Which is ironic given that the engine and computer came shipped to Cologne from Lima 
Which is ironic given that the engine and computer came shipped to Cologne from Lima
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
It's interesting to note that the X164 & W164 are stamped out & assembled in Alabammy with ECMs and powertrain from Stuttgart.
Is there a lesson in here about the futility of trans-national auto assembly? IDK.
In reply to FJ40Jim :
Not really. The ones fully assembled in the fatherland are just as crap.
I finally made it to a rallycross!
Before we left, my daughter and I put a canopy on the side. It was about $170 or so from Amazon and it bolts up to the roof rails. I'm not sure how much I trust it to stay on there, but so far it has been solid. I didn't realize it until I opened the case for the first time, but isn't like an RV awning that rolls out and retracts, but it's more manual and pretty much just falls out and has to be manually wrapped back up. Not the end of the world of course, but it's not bad. It gave us plenty of shade and protection from the little bit of rain we got.
For sleeping, I put the seats down and put a twin air mattress in there. For some ventilation, I got a tent-like thing that goes over the back of the truck with the hatch open.
It was nowhere near as nice as the RV of course, but it was okay for a couple nights.
The tow up and back was very uneventful. With the cruise set to the speed limit, it did the 486 mile round-trip beautifully. And based on the amount of fuel I put in it when I got home, it got 18.6mpg.
Another big trip today. I did about 600 miles to fetch a car and the ride was good. Averaged around 19.6mpg for the round trip which included going through some mountains in Tennessee and half the trip with an empty trailer.
Upon pulling off the highway, though, I noticed that it's a bit louder than normal at lower speeds when going straight or turning left. At higher speeds, I don't notice it and it goes away when turning to the right. I'm guessing it's the right side front wheel bearing going bad.
No pictures of the car you fetched?
Tonight was wheel bearing night. Getting the knuckle off was pretty simple. One thing to remember is that the lower ball joint doesn't need to be pressed off the steering knuckle. Once the nut is off, it just goes so be ready.
There's not really anything that special or different about this job compared to any other FWD wheel bearing. Pop off the tie rod, the brake caliper bracket, the ball joints, the abs sensor, the axle nut, and the brake dust shield and you wind up with this:
Put the knuckle in the press and pop out the hub. Getting the inner race off the hub can be a challenge.
I wound up having to hit it with the death wheel until it cracked itself off.
Getting the snap right out was a chore. It gets rusted in place so it takes a little heat, P'blaster, a snap ring pliers, and a couple screwdrivers to convince it to come out. Then the press does its thing on the bearing and out it comes
Then reverse the process to reinstall. I used the old inner race to support the new inner race as I drove the hub home.
Now all the noise is gone and it's all smooth again.
Now I remember why my MB fleet is strictly RWD.
Really getting the miles piled on! I did about 500 miles to the Rallycross at Joe's Speedway, then 600 miles the next weekend to fill up the trailer, and then just this past weekend put another 650ish on to go see the in-laws. And this coming weekend, it's another few hundred miles to a Rallycross. The trip to see family this weekend was taken without the trailer and the mileage for the highway portion and the driving-around-town portion combined was something around 22-23mpg, which isn't bad for a 3-row, 7-passenger SUV.
I've got another appointment on the books to take it back to Mercedes Benz of Cincinnati next week when I get back from the race so they can look at the continuing saga of the Check Engine light. I also need them to kick the AdBlue system in the head because despite having filled the tank with about 7.5gal of DEF, it still complains that the AdBlue level needs to be checked every time I start it up. Which is a bit annoying.
Also this week, I need to change the fuel filter. I have the new one, but I forgot to order the special pliers to be able to work the Mercedes hose clamps on the fuel line. Those should come in later this week so I can get that done.
There's also some evidence that the serpentine belt may be getting worn prematurely. It's developed a stripe down the middle that corresponds with what the pulleys on the idlers and tensioner look like. The idlers are pretty new but the tensioner is probably original. I got a new belt and a new tensioner and threw them in the back before heading up to see the in-laws. I'd like to get around to replacing that to see if I stop getting bits of rubber deposit on the timing cover. I'd also like to clean that off real well to see if I can determine where the oil is leaking.
The other big maintenance item that I need to do soon is to change the transmission fluid and filter. That's big only in terms of the cost, really. The job itself isn't too tough since I have the fluid pump and a lift.
I think your GL might be new enough that it has the updated tranny fluid, bigger filter & deeper pan.
