An Odyssey with an AMG, or a tale of two windshields
02-04-2018, 01:27 AM
#1
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2018 E63S AMG
An Odyssey with an AMG, or a tale of two windshields
Thankfully not the fender again, this time the windshield got nailed badly. Glass all over the inside of the car - sounded like an M-80 when it got hit. Startled the bejesus out of me.
But, I guess I should start at the beginning. As many know, I picked up my car in Germany and had a great two weeks touring around. Dropped the car off and have been anxiously waiting for it to get to the states. To save the extra time of the car transiting the Panama canal, I opted to have the car delivered to Euro Motorcars in Germantown, MD and then drive it back to SD. Shahul and Steve were great to work with.
While in Germany, someone dinged the car on the left front fender, sucked, but it happens. They told me it was going to be fixed at the VPC, which it was - no trace of the damage. I looked hard and couldn't find anything. But wait, there's more. The last day on the drive from Munich to Stutgart we got nailed by a pebble and a small crack was put in the windshield. Again, the VPC would address it. And again, no trace of the crack when I picked the car up.
The repairs probably added two weeks to the delivery time, but the car looked brand new. I did notice however that it had an extra 60 miles on it somehow. Not sure where those came from and not thrilled to have found the extra miles on the car, but at least I had completed the break-in so if someone was sporting around in it the motor and drive train were ready for it.
As luck would have it, as I suspected, I had a business meeting in DC within a week of when the car was ready, and Friday was the day to pick it up and start the drive home. The pick up went smoothly and I got to meet Steve and Shahul and Steve got me all squared away with MBrace and I was on my way.
So began the odyssey. Within about 5 miles of leaving the dealership I got a message that the lanekeeping assist was malfunctioning. Then the brake assist popped a message, then the drive assist, and then later at night the adaptive high beam popped a message that it was inoperable. Sucks but I had a service scheduled for Saturday morning in Nashville anyway to have the rear diff fluid changed so I had these added to the list.
As the car had performed flawlessly in Germany, I suspected that the problem was most likely related to the repairs at the VPC. The messages I was getting were pointing to a camera issue, so the windshield replacement seemed a likely candidate.
Other than that, the first 700 miles or there about went smoothly and I arrived Nashville and checked in for the night ready to be up bright and early to take the car to the dealership for the service. The diff fluid change went fine, but the the repair for the other problems, not so much. After troubleshooting for a couple hours on a yaw sensor issue that I though was probably unrelated, the tech did a test drive and saw the error messages I'd pointed out earlier and was then starting to zero in on a camera issue. Once he heard that they'd probably replaced the windshield, I think he felt that the cameras where pretty likely culprits. He attempted to recalibrate the cameras but for some reason it wouldn't take and I ended up with no camera functionality.
No, leaving Nashville, in stead of no lane keeping assist and no drive assist, I now had no traffic sign detection and no adaptive cruise control - no cruise control at all for that matter. Totally old school, no aids. But, other than a cramping leg from holding my foot the drive was proceeding OK.
Happened upon a what I think was a Dodge Hellcat that was blocked in traffic and feeling frisky I could tell he was going to punch it hard when the lane opened up, so I was ready to follow. The E63 basically drove right past him at a pretty good clip and was still pulling away quite handily when I backed out of it at, well at the speed limit of course, of possibly a multiple of it. More like a Hello Kitty cat than a Hellcat. It did sound good though.
That was the highlight of the day. Around the transition from 40 W to 30 W I was driving along with really no one around me and boom, sounded like a M-80 went off. The windshield was majorly spider webbed right in front of the passenger seat and glass was all over the place in side the car. Not sure if I passed under an overpass and someone threw something or what, Never saw anything. Just boom broken window with a spot the size of a baseball in the middle of the web.
As the window didn't seem in any danger of collapsing in on me completely, I figured I would continue my drive to Dallas where I'd spend the night with family. Started raining about two hours out from Dallas. Wipers were working OK, until I heard a clunk and then the wipers stopped too. Seemed like they'd gotten tangled up some how and just quit. I was able to make it to the next exit just barely and found my way off the interstate almost by the brail method.
Pulled into a Lowes parking lot and had a look at the car and the wipers. After some fiddling, got them un stuck and thankfully the driver's side wiper started working again, but no passenger side. Arrived Dallas OK and got settled in for the night. Have an appointment at a dealer in Dallas for Monday to have the windshield replaced, and hopefully will get the camera issue worked out and have all the aids working again.
