onesixeight

I've been having on-going alignment issues with my '04 E. My car pulls to the right going down the highway and the steering wheel is a few degrees left of center. I complain about it and ask them to fix it at my cost since I know alignments aren't covered after the first 10k miles. They charge me $300 for an alignment and it still pulls to the left. I bring it in on a second visit and ask them to fix the alignment that didn't correctly do in the first place. Guess what?...They charge me for another alignment and its still not fixed. I couldn't complain since I picked up the car while my advisor was on vacation and said he'd look at it when he gets back.

I'm not sure, but I don't know what's the big problem with getting the darn steering wheel straight. I keep getting excuses about how Mercedes aligns their cars to the instrument cluster..blah..blah...either way, it's still not straight even if we are comparing it to the instrument cluster.

BTW, if anyone is in Hawaii...I'm pretty much fed up with the Fletcher Jones family here...Service has been absolutely terrible and the new Service manager Robert Daniels needs to learn some customer service skills.

Thanks guys for listening to my rant!!!

-Chris

relisysj4

forget the service advisor!! go straight to the service manager. or if you are friendly with the salesman you bought the car from try talking to him for extra support when advocating your case!

ClayJ

What tires do you have on the car? The first batches of PS2's were made to euro-spec and pulled right on MBZ's in this country....

onesixeight

The service manager, Robert Daniels is probably the most unhelpful person I've ever met in my life. The other week, my SL's keyless go and smart key totally failed leaving me unable to start the car. I called him asking for an emergency loaner and he pretty much told me 3 weeks...One day, I finally got mad after the car stranded me, called Roadside and just towed the thing to the dealer because it was just a big paperweight in my driveway.

My family and I have bought over 30 cars from this dealership who also has Land Rover, Porsche, Jaguar, etc...and ever since Fletcher Jones took over, they are powerless to do anything and pretty much just say it's MBUSA's policy, not theirs. I hate to beat a dead horse on the declining quality of MB, but I'm sorry it's only getting worse in my eyes.

-Chris

ClayJ

Fletcher Jones bought up more than a few dealerships last year...bad news.....

onesixeight

I had ContiSport 2's from the factory and switched them to PS2 245/275 until last week, the Regional Service Manager said the 275 was cause of my transmission problems, so I bought a new set of PS2 with the factory sizes, so my tires are a very recent batch of PS2s.

The pulling is the same I've felt with the old and new PS2, so I highly doubt it's the tire. They said that they would switch the L tire on the right side and see if it does anything, but I don't think he got there. This service department is highly unorganized and they take forever to get your car back. My car was in there for 4 weeks to fix the transmission and diagnose the pulling. The tranny is a lot better now, but the pulling is almost unbarrable....It's like you're fighting with the wheel driving the car.

-Chris

onesixeight

I lived in Southern California for a number of years and dealt with their Newport Beach dealership and they were decent. Of course, the typical over-MSRP rip-off on the hot models, but that's typical so. cal MB dealership stuff. But their service department was decent and I always got my car back in a timely manner and always updated along the way. Here in Honolulu, get this...My car is in there for the transmission problem awaiting further help from a Regional Service Manager and someone from the dealer calls me asking me to bring in my car when my car has been sitting there for 2 weeks. What kind of system is this...I can understand that there is sometimes misunderstandings, but as a customer...I'm thinking..."Did they give my car to someone else...???"

-Chris

ClayJ

Well, your problem does sound very much to me (in the limited symptomology I've gathered) to be very similar to the 'pulls sharply right' early PS2 problem (MBZ even had a couple of Tech Bulletins on it) so I just wanted to eliminate that possibility for you.
I feel for you, I've gone through one of these more than a few times over the years wtih different problems and different cars. There must be a problem. They have driven it and have replicated and experienced it as well? Then they can f'in fix it! Know what I mean?
I am not a fan of Fletcher Jones..... Surely there is an independent shop on the island?
This hits close to home for me, additionally, because I will have at least a couple of MBZ's at a residence on Kauai in a couple of months -- you know how your options are limited on an island......

onesixeight

After this experience...I'm also not a fan of FJ. I've taken the car to a few independent alignment shops and they all say they don't have the special bolts to make significant adjustments.

The car was suppose to be bought back on the transmission issue, but since the car is ok now, I'll just keep it. But with this alignment issue, I'm just about ready to toss in the towel and call it a "loss".

FJ is the only MB dealer in Hawaii...I feel for you when you go to Kauai because that same tech I have is the one who makes the trips to the neighbor islands to address warranty issues.

Bests,
Chris

ClayJ

Yeah, so I have heard...that's why I especially feel for you...too close to home.....

cte430

Wait a second. The RSM said 275's caused transmission problems? Care to elaborate?

onesixeight

Hi Chris...

I was thinking exactly what you were thinking..."Yea right...275's causing the tranny problem! NO WAY"...I even called up Luke at Tire Rack to consult with him what he thought, and he said he's 99% sure it's not the tire causing the problem as the transmission has already transfered power to the tires. But what the RSM said is that the tranny computer is getting mixed readings from the front and rear tires and altering the shift points. What happens is when I'm going down a hill, the car will do a hard shift from 2nd to 3rd. The car also shifts very jerky in traffic and sometimes will slip under hard accleration. This slip is not to be mistaken with the clutch engagement at approx 2500-3000 rpm. The slip will occur at 4-5k. They tightened up the clutch packs and torque converter and it seems to be better. A lot tighter with more predictable shifting. But they did that after installing the 265 PS2s, so I'll never really know if it's the tire or the tranny fixes they did.

Now if they would just fix my steering that has a "mind of its own"