Has Anyone Ever Heard Of This - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

ready-ronnie · #1 06-22-2003, 11:24 PM

THE CAR--1998 E300TD. 75,000 MILES. I WAS DRIVING DOWN A ROAD WITH MANY TAR REPAIRS, NOT A GOOD ROAD BUT NOT TO BAD. I STARTED HEARING/FEELING NOISES, FROM THE DRIVERES SIDE, WHICH TO ME REMINED ME OF ALL THE TALK I'VE HEARD ON THIS FORUM ABOUT THESE 210 BODIED CARS, BUSHING GOING BAD AROUND THIS MILAGE. I PULLED THE CAR OVER AND LOOKED AT EVERY THING I COULD LOOK AT AND COULDN'T SEE ANY THING WRONG. I BROUGHT THE CAR HOME, PULLED THE LEFT FRONT TIRE AND COULD NOT BELIVE WHAT I SAW. THE TOP BRACKET(HOLDER) FOR THE COIL SPRING WAS AT LEAST HALF TORN AWAY FROM THE FRAME MEMBER THE IT IS WELDED TO. IT APPEARS TO BE A COMBINATION OF POOR WELD, METAL FATIQUE AND WHAT SEEMS TO ME PRETTY THIN METAL. HOW TO HANDLE WITH MERCEDES AND ANY COMENTS APPRECIATED.

Gilly · #2 06-22-2003, 11:56 PM

Ron
First, the use of all capital letters is super annoying to lots of folks, myself included, so no more replies from me until you shut that cap lock off. I'd rather see NO caps than ALL caps.

YES, I have seen 2 of these 210 chassis (not 610 chassis) car rip off the upper spring mount. iirc they were both V8 cars, I think they were both E420 210 chassis with the M119 motor V8.
I have seen the Diesels burn out front wheel bearings though, seem 3 or 4 Diesels do that, but not the spring mounts.
The 190E (201 chassis cars) are kind of known to have the front spring mounts rust off and break up here in the rust belt as well, but with the 210 chassis, i never seen any rust involved, just simply tear off, like yours.

Gilly

ready-ronnie · #3 06-23-2003, 11:03 PM

Sorry about the capital letters. didn't know they was a no-no. Thanks for reply.

#4 06-24-2003, 01:55 PM

Granted, Daimler Chrysler is a huge corporation with vast resources. However, I seriously doubt that they'd like to trade their reputation for building safe, quality cars for cars that like to disintegrate driving down the road and putting people's lives on the line.
It would seem to me that an honest and logical approach would be all you need in order for them to take care of this. If this doesn't work then I'd see an attorney. There's no way that this damage could be your fault unless you were off-roading or something like that. You shouldn't have to pay for this.
I just hope that MB hasn't become blindly arrogant to quality and safety issues.

good luck

PS: It couldn't hurt to check out the lemon laws either.

DanielG · #5 06-24-2003, 02:58 PM

This happened on my father-in-laws 210 (1996 E320) -- the first time he had it repaired at a body shop -- the second time (on the other side) MB fixed it at no charge -- last I heard he was trying to get them to reimburse him for the previous repair. He said that they told him it was "the tower" that ripped off. This all happended within the last 8 months and we live in the rust belt (nothern Illinois).

DanielG · #6 06-24-2003, 03:10 PM

My inlaws were fascinated that while the dealership said that they had not heard of this before, they very quickly agreed to repair the car at no charge -- and out of warranty?

ready-ronnie · #7 06-24-2003, 06:30 PM

Update on car repairs. The cost will be about $650. The repair has to be done in a body shop. I talked to service manager and basically he said "out of warrenty" "out of luck", but he will talk to area rep. One problem that complicates the issue is the car is from Canada and their Warrenty and good will money is separate from U.S.A. although I never had any problem on warrenty work in the U.S.

sixto · #8 06-24-2003, 06:46 PM

Sounds like something to forward to you local radio and TV consumer help teams if MB won't pay for it. Might be worth mentioning this course of action after several attempts to make the rep see the light. Might also be worth mentioning it to you insurance carrier.

Sixto
95 S420
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

mark cummins · #9 06-24-2003, 07:30 PM

Take a Look at this Site..Looks Like MERCEDES knows about this http://www.alldata.com/includes/htmlAds/tsbpop.jsp

haasman · #10 06-24-2003, 07:59 PM

RONNIE

This is Mercedes' problem. Forget about out of warranty. The presumption is that they build quality, safe cars. The district manager has lattitude to ensure customer satisfaction in their reliable, high quality and safe automobiles.

Mercedes-Benz of North America
Client Assistance Center-

800-367-6372

CACINTERNET@MBUSA.COM

Mercedes-Benz USA
Client Assistance Center
P.O. Box 607
Paramus, NJ 07653

I am sure they would like to know how concerned you really are.

Keep us posted,

Haasman

JBoggs · #11 06-24-2003, 11:14 PM

Had a 380sl with about 175k on it and the subframe developed a crack. Mechanic I use said that that was a recall item years ago and MB should fix it. Took it to the dealer who found the first crack and one more and wanted $1800 to fix it. I informed them that I knew of the recall, and that I had had my wife and kids in the car just a few hundred miles ago and how I would sure hate for something to happen to them, and voila, comped 100%.

Don't mess with Chrysler, just go to the dealer and be polite but firm and they should cover it-don't know about the Canada part but treat it as a danger to others and they should get the picture.

J. Boggs

DanielG · #12 06-25-2003, 09:36 AM

Ronnie -- have them look at the right side too --- and, if it hasn't started to tear off, at least have it reinforced.

ready-ronnie · #13 06-26-2003, 06:03 PM

Service manager just called me. He said he talked to area rep. and Mercedes is handling the whole thing. So ready-ronnie is very happy. This is the kind of service you expected when you have layed out the Money for a Mercedes.

oldsouth · #14 10-25-2004, 10:51 PM

Just discovered my left front upper spring mount is about 1/3 torn off. Rather rusted off. I was doing a brake job today and there it was; spring was bowed outward. I called the dealer today and he is checking on what Mercedes will cover. The whole upper mount is made of thin flimsy material. I compared it to my '95 S-Class and the S-Class has a massive upper mount.
This is unbelievable Mercedes would build such a flimsy mount. The spring mounts should last the life of the car under normal driving. This should be the basis of a recall!

suginami · #15 10-26-2004, 12:01 AM

Wow, I didn't realize this defect continued into 1998.

I've read of numerous 1997 E420's with this problem.