thanks, I already email MB Encimo.

 

The 2007 SL550 comes with a 7 speed 722.9 transmission. SL65's come with a 5 speed 722.6 transmission. The 722.9 isn't rated for the torque of the V12 turbo engine. An aftermarket rebuild price is of course going to be a lot less than at the dealer. If I had to eat the whole thing I would probably go that way. However, if Mercedes and/or the dealer were to split the price with you then that would be a better way to go. The factory rebuilt will likely have updates no available in the aftermarket unit.
Good Luck with you "fight"

 

I fitted Michelin PS2 to my SL 63 and I noticed exactly the same as you.
Apparently it's called the Michelin wiggle, i did post this some time ago, you see the Pirelli's that came off have a strengthening wall inside quite visible,
and the PS2 sidewall was too soft. Anyway I changed back to Pirelli's and all
was cured.

 

I'm a little confused what you are fighting.

The car broke. you are out of warranty. Pay the dealer or find a better independent.

Why do you think MB owes you anything here?

 

Oliver,

I think that if your car or anything else failed just after the warranty expired you have every right to complain and ask for the Manufactures financial assistance!

If they say No you are SOL then they loose a customer forever and get horrible PR... If they say we will pay part of the bill it costs them nothing ( just a smaller profit) and they will retain the customer which is a very smart business move!

The car only has 25K miles and is only a few months out of warranty!

If your brand new 60 Inch, $1,500 TV came with a 90 day warranty and started smoking and quit at 100 days (on Super Bowl Sunday) you would just say "oh well" and buy another one???...

I dont think so! You like all of us would scream loudly to the people you bought it from or the manufacture

 

not really. This becomes a never ending dangerous precedent for manufacturers if they continue to do this kind of good will repair.

Lets say MB covers this when you are 5k miles and 2 months out of warranty. What about the guy who is 10k miles and 5 months out of warranty? Of the guy that is 20k miles out of warranty but has only had the car for 3 years from new? The point is that the warranty has a hard stop for a reason.

Sure, the DEALER may be willing to eat a repair or at least split the cost if the customer is valued (lot of purchases, continuous service relationship, lots of referrals etc), but i don't see how this benefits MB.

I also don't see the bad PR here. One guy moaning about a bad transmission will likely not cause too many people not to buy an MB, especially if his vehicle was out of warranty.

he simply didn't drive enough to get his money's worth from that warranty.

Sadly you gotta pay to play.

 

I DISAGREE oliver. even if you beat the car daily, the only way a trans would go @ 25k is doing neutral drops and shifting like an idiot, MB should replace his free and diagnose the problem and better serve the people with the same issue.

 

a lot of things shouldn't break, but do.

the warranty is the warranty.

if you can't afford a major problem, dump the car the day the warranty ends.

 

I would contact MB USA and discuss the issue with them. I had a A/C problem with my CLK back in 2007 and 2008 when it would leak freon every winter and I'd have to take it back every summer to get it check out. I refused to pay the bill for 3 years in and contacted MB USA directly and they dealt with the dealer.

 

Remind me not to pick you as a witness in a murder trial. How can you protect
an industry that charges a small fortune for goods that break as quickly as
an MB. My gearbox went just out of warranty, I was a very good customer
with 4 Mercedes and yet I still had to pay 3500 towards a new gearbox. And
a service for my SL when all they done was change the oil and filter with
a bill of 750 dollars. You should stand up for the customers, they made MB
extremely rich.

 

I am very happy to report that MBUSA did the right thing! They are buying the new transmission, I am paying the labor to have it installed (about $1,200 including the $250 or so for the diagnosis - so about $950 for the transmission install).

To you Oliver, I say never get a job in customer service! Affinity related companies like MB live and die off their reputation. Their saying isn't we're cheaper than the other guys. It's "the best built car in the world". It behooves them to stand behind their product (btw, I also have a Lexus and they are also excellent at doing the right thing).

