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Comments
Does anyone have any more information? Thanks.
What would happen if while gasing up, I had to put in oil? Would a gas station know it takes synthetic?, shouldn't this be in the owners manual?
As to donald02's tactic, good luck. Depends on service advisor, dealer, demand, market conditions and other variables. Also, there's no guarantee that the dealer ACTUALLY changed donald02's oil -- they may have just kept the car for a bit and returned it as is (they could be as bold as he is!). OTOH, if you BUY the service or bring your oil to an independent MB mechanic, you'll have better assurance that the oil change was done.
Once you change oil, keep an extra quart in the trunk in case you need to add oil at a gas station -- a very unlikely development.
Hope this helps.
As stated earlier I just got mine back. It's been in 3 times in the last year. I'm on my second Fan Speed regulator (first time in they changed my AC compressor which, of course, didn't fix it and, of course, they didn't even check prior to my picking up the car).
When in failure the fan only occasionally runs. It will surge for a minute then stop. Happens in auto and Manual. When they tell you it's supposed to work that way, explain to them that you understand how your system works. You understand auto fan speed, auto temperature setting and auto vent control and that when you select a fan speed manually it is supposed to run at that speed. Oh, and when it's 90 degrees outside and 120 degrees inside and you set the system for 69, you expect the thing to run and cool off the car.
Demand that they replace the Fan Speed Regulator.
Best Regards,
BigRob.
Can anyone help and point me in the right direction.? Are there bulbs that are available at auto stores that I can purchase & plug in.? Something like PIAA lamps, etc ...??? Are these bulbs better than the original ones.? Is it worth the money.?
Thanks in advance for all help.
Magesh
http://www.powerbulbs.com/
Fosmo have a good and reliable service.
Beware the blue coated bulbs. Not only they filter part of the light but they will provide annoying reflection under the rain. Good luck.
Jean
Regards,
BigRob.
Hope this helps. You're driving one of the finest luxury automobiles in the world, and the service of that automobile should reflect that fact!
Without changing bulbs, I found that adjusting the height of the aim produced a dramatic improvement. The factory aim is 2" below the height of the bulb at a distance of 25 feet on a level surface with 1/2 tank of gas. I raised the height by 2" and adjusted the lateral adjustment to preserve its original orientation. (Vertical adjustments result in a lateral change.)
Jean
Thanks
rlsmith
My local Benz dealer is charging the paltry sum of $483 for the part I need. If anyone with a similar experience or practical suggestion could help, I would be most appreciative. My sincere thanks.
My 2000 E320 came with 16" wheels and tires, and more than a year ago I upgraded to 17" with no diificulties and no ill effects.
Check the wheel/tire size of the 2003 E500 on www.mbusa.com under specifications and see what MB says. Your dealer sounds like he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Hope that this helps.
Wally
I am new to this forum and decided to give the new E a look after passing on the old E's because so many friends have had problems with cars and dealers.
Anyone have insigts into Mercedes 'recommitment' to quality after a decade of fumbles. How about dealership attitude changes.
Thanks
Also, I have noticed that the CD skips from time to time on bumpy roads (which is about all we have here in New Hampshire).
I'll call the dealer next week about these items, but I was wondering if anyone here has any insight into these matters.
TIA
Is yours a trunk mounted player or in-dash? The MB site says that the trunk unit is designed by Alpine and is specially shock mounted!
One would think that a company like Mercedes that used to be a technology trend-setter, would at least be able to get common place automotive technology like CD players right and also have them work.
I hadn't heard about the CD issues in my research. I am now beginning to think that I should probably shop elsewhere, lest I end up with a car for which the majority of my money is spent on a great image and merchandising, not great functionality and reliability.
Im a MB owner of 5 years and am looking at a 97 e420 with 66k miles. I took it out for a test ride the other day and ended up picking up my family. while I was waiting for them to get ready the car stalled in the driveway(driveway is sloped uphill). After restarting the CHECK ENGINE prompt came on a few minutes later. Later at the dealership the prompt continued to stay on even after I restarted. I realize that this could be caused by a number problems and the salesman commented that maybe I had seen the SEAT BELT warning (not likely).
Can anyone comment? Should I continue my search and steer clear of this car?
thanks
Rick
8/11/02
If you still want the car I would suggest that you insist that they take the car into their shop and diagnose and repair the cause of the check engine light. I would also get them to warrentee the repair over a reasonable period say 90 days.
Your best bet with a used Mercedes is to get one with a Starmark warranty.
In most modern cars the 'Check Engine' light reports that the OBD II diagnostic system has detected an engine operating problem.
If you have the car out and it happens again, take it to an independent mechanic ( if you don't trust your friends at the SeatBelt Salesman Central ) and have the mechanic read the problem.
The engine doesn't have to be running or the light actually on for the mechanic to get the condition that caused it. OBDII's are supposed to capture the problem code and save it to be read out.
Anyone doing a tuneup today has one of these readers and the connector is right under the dash in most vehicles.
The code is looked up and it tells the mechanic what is generally causing the problem.
