Mercedes has known about this problem since 2007 when they issued the DTB! That was way before all of the warranties expired. They knew with all of these vehicles the balance shaft would eventually fail and did not notify owners of the problem. Mercedes did and are still hiding it from current owners because they don't want to pay for their poorly made vehicles. That's pretty shady.

Mercedes knew that my balance shaft was breaking way before my warranty ran out. Just because the code didn't show up until after my warranty expired doesn't mean it didn't break when I still had a warranty. The balance shaft doesn't break spontaneously, it's over time (when I still had a warranty) and Mercedes knows that in the majority of these vehicles the code won't show up until after the warranty is expired. Failure to notify owners and misrepresent their product for monetary gain is not a company that can be trusted and is like fraud. They should have notified all of us in 2007 when they knew our balance shaft was currently slowly breaking apart and eventually the CEL would come on and we would need it replaced. Mercedes knew about the problem and they didn’t notify anyone because they didn’t and still don’t want to pay for the repair. You would think with the name Mercedes they would stand behind their product. But then again you would think with the name Mercedes they would make reliable quality vehicles. Maybe the name Mercedes doesn’t have the same meaning of quality as it did 10 years ago.

I have a feeling that Mercedes will soon regret the decision they made not to notify owners of the balance shaft issue. Anyway, I’m buying a new Jeep Grand Overland. I had a Jeep about 8 years ago and not only does Jeep stand behind their product but blows my ML away with the power of the Hemi! Oh, and I don’t have to buy an extended warranty. Jeep is in the “quality” group of automakers that stand behind their engine to 100,000 miles!