W210 Reliability and Cost of Maintenance - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Technique · #16 04-11-2003, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by rjnonnie
When my harmonic balancer went out the Parts person at the local Mercedes dealer told me that they were on the 5th revision for this part (which corresponds to the five part numbers you have listed). I was told that they had 3 in stock, when I went to pick up the part the had a 98 E320 in the bay with a bad harmonic balancer and found out that there 0 in stock (the computer didn't agree to what was on the shelf).

At this point I called Phil from PartsShop and had him send me one (PartsShop pricing was much cheaper).

If you would like to get an idea of how many harmonic balancers were replaced, I would talk to the Parts person and ask how many they sold over the last few years. It would be interesting to find out how many were sold at the dealer that claimed that "none of the harmonic balancers are defective".

part no.'s please...

joe p · #17 04-11-2003, 07:32 AM

IC refers to insurment cluster. Lexus dicided to go with these cute back lit needles and guages (sorta like the w220) unfortunatly, they fail, flicker, go out and sometimes go totally feet up.

Quote:

What are the symptoms, signs, or noises that are related to the failure of the Harmonic Balencer? Thanks guys.

M606 engines do not have balancer issues. So far, only 112's and 113's. You look for the rubber protruding from it and in some cases you'll see the outer ring has slid back.

Joe

Southern · #18 04-11-2003, 08:40 AM

Technique,

The part # for the latest harmonic balancer is what you have listed: 112 035 0800.

blackmercedes · #19 04-11-2003, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by joe p
M606 engines do not have balancer issues.
Joe

The only thing on my 606 engine that didn't seem failure prone!

Technique · #20 04-14-2003, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rjnonnie
When my harmonic balancer went out the Parts person at the local Mercedes dealer told me that they were on the 5th revision for this part (which corresponds to the five part numbers you have listed). I was told that they had 3 in stock, when I went to pick up the part the had a 98 E320 in the bay with a bad harmonic balancer and found out that there 0 in stock (the computer didn't agree to what was on the shelf).

At this point I called Phil from PartsShop and had him send me one (PartsShop pricing was much cheaper).

If you would like to get an idea of how many harmonic balancers were replaced, I would talk to the Parts person and ask how many they sold over the last few years. It would be interesting to find out how many were sold at the dealer that claimed that "none of the harmonic balancers are defective".

What I am still trying to determine is if it's worth replacing pre-emptively. Seems like it's not a trivial thing to remove this pulley so I always like things assembled from the factory, instead of some local dealer mechanic who may be less than qualified...

Southern · #21 04-14-2003, 09:18 PM

Technique,

The risk is yours, I also have a problem replacing something which is not broken. I recommend that you closely inspect the rubber on the harmonic balancer. If you see the any crackes in the rubber it will fail soon. Mine went out at 78,600 miles.

In what order would you rate your 3 cars (Acura, Jaguar, Mercedes)?

Technique · #22 04-14-2003, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rjnonnie
Technique,

The risk is yours, I also have a problem replacing something which is not broken. I recommend that you closely inspect the rubber on the harmonic balancer. If you see the any crackes in the rubber it will fail soon. Mine went out at 78,600 miles.

In what order would you rate your 3 cars (Acura, Jaguar, Mercedes)?

Can I inspect the rubber simply by looking inside the engine compartment or do I have to remove the main engine fan to get a closer look?

My 3 cars... they are very different cars for different purposes... I really can't rank them together, it wouldn't be fair... I guess I'd have to rank them like this:

1) Acura - This car is my all-purpose car. When I say this, I don't mean it's my daily driver, although I do use it as a daily driver sometimes. It has the best (IMHO) nav system available and is great for going places new. It is the fastest and best handling of the three. I have spent about $3000 on wheel, tires, and sway bars for the car and it handles great, VERY confident and sticky in the corners. The car is not so expensive that I'm afraid to have a bunch of friends pile in and go out for a night of dinner and partying, etc... I can order some food at a drive-thru and eat in the car comfortably. And, for a total out the door cost of $32,000 I have a car with xenons, leather, 260hp, 6-CD in-dash, moonroof, DVD touchscreen nav, etc... basically every option is standard on the car for $32k AND I can use it for ANYTHING:
weekend driving, dinner dates, commuting, road trips, whathaveyou... I think this is pretty rare. PLUS, I can say that after over two years of ownership, and 50K miles, I have never had a SINGLE problem with this car. I change the oil every 15k miles with mobil1, and that's it.