There was a good episode on 'Two Cars Garage' on the Speed Channel a couple of weeks ago, where the 'Two Guys' used one to diagnose a problem. It turns out that the owner had ridden around with the light on too long and one of the fuel injectors needed replacing, which they did more or less 'as we watched'.
Taking any Used Car by an independent dealership for a 'readout' is always a good idea. Not all used car lots reset their inventory every day, so if there's any inkling of a problem, the OBDII (see www.obdii.com) is the way to go.
Now as to whether the 97 420 is a good buy or not ... go take a look at mercedesproblems.com and select E420.
There are quite a few case of 'check engine' problems.
If you cough up for a 'StarMark' vehicle then at least you know that whatever the dealer throws at the vehicle to fix it is paid for by someone else.
Personally, if you want a 1997 E420, I'd shop real hard for one owned by a MB lover who kept it real well and had very good luck with their service history. Make sure that they have the service books and its preferrably only serviced at one dealership. See if you can get the dealer to give you a corroborating print out on service history.
You should be able to locate a MB owner and make them a better offer than the dealers, who are only going to pay them wholesale.
Edmund's TMV pages show a 5K spread between dealer trade-in and lot price. And on top of that they want another 1.5 to 2K for a warranty.
Find one, well cared for privately, put the 7K in the bank and cross your fingers.
Does the new E320 come w/ 16" tires?
Is the new E320 slower than the '02 model?
The new E320, like previous models, comes with 16" wheels/tires. The upgrade to 17" is well worth it!
Recent reports had the 2003 E320 a fraction of a second slower than the previous models. That info may or may not be accurate.
I mean, it's like I go to the market and buy a nice aged steak, then I demand that they give me a free bag of potatoes at the threat of telling all my neighbors not to buy at that market because they won't give me a free sack of potatoes.
My post concerning a free oil change related to this time issue and not to getting a change whenever you feel like it. My dealer was very accommodating and encouraged me to bring it in for a FREE change at 11 months and 6500 miles. I wouldn't have anything to do with a dealer that charged under these circumstances.
1) the feature you're looking for is called CD Text. Very few OEM systems support that though aftermarket systems have had it for a while. The system in your car doesn't have it and there's nothing they can do.
2) interesting re skipping. Mine never skips (I drive on the same NH roads as you). One would think that it MIGHT be defective (or at a minimum improperly installed) but dealing with Holloway will result in:
a) it's supposed to work that way.
b) we couldn't reproduce it.
c) stroke and a coronary
d) all of the above
Outside of the service experience I'm sure you'll enjoy your new car.
IOW what is the trade off in riding comfort when increasing the air pressure?
Clearly something is wrong with the changer. I am going to wait a few days and see if there are any other problems before I call Holloway. I hope I have a better experience than you, but thanks to your warning, I will be prepared for a-d. Thanks.
However, donald02 may be wrong about Mercedes oil change frequency, based on my experience with my 2000 E320. When I owned the car for almost a year, with 7,000 miles or so on the odometer, I was getting notice on my car's computer that the A Service was due in almost another 10,000 miles. But after about a year of ownership (and with far less than 10,000 miles on the car), the computer suddenly indicated that the A Service was due within 30 days.
The point is that the first oil change (with the A Service) was done after about one year, and the car had far less than 10,000 miles on the odometer.
Now, with almost 13,000 miles on the odometer, the computer indicates that the B Service is due in 7,000 more miles. I'm sure that as I approach the second anniversary of ownership, the computer will tell me it's due around the two year point, regardless of mileage. My dealer's service advisor agrees and said that's normal -- the service (and oil change) intervals are set for about 10,000 miles or one year, whichever comes first.
If my service advisor and I are right, there's evidently no way that a Mercedes scheduled oil change would be every two years or more. Maybe donald02's dealer knew what he was doing when he agreed to the free oil change.
Maybe they do somewhere, but you have to read the treadwear rating, and as far as I know, you can only find that on the tire. I can't find that spec on tirerack's website. unless I'm blind.
By the way, I too have the Goodyear F1's and I love the tread pattern, and grip, but the noise is highly irritating.
They DO let you take turns at 60 without so much as a chirp though.
But, from what I've heard, either choice will make you happy. Or not.
Go to tirerack and browse the opinions, or post the question on mbworld.org.
BTW, if I had to pay for oil when I purchase the car, I'd pay for it if I really wanted the car, as long as I was not singled out. Why quibble over a few dollars after spending tons of bucks?
Hey, this is capitalism. I pay for the oil change so the service tech can buy the products my company manufactures and in turn I get paid a nice salary so I can shop at Armani and Bvlgari and replace my MB in a couple of years. That's my 3 cents.
They seem to have had issues with the new batch of previous E class model. I am keen on buying the car ASAP and wonder if the bad experience with first lot is more of an exception than a norm ... appreciate your thoughts !
M
part of me says just go out and do it, be the first one on your block w/the cool new car.
However, my experiences with the service arm of the dealer here in NH have been far less than satisfactory. I would only recommend pulling the trigger on the new model once I have, somehow, satisfied myself that the dealer will do an excellent job of adderessing ANY and ALL issues that you have with your new car.
Good luck with your decision,
BigRob.
Has anyone else had this problem - in only 2 years. How about problems with other rubber exposed to the elements.