Will post a photo of the windshield in the morning.
But, I guess I should start at the beginning. As many know, I picked up my car in Germany and had a great two weeks touring around. Dropped the car off and have been anxiously waiting for it to get to the states. To save the extra time of the car transiting the Panama canal, I opted to have the car delivered to Euro Motorcars in Germantown, MD and then drive it back to SD. Shahul and Steve were great to work with.
While in Germany, someone dinged the car on the left front fender, sucked, but it happens. They told me it was going to be fixed at the VPC, which it was - no trace of the damage. I looked hard and couldn't find anything. But wait, there's more. The last day on the drive from Munich to Stutgart we got nailed by a pebble and a small crack was put in the windshield. Again, the VPC would address it. And again, no trace of the crack when I picked the car up.
The repairs probably added two weeks to the delivery time, but the car looked brand new. I did notice however that it had an extra 60 miles on it somehow. Not sure where those came from and not thrilled to have found the extra miles on the car, but at least I had completed the break-in so if someone was sporting around in it the motor and drive train were ready for it.
As luck would have it, as I suspected, I had a business meeting in DC within a week of when the car was ready, and Friday was the day to pick it up and start the drive home. The pick up went smoothly and I got to meet Steve and Shahul and Steve got me all squared away with MBrace and I was on my way.
So began the odyssey. Within about 5 miles of leaving the dealership I got a message that the lanekeeping assist was malfunctioning. Then the brake assist popped a message, then the drive assist, and then later at night the adaptive high beam popped a message that it was inoperable. Sucks but I had a service scheduled for Saturday morning in Nashville anyway to have the rear diff fluid changed so I had these added to the list.
As the car had performed flawlessly in Germany, I suspected that the problem was most likely related to the repairs at the VPC. The messages I was getting were pointing to a camera issue, so the windshield replacement seemed a likely candidate.
Other than that, the first 700 miles or there about went smoothly and I arrived Nashville and checked in for the night ready to be up bright and early to take the car to the dealership for the service. The diff fluid change went fine, but the the repair for the other problems, not so much. After troubleshooting for a couple hours on a yaw sensor issue that I though was probably unrelated, the tech did a test drive and saw the error messages I'd pointed out earlier and was then starting to zero in on a camera issue. Once he heard that they'd probably replaced the windshield, I think he felt that the cameras where pretty likely culprits. He attempted to recalibrate the cameras but for some reason it wouldn't take and I ended up with no camera functionality.
No, leaving Nashville, in stead of no lane keeping assist and no drive assist, I now had no traffic sign detection and no adaptive cruise control - no cruise control at all for that matter. Totally old school, no aids. But, other than a cramping leg from holding my foot the drive was proceeding OK.
Happened upon a what I think was a Dodge Hellcat that was blocked in traffic and feeling frisky I could tell he was going to punch it hard when the lane opened up, so I was ready to follow. The E63 basically drove right past him at a pretty good clip and was still pulling away quite handily when I backed out of it at, well at the speed limit of course, of possibly a multiple of it. More like a Hello Kitty cat than a Hellcat. It did sound good though.
That was the highlight of the day. Around the transition from 40 W to 30 W I was driving along with really no one around me and boom, sounded like a M-80 went off. The windshield was majorly spider webbed right in front of the passenger seat and glass was all over the place in side the car. Not sure if I passed under an overpass and someone threw something or what, Never saw anything. Just boom broken window with a spot the size of a baseball in the middle of the web.
As the window didn't seem in any danger of collapsing in on me completely, I figured I would continue my drive to Dallas where I'd spend the night with family. Started raining about two hours out from Dallas. Wipers were working OK, until I heard a clunk and then the wipers stopped too. Seemed like they'd gotten tangled up some how and just quit. I was able to make it to the next exit just barely and found my way off the interstate almost by the brail method.
Pulled into a Lowes parking lot and had a look at the car and the wipers. After some fiddling, got them un stuck and thankfully the driver's side wiper started working again, but no passenger side. Arrived Dallas OK and got settled in for the night. Have an appointment at a dealer in Dallas for Monday to have the windshield replaced, and hopefully will get the camera issue worked out and have all the aids working again.
Will post a photo of the windshield in the morning.
