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Mercedes-Benz E-Class Sedans
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Comments
Still no info if MB will be generous enough to offer a standard
CD player for your $50K
Good luck.
Thanks...
Ed
The car looks like a winner provided M-B upgrades the quality with the new sheet metal. The new E must be the leader in its segment if M-B is going to maintain sales in this market-place.
Still, all that new technology makes me very weary of purchasing an '03 model. Perhaps, an '05 model without any "bugs" and improved knobs for the climate control (see SL Review by Car and Driver) is worth waiting for. Especially, if I get the 476HP version.
Pat
Host
Sedans Message Board
Steve
I'm not sure that it is necessarily a job for a professional, but it is something that should be done with a lot of care.
Once the plug has been threaded in a few turns and it's obvious that the threads are not crossed, just yank the hose off the plug and finish tightening in the regular way with a plug socket, extension, and torque wrench.
This technique gives you the "feel" of the the plug threading into the hole: if there's any resistance or reluctance to accept the plug because of cross-threading, you'll be able to detect it, withdraw the plug, and restart the insertion again - - all without risk of dropping the plug into an inaccessible place in the engine compartment - - or on the floor. (Plugs don't like being dropped on the floor!)
By the way, you can also use this same hose for removing the plugs. Just loosen the plug with the wrench in the usual way, then push the hose onto the plug and turn it the rest of the way out. Much more elegant and safer than fiddling around with needle-nose pliers! Further, a hose of the correct length can save your knuckles and protect you from burns if, in your impatience, you're working on a hot engine!
I'd be surprised if there weren't heli-coils in the sparkplug holes. There certainly ought to be (and could be installed if you accidentally stripped a spark-plug hole). Use of heli-coils in piston aircraft engines is widespread. These engines universally have aluminum heads. Plugs are much more frequent removed and reinsertion (at least once/year at annual inspection) of plugs, so OEM heads already have the helicoils in them. Also prevents aluminum galling on the plug threads and stripping the hole as you remove the plug.
Champion sells a spark-plug thread lube which works fine in this application (just don't get it on the electrodes - it's electrically conductive), and by all means, use a torque wrench to finish the tightening!
Thanks a bunch
Louis
The BMW is very different from my M-B '00E430.
The car shifts well and handles crisply. Acceleration is brisk and the car feels fast due to the smoothness of BMW's in-line 6 cylinder engine. Interior and ergonomics are on par with M-B.
When I got home today from the dealer I noticed a dime sized ding on the hood. Perhaps, one of the service guys dinged the hood while installing my clear lenses. The dealer promised a dentless repair next week. Other than the ding(@!@!) the car has some scratches on the hood and one very tiny (real tiny) bubble on the hood. Overall, the paint quality, fit and finish is excellent.
So far, I prefer my M-B ride to the BMW as a daily
commuter. I will see if my opinion changes as I put more miles on the 330. Any input on how I should handle the "dinged" hood situation with my dealer is appreciated.
You should stop at an auto parts place before hand and buy a front parking lamp (bulb.) Almost any parts store should have them, but you may need to buy two due to packaging. No big deal as we're talking about $1 each. You'll need to specify your car by year and model
When you're ready to replace it, you'll want a dry cleaning cloth to remove the grime you're apt to find on the assembly. If it's really grimy, you'll want warm, soapy water. If so, use the water only on the outside of the assembly. Then dry it and your hands before you open it to change the lamp. You'll spend more time cleaning than you will renewing the lamp.
Good luck, and let us know how you make out.
To RBRENTON88, factory extended warranty applies only to orig. purchaser during the first year of ownership.
Thanks.
Vic.
$1680 was for 4 yrs. addl. warranty on E-320 RWD.
As for which one to get, why not get a good deal on the "older" phone and use the difference to pay for about 3 years use on a 2nd phone you can carry around? My wireless provider let me get the second phone on the same plan as my M-B phone.
---joe
I post this to warn the visitors here about the aboslutely aweful customer service rendered by the TeleAid organization...misbilling, comandeering my radio and scaring the sh$%t out of me and my daughter one night, misbilling again, and then unresponsiveness to fixing the problem.
This is a continuation of post #2964.
"#2964 of 3133 TeleAid Crooks! what a disaster this is for MBUSA! by dunninla Feb 11, 2002 (02:33 pm) This is a continuation of my post from Feb. 4.
Got a call from my wife just now. Seems one of our credit cards had two more yearly TeleAid charges. Recall I cancelled TeleAid, got a credit for the erroneous Year 2 charge of $258 and change, back in early January.
Now, they have charged me two additional times on the same card. I have been on hold for 10 minutes trying to get them to reverse these two charges like they did last time.
The whole TeleAid organization is an embarrassment to MBUSA, and MBUSA's relationship with these incompetent boobs should be terminated immediately. "
UPDATE: After posting this, I got TeleAid customer service to answer, and to promise to credit the two separate, unauthorized 1 year charges. Finally, I thought, taken care of.
Well, not so fast. I got my March Visa bill 10 days ago, and not only were both charges still on it, but an additional unexplained $4.00 charge, plus a nice little reminder from MBNA that the payment was overdue, plus $29.00 late charge.