If it's not that new, there's an upgrade kit from FCP euro that combines the deeper pan and bigger filter with the older spec fluid. It seems a good idea for an MB that tows frequently. I put it on mine and am happy to have it.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mercedes-722-9-transmission-pan-upgrade-kit-pentosin-001989680310
In reply to FJ40Jim :
I am fairly certain that it wasn't a mid-year change and all the 2012s got the deeper pan. I'll double check what the pan looks like though just to make sure!
I put a new fuel filter on it this afternoon. I bought a pair of pliers on Amazon that were about ten bucks and advertised as "CV boot pliers". They're fairly crappy-looking, but they work beautifully on the little Mercedes host clamps.
What I absolutely hate, though, is trying to get the intake tube to wiggle in to place. What a pain.
I also put a little Stabilant on the O2 sensor connector. We'll see if it turns off the check engine light.
I don't recall the last time I was loaded and ready this early.
I just need a bottle of wine and some cheese.
Seeing an old Benz pull an even older Neon makes me think Team DaimlerChrysler.
In reply to Glutton4pain :
Since the motor in the Neon is out of a 2005 PT Cruiser, I do kind of think of it as a mini-AMG!
I am loving the extended warranty. Apparently the AdBlue control module has failed. That's a $618 part at MSRP. I have no idea how much labor is involved.
Was the piss module the cause of the unresolvable code? Mine still has an occasional CEL, but the scanner always shows 'undefined code', or some such.
In reply to FJ40Jim :
Well... maybe?
I thought the code was due to a little intermittentness with the O2 sensor heater circuit. I had replaced the O2 sensor a while back and that fixed it for a while. I can't recall if I put my code reader on it since getting it back from the dealer back in May, but for a little while it would turn itself off periodically. When I put the new fuel filter on, I also put a couple drops of Stabilant on the O2 sensor connector pins, but the light has stayed on. Of course, it's also been giving me the "Check AdBlue Level" message every time I start it up.
That's a lot of words to say that I don't actually know what codes, exactly, are coming up as of this moment. My service advisor just told me that the problem was the control module, it wouldn't hurt to drive it, and he'd call me when the part came in. If the light is still on after that, then I guess we do the dance again!
How the whole AdBlue system works is a mystery to me, but back in May they had the car for nearly an entire month because they couldn't get the DPF regen cycle to run and claimed they had to engage various folks at Mercedes to get the right codes to make it do the thing. I can't help but wonder if that isn't related.
Let's see... MSRP on the control module is $618. The tank is $1,540. WIS says that you're not supposed to re-use the drained-off AdBlue and the tank was full to the brim, so 33.3 litres of AdBlue at... whatever they charge. Interestingly, ASRA calls for a single hour of labor to replace the tank.
This thread makes my shenanigans with various old heaps look like perfect reliability in comparison...
You, sir, have far more patience than I.
In reply to Recon1342 :
Well, since it's covered by the emissions warranty, it's really not that big of a deal. I pick a day to take it up there along with my laptop and I work from their waiting area while they determine what they think is wrong. They order parts and then call me when the parts come in. I schedule time to come back up, drop it off, and take a loaner home. Then they find more stuff wrong and order more parts. Eventually, they fix whatever was wrong and I come up, get the car, and then the next day the next thing goes wrong.
The only downside is that while they've got it, I don't have anything that I can tow with, so I need to schedule around that sort of activity. They also had a tech on vacation one time and had to rearrange my appointment by a week while it was running around in limp mode. That was kind of annoying.
Dealing with Mercedes Benz of Cincinnati has been nothing but pleasant for me, though. Even though I'm rolling through their shop with a bunch of warranty and goodwill work on an 11-year-old vehicle with 143,000 miles, they treat me like I'm there to spend real money with them. Now, it's entirely possible that I keep winding up back there because they're either breaking things or misdiagnosing them. But the fact that I don't have to spend any money or time to try to solve it means the amount that I care about that is reduced significantly.
I really need to sit down with the paperwork and figure out what all of this would have cost at retail pricing. Between the AEM, the settlement checks, and all the post-AEM warranty work, I think they've put a retail value of about $25k into this vehicle in the last year. And I've got about 30,000 miles of warranty left to go. I'd love to know if mine is an outlier in that regard or if MBUSA is coughing up metric dollars across the board on these vehicles. Was there no one in any of these meetings that said "Hey, boss, maybe we should just buy these things back?"
In reply to wae :
It speaks highly of the dealership that they are taking such good care of you.
MrsRecon would've tossed a match in by now; she has no patience for it.
No dash lights. Let's see how long this lasts!
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