i acquired a 1997 s500c last april[22,000, 1 po]. within days of the acquisition, the seatbacks became locked. no matter what, you could not move them forward.

finally had them repaired earlier this year in what i though would have been covered by my starmark warranty. no. trim item failure it seems. not covered.

so, for a very hefty price i had them repaired by the new dealership.

after the repair, i was continually hearing loud clicking from the seats. but the seatbacks could be moved.

until today, virtually 90 days from the dealer's pricey repair, the seatbacks are both frozen again.

is this a normal bit with the 140 coupes?

i ask this because i have a 1987 560sec. it has approx 90,000 miles. never a problem with the seatbacks.

i ask you, if this is the norm for the most expensive coupe that benz had manufactured after ww2, should the car be kept? or fobbed off onto some other sucker who still believes in the quality of teutonic engineering?

all ears.

I've got a w140L and it has seen its share of hiccups. But lets face it, the more complex and quantity of toys, the more that will require your attention.

So far I've been lucky. Convience pump went out and Benz wanted $1900 canadian to replace the whole unit. I managed to jury rig the unit with other parts so its working now for a total of $26 canadian. We will see how long it works. 2 weeks now and counting.

When I got the car the check engine light came on for code 4 (air pump). A vacuum line had fallen off. Now its on again and the vacuum lines are intack. Don't think it's the pump, probably the control element. Will have to check that one out later.

But it is still a dream to drive. New tires on the list and away we go. I truly believe that a bit of ingenuity can modify or repair alot of that expensive equipment. You just have to have the time and patience.

Ron

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1995 E320 -171k-km
1995 S420 -333k-km

I really like that GM commercial where car frames, gears, tires etc are flying through the air and pummeling the ground ... the narrator ends by saying, "not more than you need, but more than you're used to"

I truly hope MB adopts this kind of thinking and gets back to the basics with at least one of its models in the near future.

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-Paul-
'01 E430, Sport 72,000 mi
'98 C280, 126,500 mi

If the part that was installed failed within a year of purchase, the dealer is obligated to replace it for free, parts and labor.

Most people don't know that all parts purchased from a dealer come with a one year replacement warranty.

Even if you install the part yourself, the dealer is obligated to replace it at their expense for you.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

according to the ro, no parts were replaced. seats were apparently removed and seat back release cables were adjusted to the tune of 135 simoleons per front seat.

now my guess is that these seatbacks have been moved forward less than half a dozen times, in toto, since the adjustment in early march.

would non-usage cause such a problem?

if so, why does my 560sec which has seatbacks similarly unused not have similar problems?

different technologies?

i somehow don't think so.

do you?

Personally, I'd take it back and argue that the original repair didn't fix the problem. It sounds like you're having problems 4 months later.. why wait until the car is out of warranty and have it break?

Sounds like their "adjustment" was a first try at fixing it. I am pretty sure they did this to avoid replacing an entire part or assembly.. I think you need to demand the dealer move to replacing "something" since the adjustment obviously didn't work.

If it were my car, I'd drop it off at the dealer and have them look at it again. Get the regional or zone rep involved if the service mgr won't fix it. If they argue, find another W140 on their used lot and make them show you that the other car makes the same noise. If it doesn't, yours is screwed up.

Neal

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'83 300SD 335,000km (207k) mi SOLD
'87 560SL 163,000km (101k mi) SOLD
'86 300SDL 356,000km (220k mi) SOLD
'92 500SEL 250,000km (155k mi) SOLD
'90 300SL 140,000km (87k mi) SOLD
'01 S430 260,000km (161k mi) SOLD
'03 SL500 167,000km (104k mi) SOLD
'07 S550 4MATIC 235,000km (146k mi) SOLD
'07 GL320 CDI 4MATIC 348,000km (215k mi)
'13 GL350 BlueTec 4MATIC 170,000km (105k mi)
'14 SL550 72,000km (43k mi)

I would argue that the seat back latch is an important safety feature and a malfunction is MAJOR problem, not a 'trim' item. Those folding seats are EXTREMELY complex and costly. US DOT and NHTSA would like to hear the Dealers argument those are not SAFETY SYSTEMS. Read the owners manual. Malfunctioning seat back locks are serious. If it doesn;t latch proberly-will it work properly in an accident?