02-04-2018, 10:51 AM
#2
Talk about the worst vehicle pickup... at least the fun in Germany made up for it. Things will happen so I guess if its going to be rough, take the rough start and then hopefully it'll be smooth sailing from here on out.
02-04-2018, 11:39 PM
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Spent a lot of time with a shop vac and still didn’t get all the little bits of glass. It’s like powder in some places.
Glad it was on the passenger side and no one was sitting there. Could have gotten in their eyes. Glass made it to the back seat and even the rear deck.
02-05-2018, 10:29 AM
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Holy hell... that was a large object to hit your windshield. Glad to see you were safe through the events, and sorry to hear about the bad string of luck. Safe travels.
02-05-2018, 10:53 AM
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Still not sure where it came from. The vehicles in front were passenger cars and weren't carrying anything, and that was a pretty large object to have been picked up by their tires. Best theory is that it was something dropped from an overpass. I didn't even notice if there was one up there as it was twilight and I was concentrating on the merge from I-40 to I-30.
At the Park Place Mercedes dealership in Dallas now having the windshield replaced and passenger wiper blade fixed (apparently there's a shear bolt that breaks if there's an obstruction). Thankfully they had one windshield in stock that has the acoustic/sun/HUD/etc options.
I did purchase the Mercedes windshield insurance policy, but looks like Allstate is going to cover the OEM glass too. So one way or the other I'm covered.
Hopefully after they fix the windshield they can address the camera issues and get all the Distronic features working again.
Fingers crossed that the rest of the trip is uneventful.
At the Park Place Mercedes dealership in Dallas now having the windshield replaced and passenger wiper blade fixed (apparently there's a shear bolt that breaks if there's an obstruction). Thankfully they had one windshield in stock that has the acoustic/sun/HUD/etc options.
I did purchase the Mercedes windshield insurance policy, but looks like Allstate is going to cover the OEM glass too. So one way or the other I'm covered.
Hopefully after they fix the windshield they can address the camera issues and get all the Distronic features working again.
Fingers crossed that the rest of the trip is uneventful.
02-05-2018, 10:55 AM
#6
Glad to see you made it through safely, and really sorry to hear about all these terrible events that keeps happening to your car. Keep us posted on how you go with fixing all these issues.
02-05-2018, 12:17 PM
#7
Whatever that was, had to have been fairly large. Good news I guess is the windshield took the hit as opposed to the entire pano roof (which would have been more of a pain).
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02-05-2018, 11:05 PM
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What a difference a day makes.
The folks at Park Place Mercedes took good care of me. New windshield installed, wiper fixed, and Distronic features all working again fine.
Given the late start I only drove about 5 hours today before stopping for the night. Car worked great and is back to the same form it was in Germany.
Was able to relax and let the car do its thing.
The folks at Park Place Mercedes took good care of me. New windshield installed, wiper fixed, and Distronic features all working again fine.
Given the late start I only drove about 5 hours today before stopping for the night. Car worked great and is back to the same form it was in Germany.
Was able to relax and let the car do its thing.
02-06-2018, 08:34 AM
#9
Member
What a difference a day makes.
The folks at Park Place Mercedes took good care of me. New windshield installed, wiper fixed, and Distronic features all working again fine.
Given the late start I only drove about 5 hours today before stopping for the night. Car worked great and is back to the same form it was in Germany.
Was able to relax and let the car do its thing.
The folks at Park Place Mercedes took good care of me. New windshield installed, wiper fixed, and Distronic features all working again fine.
Given the late start I only drove about 5 hours today before stopping for the night. Car worked great and is back to the same form it was in Germany.
Was able to relax and let the car do its thing.
02-07-2018, 09:13 AM
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Arrived home last night safe and sound. Very long day of driving, which wouldn’t have been much fun without the Distronic aids. Really happy to have them working again.
02-07-2018, 09:37 AM
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02-07-2018, 09:32 PM
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Wow, what a nightmare of a trip. Crazy about the windshield, Had a rock dropped on my monte carlo back in the 1980's from a overpass along the Bronx in NY, somebody was getting their rocks off I guess, lol. Sounds like maybe something similar happened with you looking at the damage. Glad your back home and can now fully enjoy the car. I'm loving mine. I'm keeping the mileage down and just doing local drives with it, just hit 4300 miles today and have now had the car for four months, so 1000 miles a month, not too bad. After my long trip from New England to Florida I racked up the first few thousand mile really quickly.
