Skeeter

Ok, a couple of strange things are going on. Strange coincidence I think.

First, I get a 'warning, limited braking bring car to workshop' alert every other day. She brakes fine, but the warning light seemingly randomly locks up the instrument cluster. I topped off the fluid, no problem there... Had new pads put in months ago, but no trouble code till recently.

Then to add a bit more mystery, my clock is stuck. 1:05, no matter what I tell it to do. I can switch to manually set time and nothing, no movement. Reset everything, still no movement. Sync to nav, likewise no movement of the clock. ARGH!

Gotta be unrelated, right? Haven't seen too many people with brake problems posting either. Anyone get a similar warning?

Thanks in advance,

Skeeter
05 E55

jangy

I say related to a low voltage from the rear battery. Good luck.

Skeeter

Latest development:

After topping off the brake fluid last week, I got a 'low brake fluid' warning. So I suspect a leak in the brake system somewhere.

The large aluminum block in the front passenger side of the engine bay (seems to be the power and distribution point for the brake fluid) has brake fluid weeping out of several of the small holes in it. Looks like a considerable amount of fluid gathered under it also. YIKES!

Let's hope this is a warranty covered event... Seems far enough from the wheels that it ought to be. I could find no posts of anyone with a similar problem, so lucky me

Skeeter

Skeeter

Update: major leak and loss of brake pressure. One of the six pressure couplings that come out of the big aluminum brake block in the passenger side front of the engine bay has a big leak and is loosing brake fluid. I'm bringing it in tomorrow. Hopefully just a new gasket and a little wrenching and I'm back in shape.

Skeeter

jangy

Good luck and happy motoring.

allied107

Man I would like to know how MB takes care of this.

stevebez

Make sure you get that brake fluid off the paintwork asap - it can be pretty corrosive.

Skeeter

Wow... Heavy problems... The service rep slid under the car and found a TON of pooled up brake fluid. Praying it didn't hit any painted surfaces. But they said it looks like a serious problem with the booster, not just a matter of a few gaskets. They indicated they'd need to keep the car for at least three days, maybe longer. Put me in a crappy bottom-of-the-line benz for the time being. MAN is this thing a clunker! Tellin' you, my mom's Honda feels light-years ahead of this loaner...

I'll keep you posted,

Skeeter

Skeeter

Awful update. ARGH! The car has been @ MB of SF for what, a week? They said they needed to replace the entire brake booster, took 4 or 5 days to get the part. Two days ago my rep says they'll have it in by end of day. Then he says it'll take longer than expected to bleed the system, need another day...

Yesterday he says that they got the brakes done, but that they didn't get to the rattles from the panoramic sun roof. Never mind that they've had the thing for a week already, I guess they can only work on one thing at at time.

Today he's telling me that the tech is deep into the sunroof assembly, that there is a more serious problem than the standard TSB and that he can't tell me how long it'll take to fix. As in it might take another week, waiting for parts like the brakes? Yes, as in it might take another week, he can't make any promises.

This is crazy. I'm going to head over to the shop after their lunch break and start talking to the tech himself. Probably took Mercedes less time to build the car from scratch than it is taking these people to make a couple repairs.

Anyone hear of serious problems with the roof? It makes an occasional rattle when I'm making extreme turns over rough pavement, up ramps, etc, but it opens fine, doesn't bind, seals tight... I get the feeling this shop has no idea what they are doing! How complicated a system is it? More than a day to fix anything in the roof seems absurd.

Serious torque withdrawal. I hate to be a jerk, but I'm gonna have to raise some hell if they aren't busting some serious hump to get everything fixed asap.

Skeeter

ROCKETW19

good luck bro but if they want a week id give it to them better let them do it right then hurry and mess something up worse.

jefrose55

I've discussed the problem with the pano roof b4. Mine creaked and rattled over uneven road surfaces. MB replaced the entire pano roof under warrenty. The creaks started at about 20kmiles. Been solid since the replacement. Have had numerous electrical gremlins over the past 39 months of ownership. Would NOT get the pano roof on next car.


