, give your SA a call and the should hook you up. They did me.

DysCompLexSick

Can some one please check if my engine is within the affected range?

WDBTK72F67T085290

Thank you!

Rudeney

WDBTK72F67T085290 has M273 engine #135214, which is not within the affected range.

DysCompLexSick

Wow, sigh of relief! Thank you so much!

Naif

Hi,
I am new here & I have a 2006 CLK350 with 115000km. I did the service before last Thursday & received the below note at the final report:
1208 constant adjustment of intake camshaft of right cylinder bank in direction 'Retarded' (P0016)
One friend here advised me to change the cam MAGNETS only.
Could you advise me further whether I will have the mentioned problem in the future? As I become
My number is:
WDB2094651T067001
Thanks & Regards,
Naif

Rudeney

I first pulled that VIN and it came up generically as a CLK320, but I think you may have reversed two of the digits. Is this actually <A href="https://mbworld.org/forums/vindecoder.php?vin=WDB2094651T067001" rel=nofollow target=_blank>WDB2094561T067001? If so, that has M272 engine #259569 which is within the affected range. And unfortunately, DTCs 1208 and 1200 are indicative only of a bad balance shaft - the magnet problems have different DTCs. I'd start working with your dealer to see if they will be willing to help get it fixed under MBZ goodwill.

Naif

Thank you Rodney for your response, I really appreciate your gentle help.
Yes I reversed two of the digits by mistake since I am very worried about my beloved car.
Oh my God, it is hard for me to afford such services for my car at least by this year. Actually, I got it from Dubai under Gargash Commercial Vehicles as a dealer & I live at Jeddah KSA. I don’t know what to do then ???

Quote:

I'd start working with your dealer to see if they will be willing to help get it fixed under MBZ goodwill

I already booked the magnets two parts & about install them by this coming Thursday as per the advise of one good member here "You need to get a P0016 & 17 together to be sure you have the problem. Otherwise just change the cam MAGNETS".
Is there a chance to have this car fixed under the dealer? If so, can I fix it here at KSA under Juffali Mercedes-Benz?
Regards,
Naif

Rudeney

Sorry, I do not know how other worldwide regions of MBZ operate. Here in the USA, all new MBZ vehicles are delivered with a 48-month/50K-mile warranty covering everything but wear and tear items (brakes, tires, wiper blades). There is also an additional federally-required 80K mile emissions warranty. When there is a failure outside of that warranty, MBUSA can choose to cover it under "goodwill". Often they do this with known defects like this. They did for me - my car only had 30K miles on the clock, but was out of warranty by being over the time limit by more than a year. Like I said, I start with the dealer. They generally have lines of communication they can open with MB corporate.

garydoyle1

Hi Rodney,

Can you (or anyone) tell me if this VIN is in the problem range?


WDBUH87X77X214303

Thank you.

Gary

Rudeney

WDBUH87X77X214303 is an E350 4MATIC with M272 engine #442024 which is within the affected range (through #468993).

garydoyle1

Thank you so much, Rodney. Not great news, but I appreciate your counsel. The car has 120,000 miles, and was Certified Pre-Owned until February of this year. Is it safe to hope that either A) it's been dealt with by the dealer in that time or B) if it would've failed it would've done so a while ago?

Thanks again.

Gary

Rudeney

While no one but MBZ knows for sure the exact problem, the "educated guess" is that the balance shaft/timing gear failure is due to improper heat treatment in the forging process. And not all of the parts were forged incorrectly. The problem is, MBZ doesn't know which engines have bad parts - they only know the last engine that was built with parts that might have been forged incorrectly. So, and again, this is all "educated guessing", just because the engine is in the range does not mean the gear will fail prematurely. Also, there is the idea (again, "educated guessing") that the improperly forged gears will fail very early, say well within 100K miles. Mine failed around 30K.

Keep in mind that regardless of this defect, timing gears fail. Most GM and Ford V8's need new gears and chains around 300K miles. But there are a good number of MBZ engines on the road with more miles than that. Still, it's a moving metal part that will wear, just like piston rings, valves, and bearing. The "balance shaft" problem is just premature failure. My best guess is that if you have 120K miles with no problems, you're probably as good as any engine not in the affected range. Still, I might get someone to pull codes and just make sure you don't have a 1200/1208 DTC (P0017/P0016 OBDII) stored, even if it hasn't illuminated the MIL.

garydoyle1

Thanks Rodney, I very much appreciate your time.

Naif

Hi,

I just changed the cam magnets & the problem still there. They told me that I have to change balance shaft/timing gear which would cost me around 3000$

Regards,
Naif

Alex225577

Hello, Rodney! Can you or anyone else check my vin for this problem? I have been getting the p0017 code for the last 2 weeks. It's a 2006 clk350, vin: WDBTJ56HX6F198496. Your help is much appreciated

Rudeney

Sorry, Alex, WDBTJ56HX6F198496 has M272 engine #337769 which is in the range for balance shaft problems.

How many miles? Have you contacted your desler or MBUSA yet?

Alex225577

Thanks a lot for getting back with me so quickly. I got the p0015 at 60k and now I'm at about 83k and got p0017. Would you recommend replacing the magnets first? Is the total quantity of them 4? Or possibly the sensor(s)? I haven't contacted the dealer or mbusa yet... Isn't a big fail, of someone gets the p0016 and p0017 showing together? So far the only one I have showing is the p0017. It started showing imtermitently after my thermostat failed last week. please be so kind and let me know what needs replaced first, if you could. Thank you so my for your help