2) Jaguar - Basically, the point of this car is for sunday driving and going to fancy restaurants and snobby affairs. It is the sexiest looking car I have seen in YEARS. I simply am in love with it. However, it's had SO MANY damn annoying problems (oil leaks, electrical failures, leaking antifreeze, etc...) that it has soured the experience for me. BUT, I will say that I am a VERY picky person and I find every little problem with my cars.

3) Mercedes - This is my daily driver, I use it for commuting. It's a sexy car, it is dependable, and it feels the most solid of the three cars that I own. I love the look of mercedes, I love the engineering behind mercedes (I was going to get a C32 back in late 2000 but they kept delaying the release and then kept delaying the COMAND system so I got my #2 choice, the Acura).

So anyway, if I am FORCED to rank them, that's my order, but honestly, my reasons for owning them are SO different, that it's really not fair to say the mercedes is "#3" or "last" simply because it's my daily driver and that the Acura is "#1" or "the best" simply because it's so versitile and reliable. There are times the Jaguar is "#1" to me and there are many times the Mercedes is "#1" to me.

Anyway, sorry for the long response but I had to be a bit verbose in my attempt to accurately convey my answer to your question!

#23 04-14-2003, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Spark Plugs (100K miles or 4 years @ around $300).

Why is this so expensive? I know there are 12 of them, but still, I can do six of them for $15.

Mike

Southern · #24 04-14-2003, 11:22 PM

Technique,

It is possible to inspect the rubber by looking in the engine compartment - use a good light. Also check that the crankshaft pulley is not working its way back toward the engine. You can verify this by looking at the edge of the drive belt to see if it is worn.

Thank for the input on your three cars. I thought about replacing my Honda with an Acura but I am hooked on rear wheel drive. My wife likes the look of the Jaguar but the reliability is questionable as well as the amount of Ford components. I just might hold off until the price of the 2001-2003 C240's come down. If I had it my way I would own a 1996-1998 SL600.

Fahrgewehr,

I replaced the plugs myself and spent around $75 just on the plugs alone (OEM). I am guessing that the labor is around 1 to 1.5 hours since the plugs are not real easy to get at and after 100K miles/4 years the boots are "welded" to the plugs. I used dielectric grease when I replace mine so they will come off easy next time.

williambishop · #25 04-15-2003, 03:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by rjnonnie
Technique,

It is possible to inspect the rubber by looking in the engine compartment - use a good light. Also check that the crankshaft pulley is not working its way back toward the engine. You can verify this by looking at the edge of the drive belt to see if it is worn.

Thank for the input on your three cars. I thought about replacing my Honda with an Acura but I am hooked on rear wheel drive. My wife likes the look of the Jaguar but the reliability is questionable as well as the amount of Ford components. I just might hold off until the price of the 2001-2003 C240's come down. If I had it my way I would own a 1996-1998 SL600.

Fahrgewehr,

I replaced the plugs myself and spent around $75 just on the plugs alone (OEM). I am guessing that the labor is around 1 to 1.5 hours since the plugs are not real easy to get at and after 100K miles/4 years the boots are "welded" to the plugs. I used dielectric grease when I replace mine so they will come off easy next time.

I think that the reliability is probably DUE to the number of ford components

In seriousness though, has jaguar ever made a dependable car? I know the brits(though I love them to death) have difficulty making cars that don't have mechanical and especially electrically sound cars...Maybe it's just me though. They are some of the sexiest cars, but damned unreliable.

Technique · #26 04-28-2003, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by williambishop
I think that the reliability is probably DUE to the number of ford components In seriousness though, has jaguar ever made a dependable car? I know the brits(though I love them to death) have difficulty making cars that don't have mechanical and especially electrically sound cars...Maybe it's just me though. They are some of the sexiest cars, but damned unreliable.