When you ask the service advisor "how many full transmission failures have you seen in an SL with 25,000 miles on it?" and he says "none!", that says that this is not a normal issue. Dealing correctly with outliers is the right thing to do for a high end consumer company like MB. BTW, I have those stupid gas tank baffles bumping around in my gas tank but I am not asking MB to fix that for free. Clearly the transmission shouldn't have broken at this point.

New tranny comes with a 24 month/24,000 mile warranty. I will own an extended warranty on this car within a week (funny thing is I had all the different warranty options printed out and sitting on my desk for review when my transmission died).

I would like to say a big thank you to Benz-O-Rama and Konigstiger for your advice and help on this issue. If I could buy you a cold beer I would in a heartbeat.

It sure feels good to see a company step up and do the right thing. MB has a happy customer...

 

Oliver,

I thought more about your statements and totally disagree on several levels! Mercedes Benz is no longer what it once was!

Owning a Mercedes Benz used to be a status symbol for several reason in the past... First it was expensive and second and most importantly it was considered the BEST car in the world!

I can distinctly remember numerous times when I brought my 560SL into the MB dealer for service that I totally trusted them and knew they were looking out for my best interests... It was a total pleasure and the customer was treated like a king and with respect... Not any more!!!

Not that long ago when a MB customer dropped their car off for warranty service the MB Mechanic (now Service Technician) would CAREFULLY inspect the entire vehicle and repair under warranty ANYTHING and EVERYTHING they found wrong...

I cannot tell you how many times I heard when I picked my 560SL the service writer would say "Sir when we inspected your MB we found several current or potential problems that we repaired.... We found a leaking hose, a worn bushing, a shock that was suspect, rust on the muffler bracket and worn fan belts."

Sir we fixed EVERYTHING and the entire bill was $1,890 with everything covered under warranty except the belts and oil... Your portion of the repair bill is $67... They would fix things that you had no idea were broken!

A totally new era at Mercedes benz!!!

During the past 5-6 years I have had several MB techs and MB Shop Foremen tell me that they are now PROHIBITED from telling a customer about defects they found unless they are safety related! They will be fired for disclosing to a customer defects that MBUSA is obligated to repair under the warranty. The customer must first complain on the work order before they are allowed to fix the problem.... How the hell does a customer know that an air conditioning hose has a bulge??? I have been told by customer friendly MB techs "next time you bring it in mention XXXX so I can take care of it"...

Recently I have had the MB dealers refuse to repair defects under warranty for at least 25 complaints on both my SL55 and SL65... In 2009 I caught MB dealers CHEATING by not actually doing repairs/service work on my SL65 that was written on the repair invoice and then charging MBUSA for the parts/repairs...

Another time...

When I complained that my SL55 brake pedal went to the floor and that I thought my SBC brakes were defective... I had both the MB dealer and MBUSA tell me in writing nothing was wrong with my SBC brakes and that they knew absolutely nothing about SBC Brake failures and had no other complaints on the early SL55s... The very next day I received a RECALL NOTICE in the mail for my SL55 about SBC Brake Failure!!!! They were a bunch of lying Basturds!!!

I am not allowed to discuss to details of the settlement...

It is NOT the cars they are amazing!! It is the current climate at MBUSA and the dealers who are often in wars with each other over warranty service claims...

The bottom line is you are paying a premium for a Mercedes Benz the "BEST" car in the world and a transmission should definitely last more then 25,000 even in a $9,000 Hyundai!

 

You bring up an important, yet off topic point. I have 2 Lexus's as well and their service is unbelievable. They're always open and willing to replace anything under warranty where as MB always uses the excuse that its "normal wear and tear." For example, I had a molding loose on my LS430 and when i asked for a new clip, they just replaced the whole molding!

 

Your joking, my Dad had a Lexus, it didn't go wrong very much, but the service
charges were phenomenal. Then I started inspecting them, nearly every service they changed the pads, and lots of things duplicated every service
that didn't need it. The bills were always over 1k without major parts.
However my Mercedes dealer is useless and expensive, they certainly aren't
the cars they were, however I wouldn't drive anything else, I am so old that
I can remember when you waited 3 years for an S Class.

 

the only time they do that nowadays is when you dont have a warranty.. ask me how i know.....

