I have a 2003 C240 meticulously maintained, 43,000 miles, followed all service requirements. Car was sold as never needing trans. fluid and 15 yr. coolant life. In fact you can't even check trans. fluid without special dipstick "tool." Radiator leaked coolant into trans. and rad and trans have to be replaced. I am now facing a $6000-$7000 repair bill because of faulty radiator which M/B knew about when car was under warranty.

I'm so upset I can't see straight.

Not a common occurrence....you just got unlucky. Then again, ANY 2003 car is too tech based in my opinion. My inlaws had the whole transmission blow up on their 2002 low miles Toyota....it can happen to anyone.

As for me, I've driven about 80,000 miles in a MB/6 years so far, and plan to keep on doing that.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Wow, I would be livid too.

Sorry for your misfortune.

I sympathize with your predicament and I would be as disappointed as you are, although, car companies are really as bad as banks and airlines: on which one can really trust?

My father has two Toyotas, a Land Cruiser and a Land Cruiser Wagon. The first one has been perfect for many years, the Wagon has been a nightmare from year one. And Toyota is supposed to be one of the most reliable brands on the market.

So, my philosophy is this: M.B. can be a legitimate pain you know where... (the A/C evap fault for one comes to mind in my car). But, compared to all other brands I sincerely believe they design, develop and manufacture (except for the W220/W210) their cars above the average.

They are not perfect, true. But again, which car company (or bank, or airline) is?

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A. Rosich
CL 500, 1998
S 500 L, 1998
E 320 T, 1995 [Sadly sold ]

Luke, come away form the Dark Side and channel your anger into positive energy. Try MBUSA to see if you can plead your case with the known defect. Maybe they'll at least cut you some slack on their 500% profit on the new part.
In the mean time look around for a used tranny. There are plenty of wrecked cars where the transmisision is fine. You can also se if yours can be rebuilt. I don't know what's wrong with yours, but $5K will get a lot of rebuild.

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Prost!

Contact MBUSA for help. This happens all the time with those valeo radiators (prod up to 09/2003). There's a bulletin on it- depending on how much contamination there is (how long have you driven with the droning noise) you may only need the radiator and a trans flush/ecu flash. Complete trans replacement is the final option.

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1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

That is complete BS. I dont care what has happened to any other type of car. If this happened to me I would seek help through mbusa as stated before. If then they dont do anything I would never give the company another penny. I agree, things can happen to any type of car through bad luck, but it all boils down to how the company deals with it. With anything like this you always have to keep pushing and never give up tp get your way.

As Johnhef said, contact MBUSA and good things might happen. If they dont resolve it then screw them. I love mercedes so much, but this would write it all off for me. Hopefully there is a better resolution then 6k.

Good Luck Bro!

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1998 E320 150,000
1980 300SD 240,000
1965 190D 79,000

That's a sad story. However, I'm not a big fan of the C-Class either. So, good luck with it.

In my particular case contacting MBUSA turned out to be a waste of my time and worthless when seeking help getting a fuel leak on my '99 E300TD resolved.

Sorry to mention that I owned a 2004 W209 CLK 240. It also developed a transmission problem - just out of the three year warranty period. MB wanted many thousands to LOOK at the transmission just to provide a quote to repair it.

After a W140,W210 and W209 (all bought new) I will not buy a modern era MB again. I have gone back to the "Age of Engineering" with a W124. ( not to say that it's the most reliable car - at least it's much cheaper to fix and I can do it myself)

This is not an unknown problem by any means. It's the crappy Italian-made radiator that's the problem and MB has paid out a lot of warranty claims because of it. I assume your dealer has done the test to determine how much contaminant is in the trans fluid? That's what determines whether the trans is beyond saving, despite what your on-commission service writer may say.

As far as never needing a trans fluid change, MB changed it's tune on this in 2005 and decided it's really every 39K miles so you are only over by a few thousand.

BTW, that price is 50% of the value of the car.

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Roger E.

The modern electronic transmission is the great secret weapon of planned obsolescence. I'm convinced my 94-95 cars with 100k miles have more reasonable cost miles left in them than does a new 09, as long as I'm doing the maintenance.

bingo. although MB says "once at 39k" whatever thats supposed to mean... every 40k fluid changes would be wise. The fluid coming out of these 39,000 mile transmissions that Ive done is about the color of dark brown liquid mud.

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1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

dont go buy a toyota then. they seem to have the filled for life transmission policy at least on the tundra.

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1984 300SD Orient Red/ Palomino
1989 560SEC
2016 Mazda 6 6 speed manual
1995 Ford F-150 reg cab 4.9 5speed manual

Clearly it means during the warranty period and after that it's up to the owner to continue. Too bad so many have to have their hands held.

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Roger E.