Agreed! Note my new signature, there should be a picture of the trio now.

Technique · #27 04-28-2003, 03:36 PM

OK, I don't know if this deserves a new topic or not so I am just going to post it as a reply to this thread, if you guys think I should post a new topic, I'll do it.

Anyway, my car is a 1998 E320 with about 38k miles, I bought the car from the original owner who last took it in for service in November 2001 for its 28k mile service. I decided to do everything on my own and buy the parts from the dealership. The total for everything was around $190 in parts (pictures below with all the parts numbers clearly shown):

Windshield Wiper blade (full assembly) - $30
Oil Filter - $10
8 quarts mobil 1 Synthetic - $36
Air Filter - $20
Spark Plugs (12) - $90

I started with the windshield wiper blade:

Which took 30 seconds to change, snap on, snap off. Next,

I did the air filter:

It was SO HORRIBLE and dirty. Look at all the pine needles (I removed the leaves before taking the picture):

So I vaccumed it out and installed the new air filter, total time was a little less than 5 minutes including the vaccuming. There are 6 clips that hold the airbox closed, very easy.

I did the oil next, using a pump I sucked the oil out according the the instructions in the DIY section of this forum. Total time was around 30 minutes for everything (mostly just waiting for the oil to come out):

So with the oil done, I did a visual inspection of the Serpentine belt and Harmonic balancing pulley. Everything looked good but I decided to pick up a new one just to see the difference between the unit I have in my car and the "new" 5th revision part:

I told the dealership parts department what I was going to do and they were very cool and said I could return it if I didn't want to keep it. I noticed some design differences but I decided to save the $70 and leave the factory harmonic balancing pulley since it looks good (none of the symptoms described in this thread).

I was tired so I decided to wait a few minutes to do the spark plugs and I check the torque of the steering gear bolts and they were like 70nm so I figured that was good enough, I didn't tighten them or loosen them. This took perhaps 2 minutes.

So I finished off with the spark plugs, which were not that difficult to do, but it is a tight fit, so I spent about 25 minutes on them. Anyway, I reset the FSS according to the manual:

Quote:

Reset FSS:
Key position 2
Within 4 seconds press 0 button twice
Within 10 seconds turn key to position 0
Press and hold 0 while turning key to position 2
Continue to hold 0
After 10 seconds a signal sounds and 10000 should display
Release 0

That's it. I hope this helps some people who want to save money (all this at the dealership would have been well over $500 and I paid less than $200).

This was what I call the "4 year" service for a low-milage car. Any comments are welcome. Cheers!

manny · #28 04-28-2003, 04:37 PM

Have you considered a brake fluid flush & coolant change ?

Technique · #29 04-28-2003, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by manny
Have you considered a brake fluid flush & coolant change ?

Actually, yes! :-)

Coolant:
The coolant was changed at 18,000 miles at the "B" service in mid-2000. So it's been around 3 years but I checked the coolant and it's clean and smells fine (no foul smell or rust particles whatsoever). It was at the "max" mark as well, so it was nice and full.

Brake Fluid:
I can't remember if this was changed or not but I think it was at the same "B" service at 18k miles. I checked the brake fluid anyway and it was clean as well and at the "max" mark.

I really don't think that coolant or brake fluid goes bad in just a few years. So, I think changing them at 3 and 2 year intervals, respectively, is not warranted unless the fluid is discolored or dirty. I will probably change everything at 50k miles/5 years, my next "service". What do you think?

suginami · #30 04-28-2003, 07:00 PM

It's not really important that your coolant and brake fluid look clean and full.

Mercedes requires coolant to be replaced at 3 year intervals.

Mercedes requires brake fluid to be replaced at 2 year intervals.

Coolant not only raise the boiling point and lowers the freezing point, but it also inhibits rust / corrosion. When coolant gets old, it loses its ability to prevent rust, and actually becomes corrosive.

Brake fluid loves to absorb water (hygoscopic ??). Water build-up in your brake fluid is a bad thing. It decrease your braking performance, it allows the fluid to heat up faster, and it could allow your broke cylinders to rust.

These are the only two maintenance items that occur in time intervals instead of mileage intervals, and they cannot be neglected.