The dealer who did the repairs is in anothe city about 200 miles North. I have driven the car for about 3,000 miles since the wiring harness work about 60 day ago. I will discuss with MB since the work is guarantee for one year. The present dealer serviced the vehicle about 55 days ago with A Service and Transmission Service.

The insurance company has sent the claim to their subrogation attorney. I look at the building codes and the parking lot codes in the city. I have pictures during the flood and after the flood when I returned to pick up the vehicle. The building codes require all new construction to have drains that support the 100 year flood. The hotel is about four year old and was built under the current code. There is only one drain in the extended parking lot that is the lowest part of property. There is a catch basin and two drains next to the extended parking lot. The property surrounding the hotel was not flooded. I do not know the condition of the drains during the rain. I do not know if the catch basin was clean before the rain or during the rain.

If it was a major expense do to the flood I could go back to the insurance carrier. The dealer said we had to do the work to find out the cause so you have to pay a fee. They did not place the blame on the dealer who did the repair. The factory representative inspected the vehicle about a month ago when there was a problem with the seat acknowledgement chime was not working and the rear door molding had separated at the top. There was previous problem with the door molding. There was a software problem with the seat chime and it was repaired under warranty.

E550, based on that information it appears the hotel is liable for flood damage to your car. The hotel would be responsible to keep the storm drains and catch basin functional and clear of debris.

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Fred Hoelzle

The carrier said they could not guarantee any recovery and it would take a while to find out if there will be any recovery. I heard from the surogation attorney just to verify my address about a month ago. The hotel insurance carrier denied the claim as an act of god.

E550, the rain was an act of God, but the clogged storm drain was the result of the hotel's negligence and/or failure to keep it free and clear. I might agree with the hotel's insurance carrier if a dam next to the hotel failed and the surge of water flooded your car, but not a flooded parking lot from a heavy rain. If the storm drain wasn't sized properly then the hotel should go after the design firm and/or the construction contractor.

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Fred Hoelzle

How much do you like this car? I'd trade it in and be done with it.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

The extended parking lot is below the main street on the East side of the property. The is a slight incline to main street from the south side of the parking lot. There is only one drain for the extended parking lot. There is another hotel just south of the hotel property line that did not have any flooding and is also lower than the hotel where the flooding occurred.

I purchased the vehicle new three years ago. I only have 42,000 miles on it. I purchased the extended warranty 100,000 miles and 7 years. I did not have any problems with the vehicle until the flood. I have had a couple of minor repairs that were under the warranty. The vehicle has been flagged by MB for any warranty repairs. If I have to sell it I would take a bigger hit because of the restriction on the warranty work.

It is a pain contacting MB each time I have a warranty repair. All the flood work was done by an authorized MB Dealer a couple of hundred miles away. The vehicle has been drive about 3,000 miles and it has been about sixty days.

Just two warranty requests with my local dealer. The first one was for the seat software to correct the missing acknowledgement chime.

About a week ago I had one malfunction no message. A couple of day late the malfunction appeared again indicating airmatic. The message disappeared and reappeared a couple days later. The dealer said that had to get permission from MB to do any work on the vehicle. The dealer found right front strut solenoid valve Y52 not completely plugged in. The local dealer said this was not covered by warranty and charge me for a diagnosis fee for the repair. I am waiting for MB to resolve the issue.

E550, I would have a heart-to-heart talk with the MBUSA regional rep and/or the MB dealer who sold you the extended warranty about the restriction on any future warranty work. Since a MB dealer repaired the flood damage why wouldn't MBUSA cover any/all future warranty work without question? It's not as if you had an indie repair the flood damage and now you're expecting MBUSA to honor the extended warranty as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

If you have a friend who is an attorney you may want to get him/her involved. It seems that MBUSA has little/no confidence in the work their dealer techs perform because they are unwilling to honor the original terms of the warranty. If that approach fails you may want to negotiate with the insurance company for a replacement car if your repaired E550 is a continuing annoyance.

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Fred Hoelzle

I am waiting for MB to respond on the unplugged strut solenoid. MB usually calls in a couple of days after a claimed is filed. MB says it is the time zone they are in the east and the dealer is in the west. I rarely get a return call from MB I have to follow up with two or three calls to reach the correct representative.
I have explained to MB that all the work on the vehicle has always been done at an authorized MB dealer. I am not sure if that registers because the vehicle is flagged and all warranty work requires a prior approval.
If MB does not resolve this minor repair in the next couple of days I will contact the Office of the Attorney General in my state. I will have to see if this is a violation of the state law for failure to authorize factory warranty repairs. I have spoken to my insurance carrier they said they will pay for any additional work that occurred as a result of the flood. MB may be refusing to authorize repairs that may not be related to any flood damage. If there are any major problems with the vehicle I would like to have it repaired now so my insurance carrier can recover their cost from the third party carrier.

I would cut your losses and get rid of this car, trade it or sell it . Yes you may take a bath but this car will never be the same. You will have continued issues.

These cars are way to complicated to get wet and then repair.

The insurance carrier will not total the vehicle. That leaves me the choice of taking a big hit or using the warranty for the next four years.

I paid $4,000 for an extended warranty. I have one year left on the original warranty. Trying to sell the vehicle would be like trying to sell a salvage vehicle. If I drive the vehicle for the next four years without any problems I can sell it without any problem at the current market rate.

The vehicle was completed rewired and all new parts were installed by the authorized the dealer. The water level was up to the lower door on the exterior and the interior to the seat tracks. All the carpeting was replaced and all the electronic below the floor were replaced. The A Service and Tranmission Service by my local dealer did not find any problem during their safety check that the dealers do when you bring your vehicle in for service.

The insurance carrier spent $14,000 in repairs so they are not about to total the vehicle out unless there is a major failure of the vehicle.

I will have to work out the warranty issue with MB. If I can't resolve I will have to involve the insurance carrier, MB and the Attorney General Office.

Sorry about your hassles, but I think you're doing the right thing. No one likes water, but it sounds like they fixed everything you could think of. Enjoy the car, and find a sue-happy lawyer to get the satisfaction MBUSA owes you on the warranty. Maybe you can get them to settle on a fantastic trade-in deal if they don't want to honor the warranty.

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Prost!

MBUSA called said that no part had failed. MBUSA said they warranty all parts against failure. The connector was not completely plugged so the part did not fail. I questioned how the part could be partially plugged in. We got around to the discussion of the replacement of the wiring harness. I asked if during the installation of the wiring harness would that involving the wiring to the solenoid valve. He indicated that could be possible. He indicated that MBUSA will honor their warranty. I told him I would take it with my insurance carrier.
I called my carrier explained what happen with MB. They will seek reimbursement from the installing dealer if the dealer does not pay my carrier will reimburse me.
I drove the vehicle up to Death Valley, California a couple weeks after the vehicle was returned to me. The vehicle did not overheat and there were no malfunctions.
I know the vehicle is still flagged. I will continue to drive the vehicle and take to the dealer if there are any problems.

I picked up the vehicle from the dealer August 24, 2011 for repair of one malfunction Airmatic. The malfunction message had appeared about once a week for the last two week. I have never had a malfunction message before.
I was driving home last time the one malfunction Airmatic message appeared again.
The dealer found the following DTC codes 5192, 5220 and 5320. The dealer said the cause of the Airmatic messages was the right front strut solenoid valve y52 was not completed plugged in. The dealer said this was not a warranty repair and charged for the service. I requested my insurance carrier seek payment from the installation dealer of the wiring harness.
I am on the way to the dealer to diagnose the current message.