W163 ML sunroof bellows glued?
 

We had our 2001 ML430 in for a service today and I asked the dealer to adjust the sunroof. When I got the car back, I was charged for the rubber bellows, and the service receipt said that the sunroof bellows were glued to the glass and could not be removed without damage. The sunroof switch was also cracked, but that's another story :mad:.

The WIS does not mention glue at all, and neither does anything I've read here or anywhere else. I am being charged almost $40 per side for new bellows.

Am I paying for an unexperienced tech, or were the bellows glued on earlier ML models?

did you buy your truck used? perhaps the act of the previous owner who doesn't know or too lazy to learn how to fix that. but NO, the bellow does not glue onto the glass, there is a slot for it.

Thanks for the reply.

I bought the truck brand new, and it's only been serviced at this dealer. I wonder if they meant that the bellows were "glued" due to gunk or whatever, sort of gluing the bellows stuck in the slot. I'll talk to the service advisor and maybe ask to speak to the tech. Both sides were broken, though. The dealer did work on the sunroof area in the past, though...

if the old parts are still at the dealer, I would ask to examine and ask them to show you how it was glued to the sunroof. very interesting.

Agreed...these aren't glued by the factory.

Perhaps the dealership saw many MLs come in with the "detached bellows" complaint, and they decided to glue them on to stifle the issue. Poor way of handling it IMHO...