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  #1  
Old 06-16-2011, 11:57 AM
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2009 E550 parking lot flooded during the night

Question MY 2009 E550 was parked in a parking lot at a hotel out of town. The parking lot flooded during the night. The water level was below the rear bumper. The water level was just above the lower rim of the tires in the morning when I was informed that the lot was flooded during the night.

The remote did not work. The hotel staff tried the remote and was able to enter the vehicle. The vehicle was started and water flew out of the exhaust. The vehicle was moved to the front of the hotel the screen was red with ABS and Battery messages. The vehicle locked up. After an hour the vehicle started up with the same messages on display.

The interior carpets were wet and there was some muddy water up to the tracks on the front seats. The front seats were not working and the defroster was not working.

The dealer said the vehicle needed a wiring harness and it would take six weeks to be made by the factory. The vehicle has been with the dealer for almost ninety days. The dashboard was removed all the vehicle was rewired. The vehicle may be able in a week or two if all the codes checks out. Is this a reasonable amount of times for replacing the wiring harness?


Last edited by whunter; 06-17-2011 at 11:19 AM.
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  #2  
Old 06-16-2011, 12:26 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by E550 View Post
Question MY 2009 E550 was parked in a parking lot at a hotel out of town. The parking lot flooded during the night. The water level was below the rear bumper. The water level was just above the lower rim of the tires in the morning when I was informed that the lot was flooded during the night.

The remote did not work. The hotel staff tried the remote and was able to enter the vehicle. The vehicle was started and water flew out of ther exhaust. The vehicle was moved to the front of the hotel the screen was red with ABS and Battery messages. The vehicle locked up. After an hour the vehicle started up with the same messages on display.

The interior carpets were wet and there was some muddy water up to the tracks on the front seats. The front seats were not working and the defroster was not working.

The dealer said the vehicle needed a wiring harness and it would take six weeks to be made by the factory. The vehicle has been with the dealer for almost ninety days. The dashboard was removed all the vehicle was rewired. The vehicle may be able in a week or two if all the codes checks out. Is this a reasonable amount of times for replacing the wiring harness?
In my opinion: NO...
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  #3  
Old 06-16-2011, 12:54 PM
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WIRING HARNESS

Quote:
Originally Posted by whunter View Post
In my opinion: NO...
Total cost so far about $14,000.00
Do you have any suggestions or recommendations?
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Old 06-16-2011, 07:28 PM
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Originally Posted by E550 View Post
Total cost so far about $14,000.00
Do you have any suggestions or recommendations?
In my opinion:

* A good shop would have removed the interior, and put the car in a paint/bake room over a (48 hour) weekend to dry (baking at 160° F to 180° F).

* They are replacing everything that got wet = expect another $14k..

* It should have been done in 14 working days.
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Old 06-17-2011, 01:05 AM
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WIRING HARNESS

Quote:
Originally Posted by whunter View Post
In my opinion:

* A good shop would have removed the interior, and put the car in a paint/bake room over a (48 hour) weekend to dry (baking at 160° F to 180° F).

* They are replacing everything that got wet = expect another $14k..

* It should have been done in 14 working days.
There was no painting of the vehicle. There was no damage to the exterior paint so far as I can tell. I do not know what the under carriage looks like after being in water for a few hours.

The old carpet was removed. The front seats were removed for access to the wiring under the floor.

The first week the dealer ordered new carpets and the wiring harness from the factory. The dealer received the wiring harness six weeks later.

The SA said the whole vehicle had to be rewired. There was work on the ceiling and the dashboard was removed. The last six weeks the dealer has been replacing the dashboard, the carpet and the seats. This week and next week they will be checking all the codes before the work is completed.

I do not know what is taking so long. It appears the vehicle is only being worked on a couple of hours a day. MBUSA said everything is on track for completion and the car sustained severe water damage.

I could not believe that it would take so long to repair the vehicle. I heard of stories of vehicle being in the dealer for two or three months years ago awaiting parts.

The latest completion time is about a week or more.

Last edited by whunter; 06-17-2011 at 11:16 AM. Reason: spelling
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  #6  
Old 06-17-2011, 11:25 AM
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Hmm

It sounds like your car has no priority.
Normal shipping on parts, and BS excuses = the harness is a stock item for a three year old car.
Everyone is working on it between normal work load.
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Old 06-17-2011, 12:14 PM
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I've got two questions.
1. Was it fresh or salt water?
2. Did you notify you insurance company?
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Old 06-17-2011, 02:11 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by whunter View Post
It sounds like your car has no priority.
Normal shipping on parts, and BS excuses = the harness is a stock item for a three year old car.
Everyone is working on it between normal work load.
Wake up there is no stock harness in this car it's always made to order. I have dealt with this problem my self and this time and money is nothing out of the ordinary.
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Old 06-17-2011, 02:53 PM
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Are you paying out of pocket for this, or is an insurance company paying for it?
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Last edited by suginami; 06-17-2011 at 04:08 PM.
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  #10  
Old 06-17-2011, 03:48 PM
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WOW thats rough. I hope the hotel had insurance.
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  #11  
Old 06-20-2011, 01:00 PM
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I'm late to this post but there are strict federal rules concerning flood damaged cars - I realize much of that has to do with reselling - but if water had seeped into the interior wetting the under carpet area - when I pulled up the carpet on my 1998 C230 the carpet rested on raised metal perforated flooring and underneath was the routing of electrical wires plus electronic boxes along with ducting for the HVAC system.

At the least if you sought counsel there is the issue of recouping lost value of the car if you ever decide to resell (lease?)
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  #12  
Old 06-21-2011, 03:39 PM
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Water in the interior of a car..... If it were my car, I don't think I would ever trust it again from having problems. Sell it, trade it, move on.
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Old 06-21-2011, 04:53 PM
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I agree about not trusting the car again. There are many electrical components under teh back seat that probably all need to be replaced. Hopefully they replaced the carpet, I think this was mentioned.

A point was missed earlier when it was mentioned the car should have been dried out in a paint booth. It's not that there was paint damage, it's that the paint booth can be warmed up to a pretty high temp. Not high enough to damage anything, but definitely hot enough to totally dry the car (from the inside out I guess you'd say, all the interior cracks and crevises).

I'd talk to your insurance company about totalling the car, they can then resell it as a flood damaged car branded title.
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  #14  
Old 06-21-2011, 05:11 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by daddi View Post
Wake up there is no stock harness in this car it's always made to order. I have dealt with this problem my self and this time and money is nothing out of the ordinary.
Stock in this case = they are still setup to produce them rapidly = should be under one week (unless wire harness production management is IMO incompetent).

IMO: Three months ++ is not reasonable.
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  #15  
Old 06-21-2011, 05:18 PM
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FYI

If they where worried about water inside the wire harness.

The harness should have been put in a vacuum chamber for three days = instant dessication/dry harness...

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