Got TeleAid on the line immediately last week. A nice lady there explained they had migrated to a different billing system, which would explain the errant billing. Only thing is, this system had been down all that day, so she couldn't bring up my account to verify anything. She said she would have billing give me a call the next day...eight days later, still no call.
So I called again today, eating up another 15 minutes of my day. I lost the cell connection after expaining AGAIN the situation and asking for a supervisor. We discussed THREE times that I would hit a cell dead zone and to have the supervisor call me back if we were disconnected.
Now, an hour after the disconnect, I have still received no call from the agent, his supervisor, or billing.
By the way, that same day I sent the contents of post #2964 and the previous one on to attn: Mr. Paul Juron at MBUSA Customer Care department mailbox, after discussing the issue with MBUSA customer care agent... Mr. Juron is a VP I think. I got an automated email acknowlegement, and nothing more in the past five weeks.
Terry.
Thanks.
If I were to add a new HU, one would have to balance appearance to function. I really liked the Alpine 7878 (now discontinued)but was very "disco" with all sorts of lights and stuff. The 2002 Alpines all seem to play mp3 music. Haven't seen these yet though. Kenwood has the Phat box (or music keg?) which is a semi-portable hard drive which can hook up to any new kenwood HU. Again pretty disco, but full of features. The Pioneer was pretty nice, just too much time in between tracks.
All of the people I talked to had first generation mp3 HU in their cars (JVC, SONY, ALpine, Blaupunkt, Kenwood) and the only ones who were totally satisfied were the people who had the Alpine in their car.
JB
I was wondering if one is to buy an MB at one dealer and have it serviced at another dealer, would I experience any problems from the service dealer?
Thanks...
That said, the dealer from whom I bought my car is more responsive because I have a relationship with the salesman there. He, of course, wants to sell me my next car.
HBL of Tysons has been more than accomodating on trying to find the problem. It's been back to the service department seven times now. Each time they are sure they found the problem, have a logical explanation for the fix, then two weeks later the same problem occurs.
They have run every test and diagnostic check. They have replaced coils, injectors, seal rings, spark plugs, fuel rail, timing sender unit, main computer, new software, etc.
It is completely mystifying and a seemingly unsolvable malfunction in an otherwise fine car.
Anybody else encounter this?
I honestly hope your 1998 E320 still has its Starmark warranty and if it does, I am assuming you only have 9 months left, at most. If I were you and I still have that existing Starmark warranty, I would request that the car be declared a lemon and get another car from MB. 18,000 miles is too short a time frame to have a mysterious unsolvable malignant problem. That is equivalent to 360 miles a month. My 1998 E320 is almost 50,000 miles and, except for a few small items, has been rather trouble free. I have a 1986 Volvo with 260,000 miles and although it has its problems, nothing is malignant and unsolvable.
If you DO NOT have the Starmark warranty anymore, I shudder at the thought of your expenses.
Put all your cards out in the table with MB and tell them that something permanents has to be done about your car's problem.
1. learn to live with it.
2. unplug the detector, drive legal.
3. spend big bucks and get the dealer to run a wire through the dash, bypassing the cigarette lighter socket.
4. remove the coins, just have an open but empty ashtray - you shouldn't be staring at your ashtray when driving fast enought to need a detector anyway.
I am sure some of you use a radar detector. Does anyone have any other solutions? Does anyone know of a gadget/adapter that is flat enough so that the ashtray cover can shut when this thing is plugged in?
Labour shouldn't take more than one hour if they know what they're doing.
Your experiences are suspiciously similar to a associate of mine who bought a low milage Mercedes from an independent dealer in Northern Virginia a couple of years ago. It sold for at least $10k less than market, but after a few strange problems and more extensive vehicle background checking, it was discovered to have been a "siezed" car sold at an auction. My associate is an attorney, so a few phone calls got his full purchase price back (plus some), but the dealer remained in business. Hopefully, that's not where you got your car.
Good luck.
For mine, pop the emergency key out of the key/transmitter base. Peek inside, you'll see a grey slider. Insert the emergency key into the grey slider and push it in...this will release the back of the key/transmitter and the battery will be there.
I sincerely doubt the battery is covered by the warrantee...though if you ask they may replace it for you (won't be a very manly experience though :-) ).
Side note...since the remote key locks are done with RF, not the infra red. My fathers car wouldn't start one day. Called TeleAid (don't know how long the delay was :-) ). They had him clean the window on the infrared transmitter on the front of the key. Car started first try.
Enjoy,
BigRob.
Mine is a Varta CR2025. I went to google.com and found the following:
Micro-Tools
a division of Fargo Enterprises, Inc.
P.O. Box 6505
301 County Airport Rd. #105
Vacaville, CA 95696-6505
Phone: 707.446.1120
Fax: 707.446.3319
go to:
http://www.micro-tools.com/Merchant2/batteries.htm
I found my battery for $1.38. 10 pack for $6.90. Don't know shipping so the 10 bucks they're screwing you on may end up not being that much.
Varta has a web site. Look up the battery and get the dimensions. I'm sure that any Lithium battery of same dimensions and voltage will work.
For Example, I found the following:
http://www.bigphotostore.com/mb-220.html
It lists all the battery models it replaces.
Good Luck,
BigRob.