 

When the MB dealer wants to get out of repairing my Mercedes the service writer will just put... "Cannot Duplicate Customer Complaint" or say they all do that, it is normal... Your trans failed at 25,000 miles "They all do that"

One time the SL55 was in for service and I had a left headlight that was dead... It read headlight defective on the dash and the left headlight was clearly dead!

I had learned their tricks so I had the service writer put "VERIFIED Customer complaint" on the repair order proving that he saw the dead left headlight...

When I picked up he car the Repair Order had the infamous "Could not verify customer complaint" about the headlight!!! So I had the shop foremen look at the still clearly DEAD left headlight...

He said "I dont know how they missed that one"

They missed it because they never looked!!!!

My SL65 was backfiring and had died several times and the shop foremen at Calabasas MB tried to convince me because I used Arco Gas one time 3 months ago that was why my car was having problems...

The SL65 turned out to have the NOTORIOUSLY DEFECTIVE V12 COILPACKS. I screamed but MBUSA would only authorize the dealer to replace one side of the V12 COILPACKS... 300 Miles later my SL65 was towed back to the MB dealer when the other COILPACK failed... The two tows cost MBUSA almost $1,000!

Apparently Lexus has service like MB used to have... And Lexus has an unbelievable reputation for quality and reliability!!!

 

I vote with my wallet. If a car that I own causes me that much trouble, I don't buy from that brand again. However, I don't expect MB to do anything if part of their product fails out of warranty. Sure, I may ask the dealer for assistance, but if they say no, they say no. Certainly nothing to get fired up about.

I don't do customer service work, but at the same time, I realize how many customers try to get something for nothing. MB went out of their way to help you. They were not in any way obligated to do so. Once again, its a slippery slope. The next time anything fails, you go to them and say, hey I'm only xx,xxx miles out of warranty and you fixed my tranny last time, fix this for free or I'll show you the power of social networking. If you can't handle a gearbox failure out of warranty, either sell the car or buy an aftermarket warranty.

You should be thanking your lucky stars MB helped you out, not threatening to be a nuisance.

yes, the good old days. They are over...MB is not what it once was. If you don't like this, go buy a bentley or a rolls. Don't expect MB to fix your car out of gratis because something failed.

Yes, you pay for the MB name...again, don't like it don't buy one.

The tranny should last for more than 25k miles, just like my flat screen shouldn't fail after 1 year and 2 months (2 months out of warranty). But **** happens, and you gotta pay to play.

 

Nothing to get fired up about, when they put in my new gearbox ( 2 weeks ) there was a vibration, they forgot to change the stress plate.They
put new pipes in and a pump on my ABC and a year later they said it needs
renewing 2k , I had to remind them it had been done a year before, they said
it had 12 months warranty so was chargeable, when I checked it was only
11 months so after a lot of hassle they done it FOC. But the best was my SL55, it needed 2 new black plastic strips that run from the roof to the boot.
They said I can't wait for it as it takes all day to dry, come back tomorrow.
When I went back at 5pm next day they hadn't even started, I was furious,
but they said if you wait we'll do it, only takes 20 minutes. What about
drying, no need to worry they said, I tell you they ARE useless.

 

so you have a crappy dealer...find a new one

 

Easier said than done! I've tried 2 others, both crap!
Perhaps I'll go to Germany, they must be good there! unless anyone knows
different.

 

Picked up the car today. $2,900 parts credit. $1,167 I paid for all labor including diagnosis and change out of transmission. Not free for sure but all in all, a good compromise.

Car is running great, but now I have to fix the wiggle in the back tires still! So in a way, I have made it back to the starting line!

 

I suppose I'd be happy with that outcome, could've been alot worse. Just look at it this way, that's about the same price as a brake job at the dealer.

Not kidding......

 

Benz-O,

I know you're not kidding. I had a brake job at the dealer the week before my transmission failed and I think it was more!

 

Sounds like very fair treatment from the dealer/Mercedes.

About your "wiggle", I'm curious as to what tire pressures you are running. Some tires require much more pressure than what you would expect.

 

I have a feeling you don't make friends very easily