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Mercedes-Benz GL Class Maintenance and Repair
tidester
Member Posts: 10,059
Comments
If so, did it make the ride noticeably rougher or did it change the handling in the curves?
We have the bluetooth adapter, and a phone that's listed as "fully compatible" on the website our dealer gave us. Although we can make calls using the number pad on the dashboard (and receive calls), the address book, last number called, last call received, and other integrated features are "greyed-out."
Any ideas? Alternatively, if there's a better place to ask this question, I'll gladly receive the advise.
Thanks
While driving the wife's GL down a somewhat narrow street, I had an oncoming car that was too close to the center of the road. I moved over to the right as we passed and accidentally clipped the side mirror of a parked Ford F250 pickup truck. We exchanged numbers, and got our repairs completed, since we each had a broken side mirror. What's the scary part?
The cost of repairing my neighbor's new 2007 F250? $48.65
The cost of repairing the GL? $1,000. $860 in parts (yes, for the passenger side mirror) and $150 in labor.
The GL is awesome, but man, it makes Porsches look economical to repair
For future reference, I once attended a state trooper's defensive driving presentation at work. Something I learned was what to do should you ever come upon a situation such as you did (street to narrow for two cars to safely pass each other). His advice was to pull over as far as you can and STOP your vehicle. Let the other driver proceed. His reasoning was that should the vehicles have contact, the moving vehicle receives any citation and the responsibility.
Thanks
Thanks
If it happens to be a railroad track crossing, then I notice that the entire vehicle would momentarily dip and tilt to the right and feels quite unstable. I had the dealer check it and of course it is always "no problems found", although the passengers are noticing them as well.
Anyone else with a similar problem?
:confuse:
My dealer told me the problem is blue jeans. The rubbery nature of the seating surface apparently picks up the dye in the jeans, darkening the material. It's only taken 3 weeks for mine to look awful. This isn't from new, unwashed jeans either. Just my and my wife's regular duds that have been through the wash plenty of times.
I'm interested in hearing if any other owners are experiencing this problem. I think it should be considered a defect and repaired at Mercedes' expense.
1. low oil level warning indicator went on a total of 6-7 times for the round trip. I suspect the dealer I got it from did not hand over the veh to me with a full tank of oil. I had to put in 2 quarts on the way to FL. Had it checked at a MB dealer in JAX and they said there was no leak. The low oil level warning came on again on our trip back to MI but the oil levels were full.
2. The worst problem was that the shock absorber on my right rear wheel was defective. Noticed the problem on the way to FL when I stopped to check the oil level. Watch out for a metal-to-metal grinding noise. It is not the brakes! We had a fully loaded vehicle with 4 occupants and a Thule luggage carrier on top. I didn't know the shock absorber was the problem until I had the Jacksonville dealer take a look at it. Found out there are over 70+ SA's on backorder across the US. Tells me there may be a defective shock absorber problem. Since I needed a new one right away to make the return trip to MI, the dealer pulled a GL off their lot and transferred the SA to my vehicle. Thank God! Drove fine the rest of the way
I'm having both these problems checked out at my local MB dealer this week. I'm surprised no one has reported the SA problem here yet.
I have an 07 GL450 (leased in Dec '06) that currently has 21500 miles on the odo. 18" Conti tires are basically gone. Asked dealer on the previous service to check alignment, but they found nothing wrong. Noise is bad, performance on the decline. Would be different if it were one or two, but all four are in the same condition. I would not classify myself as overly aggressive with the throttle - speed limits around town, 80 on the freeway.
Anyone else had similar issues with the tires over longer terms? Not that I consider 20+k miles to be long term. As an example, our BMW X3 has original tires at 25k miles (with the same treatment) that still gauge like new.
Thanks
Had to buy new tires????? the original dunlops only had 26K and were worn out (Original equip) took them to MB to get load balanced ($110) as the normal balance still had a shimmy, even after trading the tires in for a new set (COSTCO-love their return policy). On the way home from the balance, the check brake pad light illuminated. MB service rep initially said probably a loose wire.....and also said 27K was way too early for pads. Until they got their hands on the car, now the car needs pads and rotors! $1200!!!!!
I went ballistic-since they completely missed the brakes on the C check. Anyway, long story shorter....Agreed the labor for the rotors and pads as a concession since they missed it, but still set me back ~$700 for rotors and pads after 27K. I have the old rotors and pads, do not look that bad but illuminated the light. I will write a letter to MB USA and Germany and see what their position is. Another perspective was-its a heavy vehicle!
I've driven MB in Germany on the autobahn at 100+mph and had heavy braking requirements and never needed a set of rotors before 70K-80K miles.
So beware the maintenance costs of this great driving very comfortable SUV.
I have the MERCEDES GL 420 CDI SUV and I have a lot of problems. I bought the car
September 2007 and now I have 18700 km.
The problems are:
At 2090 km. the mirror
At 6100 km. the airmatic and the third row of seats
At 6300 km. a broken gear-wheel
At 8500 km. leaf spring
At 8800 km. change of compressor of airmatic
At 11924 km. service
At 15255 km. front and down wishbones
At 16500 km. front and upper wishbones of differential gear
At 18750 km. wishbones and broken gear-wheel again
The guarantee is till September. Does anybody has similar problems?
In addition, is there a good, free resource site to identify part numbers with diagrams? I could contact my service advisor on this I suppose.
I am considering buying a 2009 GL550. This will be my first Benz, been more of a BMW person but want the 3rd row capability of the GL. I have been reading a lot about the reliability issues of the GL. Main reason to buy this truck is for long trips for the family so would like to have a car that will not leave us stranded.
Current owners, what has been your experiences so far with this vehicle ?, what would you suggest I look out for ?. Thanks in advance
I own a Mercedes Benz 2012 GL450, I bought it new. it is at 27000 miles now.
My GL450 has so many problems. suspension noises for left and right sides, radios turns on by itself, excessive dust on front wheel, car suddenly level up when parked sometimes.. it has been in the shop back and forth at least 4 times, around 3 weeks time in the shop. Rental car guys know me personally because I have been there so many times. I finally got my car back today, suspension noises are gone finally (after at least 3 times trying), but new problem showed up, I can't start it with first try. For one time, I tried at least five times in my garage today. It is scary !!! especially for a one year old car and I am disappointed considering I bought it over $70k and it is a Mercedes !
I tried to work with Mercedes Benz customer service and dealership. Here are their responses.
Mercedes Benz customer service: Mercedes offers little help and very arrogant, manager told me "you car is still drivable", they don't care about customer satisfaction as they claimed.
Dealership: they try to sell me a new GL450 2013 at MSRP. Good job dealership, take advantage of your customer who needs help and still thinking make money from your customer with a lemon car.
My wife purchased a 2008 GL 450 in 2010. The vehicle was in the inventory of a local dealter as a lease return and only had 22K miles on it at the time. My wife was convinced this could be her "forever car" thus did not mind spending some extra dollars for this model. Things went fairly well for the remainder of the 50K warranty with the exception of a "roaring noise" which seems to come from the right front quarter of the car as one is driving. The dealership called it "tire noise" and refused to pursue the issue any further. Having spent over 30 years in the R&D side of the tire manufacturing business I knew for sure that answer was wrong. The warrantly ran out at 50K and things began happening. The roaring noise persisted. Air bags began to fail...three of the four within six months time. The dealership wanted $1300 for each one installed. I found rebuilt ones on line for less than half that price. The plastic radiator chamber has a small leak, and the power steering pump is now leaking with less than 60K on the car. What a bad decision we made in buying this vehicle. We are looking at replacing it now but with the experience we have had to date, there is little likelihood that it will be with another MB GL. This vehicle is literally the least reliable, most expensive to maintain vehicle that we have ever owned. Mercedes should be sending out letters of apology to all us suckers.
Oh...I also failed to mention that the plastic coating is bubbling up and coming off all the black windown trim down each side of the 08 GL 450.