04 E55
05 sl 500
06 range rover hse
93 MB 500E

Skeeter

Damn, you guys are right, I should just chill the f out and wait as long as it takes. I guess the more work they do the more likely they'll fix it right. Just mad that they weren't working on it while they were waiting for the brake parts to show up... If this takes another week, it'll be TWO WEEKS of down-time. How long can a man be expected to live without their E?!

This of course raises the question of what I'm gonna do when the warranty runs out on this car. I can't imagine what other model there is that'll suit me better. The E63 doesn't do it for me. Fast but the torque rush isn't there. Maybe a used '05 or '06 S600? Or if I found the right warranty company, I could extend the warranty. Sucks that benz won't let me extend the factory warranty since I'm not the original owner and didn't buy it from a benz dealership... GM, Ford, Jag, plenty of other maufacturers don't care as long as the car is still under warranty they'll let you extend the warranty same as if you were the first owner.

I'll head in today and verify that they really are deep into the mechanism and not jerking me around. If they have it disasembeled and are trying to replace majors stuff, grind down welds, replace glass or any of the other fixes I've seen in threads here, I'll chill out and thank them for making the thorough fix. Seems that plenty of delaers won't fix these things properly without lots of back-and-forth, so I should be grateful I guess...

Thanks y'all,


Skeeter

ItalianStallion

Please don't complain, you should see the problems my Father has with his Sl55. He's had problems where the engine shuts down while driving on I95(he was lucky to have survived that one). Mercedes fixed it, but it happened again, this time he was lucky enough not to be on a parkway. Then for the past year hes been bringing the car in for excessively loud and annoying rattles. The car has been brought in probably 7 times for the same problem. They've replaced everything and stripped the car down more times than I can remember, every single time they admit there is a rattle but they claim to fix it. Now the newest problem is the car doesn't stay in a straight line. While driving straight or going around a smooth turn it will randomly just pull you like you have no control for a second or two. Very dangerous. This is Mercedes' 4th (maybe more) attempt to fix this issue. He is bringing the car back tomorrow to get the rattles and steering fixed which we know is a total waste of time. Mercedes will not break his lease so he is most likely going to sue.

So your pretty lucky man lol. My CLK has gone through some bad times too, as has my Grandfather's E class. The only solid Benz we have in the family is my Mother's S550.

Skeeter

Yow. I have little to gripe about, it seems... Stallion, I'd have a lawyer type up a nice lemon law claim if I were in your father's situation. Seven times for the same problem = EASY lemon law claim in ANY state, trust me. But who needs the grief, huh? Damn that sucks.

I'm back in my E55 and happy as a clam. Looks like everything is fixed. The notations in the receipt are strange, to be sure, noting that the booster was recently replaced by another dealer (dealer #05157, whoever that is). News to me. I had the car in once before in Freemont, but they didn't note anything about the brake booster. Anyone know who dealer #05157 is?

In addition to the normal servicing for the rattling pano roof listed under the TSB, they had to remove the headliner and re-tighten a bunch of frame bolts for the sliding glass assembly to get it to quiet down.

They were also fortunate enough to encounter my intermittent passenger seatbelt warning chime with nobody in the passenger seat

Love it when an intermittent problem hits 'em when I didn't bother to ask 'em to fix it, knowing they'd blow me off and say that they couldn't replicate the problem. Heh...

They adjusted the sensor, which was showing 7.9 lbs when empty. I wish I'd had the ***** to tell them to kill the 'take your key with you' chime that drives me insane (keyless go is great, but that chime takes a bite out of the enjoyment of it to be sure). Or tell 'em to do the -10 degree fan adjustment... I just HAD TO GET MY CAR BACK! ARGH!

Ok, calm and collected, let's hope for a few months of dealer-free enjoyment!

Skeeter