I have a 2021 E63S, which I purchased new and had only serviced it at the dealership (I am a "platinum" service customer at this dealership). The car is barely out of warranty at 53,000 miles. I took the car in for a routine Service B and the check engine light came on as I was driving to the appointment.

I was charged $229 just to diagnose the fault, which turns out to be the replacemnt of 4 camshaft positioners with control valve (positioners, switching valve, seals, screws, end cover, sealing ring and labor); an $11,000 repair. The service advisor also stated that it would be a good idea to replace the oil separators at the time of the repair, saving labor because the engine was apart (+$553.14).

I filed a goodwill claim with MB USA, who offered $2,000. This amount was matched by the dealership.

I told the dealership this is not acceptable, since I have serviced the car only at their facility and on/ahead of all schedules. I am expecting the repair to be fully covered, or at least the majority of it covered. I had something like this happen to a BMW I owned (ethanol introduced into our US fuel supply caused a 2017 car to need new seals when the ethanol ate through the seals and BMW would not provide any goodwill). It turns out that there was a class action lawsuit and BMW later offered to reimburse me for the repair, but the catch was that I had to still own the car...which I sold...so no money came my way. It was that experience that led me to become a loyal MB customer, and I purchased three cars including my current one.

It feels like it is time to part ways with the brand. Before I make a decision, I wanted to hear from others about what you would do. Have you been in my situation? Has MB offered what you felt to be the proper goodwill or a token gesture? To me, it feels like they should stand behind this car. One owner, never tracked, always cared for...I've never even used launch control! And they don't seem to care that I'm a platinum customer willing to walk away from the brand. One man -- "One Man, One Engine". That's what we purchased, right? To have an internal system like this fail seems like looking away from the statements they make to lure buyers to the brand.

 

You're getting juiced. Total labor hours are about 7.8 and parts should not be more than $3K.

Trenton O. Gibson
tgibson@highline-autos.com
Highline Autos
Direct: 602.909.9216
Office: 480.348.0777

 

Loyalty means exactly dik in this world. Go find another opinion, indy shop or another Euro service center.

 

To be exact, the repair bill shows $4,718.51 in parts (before tax) and $6,329.99 in labor. I was told that while the motor is torn apart, it would be prudent to replace the oil separators even though they are fine ($553.34 in parts before tax).

 

Listen to Trenton.

Take this to a reputable shop and expect to pay what Trenton advised. 6k in labor would get you 50 Plus hours around me from a good indy. Your dealer is ripping you off. I too left BMW after they would not stand behind their known engine failures on a CPO. How people put up with bad motors from BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes is mind-blowing. Mercedes used to be the smart choice, ten years ago. As long as you are not a fanboy, you can leave the brand and speak the truth

Good luck.

 

I see you're in Baltimore Co. I just moved from Timonium to Fells Point. I'll let you figure out which dealership this is...!

 

The car is out of warranty and they offered you 4k to assis with the repair. You purchased the car new which means you had 4 years to purchase an extended MB warranty but chose not too. That is on you. I am not sure why you feel entitled to a free repair just because you followed the maintenance schedule. That's the bare minimun. I feel like MB and the dealership has gone above and beyond to try and help you.

 

I’m in Timonium for the past twenty years…. Palladium s212 63 and a pearl lx470…I’ve only used the dealer for extended warranty work. No complaints at all but I’d never use them for out of warranty work as they are too expensive. I’m mostly diy unless an engine or subframe needs removal. This is a situation where you need a friendly Indy. Unfortunately, I can’t make a recommendation for your model because I’ve not done the research. The group I go to that is less expensive doesn’t really like to get into engine work on these more modern mercs. While not exactly cheap, have you reached out to the Mercedes specialists that are in the Timonium, Hunt Valley area?

 

now now. I think you mean Loyalty means nothing at the steelership.

 

absolutely incredibly valid point

 

Anyone else needed this repair out there? How common is it?

 

No, in my experience, it seems to be with any business entity.

 

I dunno man, my Indi shop (Tucker Motorsports - Ocala FL) seems to be very much a two way street. Matter of fact, they are actively GROWING in a huge way and moving to a space 5x larger (maybe 5x) in the coming weeks. They hook my cars up to Xentry not too infrequently. Granted, we do a TON of work there on the six (is it six?) cars. They "may" be able to work on my Sprinter going forward - not sure how tall the garage door is going to be at the new place.

 

Oh, for the OP all said and done - this job should be able to be done 100% for under $5k using good parts (and labor). Looking at doing one of my cars soon (one of the cam adjusters is bad, going to do all four). So, the four replaced with Febi and labor and a few other things while we are there is just under $5k.

 

The goal isn’t to make friends with a business entity, it’s to make friends with the people…. I have fantastic working relationships with everyone I do business with or I do not do business with them. I make it entirely clear of what I expect from the beginning and ask they do the same. My current project I’m building with my partners is us hiring people/vendors we will pay hundreds of thousands (multi million dollar project) for their work and absolute trust between us is necessary, expected, and achieved.

If we are unable to find these relationships, we might want to look in the mirror to see if our communication is clear…

 

have you had any conversation as to what you will do with the tone rings on the camshafts? Will you ask that your mechanic pin them in place so they never rotate? I would absolutely do this if my cam adjusters were being replaced.

 

My wife had a Lexus a year out of warranty and it started leaking oil. Apparently this was a known issue with this model. Too it in and the repair was over $7K. Was told by the service manager to wait while he did some checking. A couple days later we were told to bring it in. Lexis was covering the entire repair. We no longer have that Lexus. It was traded for a new Lexus at the same dealer.

When I used to take my wagon to the dealer the wait lines just to check in were huge. One time they actually sabotaged the repair just to get me out on time. I now go to a independent. Costs are significantly less and the service is faster and of much higher quality.

If you're going to dump MB, talk to some of your neighbors about their Lexus and the service they get.

 

I understand what you're saying. I am friendly, but not friends with business people. I've always tried to keep business separate from pleasure.

 

For us, they are one in the same. Every contractor assissting with our new faciliy is a friend. Most our patients are also friends. Every staff member is a friend (or they are gone). Most of us spend more time with "work" than friends (pleasure). Heck, when my cars dont need anything I stop at the shop to see what is going on and hang out with other car guys.....

 

He and I are going to do it together...this is the new plan as they are moving to a new shop in the next 30 days. The plan is to repalce them WITH OUT taking off the top of the engine. Best we can tell only the bank 2 exhaust has a slight rattle - the rest are just for ****s and giggles. If we have to take something off the top - well, that is whole new ball of wax...

 

I 100% agree with this statement. I love my E63, but when my extended warranty expires and if I cannot purchase another one, I will depart with the car.

 

I firmly believe you should never own a European luxury car without a Warranty unless of course you are independently wealthy and 10k repairs are like buying an expresso.

 

keep us updated. I’d love to hear how you get this done “the easy way “. I havent seen it…

 

The theory is you can get them off the front. There's a couple of videos on YouTube where people take them out, tuvk rags in so nothing drops down into the front of the engine. My understanding from more than one Mercedes mechanic is this is in general how they do it at the dealership and only take the tops off the engine if they absolutely have to

 

I guess I have seen where they mark the chain and remove the tensioners and wiggle out the adjuster, it just never seemed like that was really the way to do it. Maybe because I’ve always had these reluctor rings in the back of my mind due to one of mine being nearer to out of range.