I always get a little scared reading these threads since I have a W210, however my car has not a spot of rust ANYWHERE on it, and almost looks new. You could eat off the wheel wells and undercarriage. The car has been in Dallas since day one. Can I assume the risk of this type of failure on my car is relatively low?

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08 W251 R350
97 W210 E320
91 W124 300E
86 W126 560SEL
85 W126 380SE Silver
85 W126 380SE Cranberry
79 W123 250
78 W123 280E
75 W114 280

I think, historically, most, if not all of the failures have been on Northern/rust belt cars. My car came from Houston and we won't salt too much here so I'm not too concerned about. (of course, now it'll break next time I drive it...)

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-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

having done rust repair and read the W210 spring perch thread, if i owned a W210, I'd buy a good heat gun, heat up the sealant, and remove it to inspect. as i understand it, when the dealer reinforces it, they do the same. at the very least, you can take matters into your own hands re inspection.

Glad your o.k. and were not hurt.

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"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

You should be OK.

Salt is the enemy.
* Road salt (snow), ocean spray does just as well.

Spoke to the service manager at Wagner MB dealer in Boylston. He said there was another car in there recently for the same issue. Yay. The MB regional service rep said they would offer 25-50% off the repair as a goodwill gesture. The car goes in on Saturday.

I'll keep you posted.

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Phil
Previously loved
variety, but I miss the 99 F350 PSD- 37k, traded, damn

Current stable
98 E-300 TurboDiesel, 253k
http://www.facebook.com/people/Philip-Underwood/762882374

Oh... in the mean time, I'm having a blast with my dad's borrowed F350 powerstroke diesel. I think I'm actually getting better than 15 mpg. Woohoo.

Pity it took $155 to fill it up on Tuesday (he's trying to burn out that little yellow low fuel light)

__________________
Phil
Previously loved
variety, but I miss the 99 F350 PSD- 37k, traded, damn

Current stable
98 E-300 TurboDiesel, 253k
http://www.facebook.com/people/Philip-Underwood/762882374

Good news on the offer from the dealer. I'm right there with you on the truck! My car is down right now while I get some things done and I've been driving it every day to work. I had forgotten how much it costs to keep that monster on the road!

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

You are kidding right? I used to have a 1997 E420 that I always had serviced at the dealer. All recommended service. Not once did they ever mention this problem, nor did they list it in the "inspections performed" and I owned the car from the summer of 1996 until August 2008. By the way, the only reason I let it go was because it was a rust bucket, so who knows what disaster was waiting in the wings.

To those like me that subscribe to "Mercedes is one of the safest cars on the planet" ...... would you add... "even if the front suspension collapses on you at 70mph."

Has Mercedes actively notified the public of this issue? How about the hundreds of major independent garages? Have they ever even acknowledged this as a design/manufacturing defect? Did they ever publicly document the need for this inspection and make it available to current owners of the car?

This smacks of the Pinto syndrome. $ vs. Lives. Negligence is proved in the courts and if I were on the jury, I could be easily swayed to the plantiff on this one..and trust me, I'm no bleeding heart liberal.

A good friend of mine had his '99 E 320 diesel fail in '05, it had never seen salt and the exterior body is perfect, he's an "anal-retentive" pilot and this car was/is his baby. He lived in Alabama, not near the ocean.

Nobody is safe/immune unless you never drive in the rain nor see condensation in the morning IMO.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff