Hello All,

A friend of mine has his '91 300E in the shop right now having the evaporator replaced. The MB dealer told him they charge $85 an hour so that they won't have to work on "those old cars." They only like to work on 2000 and newer, because MB pays for the labor. It worked; my buddy took his to an independent shop.

I believe my evaporator may be leaking also, on my '90.

After having read many, many messages here and also in the newsgroups about the problems with 124 evaporators I called 1-800-FORMERC and spoke with the authorities there.

I spoke with the Customer Service rep AND a supervisor (they would let me go no higher).

So, just to put everyone here's mind at ease, please know that Mercedes Benz NA insists there is no pattern of problems with the evaporators in the 124 cars.

They also said there was no history of the top neck breaking off the plastic radiators, either! And besides, "lots of car makers use plastic in their radiators". And besides, "even if the neck does break off, it's no big deal".

I wonder what color the sky is in their world.

I love MB automobiles, but I couldn't have much less respect for their local dealer and MB Customer Service.

I feel for you, although on the 201, there is a sub panel in the engine compartment to access the evaporator, so its a easy replacement. It concerns me that for such an item, why MB did not have a access panel like the 201? Foolish to pull the entire dash to replace one of those.

My plastic radiator spout cracked and started leaking on my 300E also, had to replace the entire radiator. Should of been some sort of removable part instead of the entire radiator.

__________________
1993 500E
http://2phast.com/500e/500e-sig.jpg

Brewtoo:

<<
So, just to put everyone here's mind at ease, please know that Mercedes Benz NA insists there is no pattern of problems with the evaporators in the 124 cars.

They also said there was no history of the top neck breaking off the plastic radiators, either! And besides, "lots of car makers use plastic in their radiators". And besides, "even if the neck does break off, it's no big deal".
>>

WOW, that is really "new" news. The unfortunate fact of matter is that MB, especially MBUSA and MBNA did not know of ANY pattern of ANY problem on ANY MB model. Is that arrogant enough?

The lesson is this.

The Germans should learn from GM on how to design a working AC system.

The Germans should learn from the Japanese on how to design good gaskets to seal the engine and transmission.

And MB, especially MBUSA and MBNA need to wake up before it is too late.

I'll repost this just for kicks -- this is the response I received from "Kathleen Durning" awhile ago at MBUSA after sending them an email complaining about the head gasket problems on their M103/104 engines:

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Paul,

Thank you for your e-mail.

We regret to learn of the circumstances which caused you to write. We do, however, disagree with your comment that the head gasket on our 103/104 engines has been a"common problem".
We have NO known problems with the cylinder head gasket for the 103 and 104 engines. We advise you have your vehicle inspected by an authorize MB Dealer.

If you would like to discuss this further, our Technical Specialist can be reached at 1-800-FOR-MERCedes (1-800-367-6372) between the hours of 8 A.M. and 6 P.M. Eastern Time.

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I wonder if she was typing that with a straight face

~Paul

___________________
'91 300E, 208k miles

I have two letters from MBUSA that I am sick to even look at. The issues were about MAS and head gasket on the M104 engines in the W210s. So I am not going to re-type them here but the essence is the same as Paul's (actually a bit worse as the first reply from MBUSA intentionally ignored one of the two issues as they pick the easier one to respond). Personally I am not going to waste my time for $1k as my time and effort is worth more than that. But I will keep reminding fellow MB owners of the arrogance and irresponsibility of MBUSA.

Time after time, when customers request warranty services that have TSBs, the dealers pretend they knew nothing about them. If they talk to MBUSA, MBUSA knew nothing about them either. No one in the MB organization knows but everyone else knows.

<<
I wonder if she was typing that with a straight face
>>

She might be "servicing" her boss when she typed this. You know like Monica and Bill.

I love how there is no evaporator problems in the 124,140 or even the 202,210 chassis. I have done tons ,maybe its just the customers dont change their refigerant enough(hahahah). Mercedes dont have problems with their wiring harness' either,you know the engine harness on all models from 92-early96. The starter harness' on the e320's or the alternator starter harness' on the 140's that fry the inst. cluster and pushbutton assy. Those head gaskets and timing covers on the 104's and 103's that leak at 30k miles but get overlooked. The balancers on the ml's that come apart and eat the timing cover and lower oil pan. This might piss some off but you know sometimes the truth does. I just tell it like it is. There is more to say but not enough room in this server to handle it. I love Mercedes for the fact they are dependable after the techs fix their screw ups , I always try to get my customers cars covered under warranty from a dealership I know that always helps them out. Otherwise they have me fix it , sometimes they save money and sometimes they just pay to have their car right . But remember ( You never realise a good mercedes technician until you have had a bad one ) Just my 2 cents , and its not worth much.

__________________
euro 287
Mercedes Technician 7 Years (retired to Hyundai)
2000 Dodge Durango
98 Mazda truck

If it is of any consolation to our US friends, Mercedes Canada dealers mimics their US based brothers.
I was recently looking at trading my old faithfull 1989 260E for a newer (1994-95) W124. I visited 2 Mercedes dealer.
At both dealers, I was tild:
a) We will not take your nice looking/clean 260E as a trade-in because we do not want to deal with a discountinued 13 years old model, as clean as it is.
b) When we get a 1994-95 as a trade-in, we don't normally retail those cars, We send them to the wholesale/dealer auction. We only keep the newer E serie in our used car inventory.
I asked if they would take my name down and call me if a nice 94-95 shows-up. Nope, they said. You only have to stop by, once in a while, and if we, by accient, have one, we'll see what we can do............ Strange attitude.
JackD

Jackd:

You know what message they are sending you?

Selling a 94-95 E320 is not big enough of a profit for us. You get out of our dealership if you are not prepared to spend $30k (US).

In the US, MBUSA has a "goodwill" warranty only to those customers who have their cars exclusively serviced by the MB dealers. That is, if you spend enough money on MBUSA, MBUSA might say that your car's head gasket, wiring harness, MAF, AC system has a "known" problem. What a discrimination. If I were a layer, LOL, . . .

Paul, I know you are a layer, help us out here.