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While Mercedes is an overall exceptionally built machine, at Ryan Imported Car Repair we see a number of repeat problems more common to these vehicles:

  • Engine Mounts • Engine mounts on Mercedes-Benz cars are oil filled. Their main purpose is to keep the engine vibrations from being transmitted to the cabin. Because they are oil filled, around 100,000 miles, they start to fail and lose the oil. When the engine mounts fail you may notice excessive vibration on the seat, in the cabin, and even on the steering wheel.

  • Suspension and Steering Components • Ball joints, sway bar link, control arm bushings on used Mercedes-Benz wear out much sooner than you would expect. This is based on our experience with used Mercedes-Benz. If you take a Mercedes-Benz for state inspection, it is very likely to fail due to suspension issues especially if the car has over 100k miles.

  • Window Regulators • Window regulators do the hard work when you press the button to lower or close the windows. They do tend to fail more on Mercedes-Benz ML-Class and C-Class based on our experience.

  • Air Suspension • The first Mercedes-Benz models that had air suspension were the S-Class W220 in 2000 and later the E-Class W211. The airmatic bags replaces the struts and shocks on your Mercedes-Benz. While it was an excellent feature added to some Mercedes-Benz models, it is also prone to failure. In the early days, replacement parts were very expensive, but aftermarket parts are now readily available and at reasonable prices.

  • Gear Shifter Won’t Come Out of Park • This is a common problem on many E and S class Mercedes-Benz models. The car will start and run, but the shifter even without the engine running will not come out of the park position. This is caused by a failure in the selector module. The signs of wear normally occur a short time prior to the failure – if you experience trouble getting the car out of park anytime, have it inspected asap.

  • Runs Rough; Check Engine Light is On • There are many reasons why a check engine light would be turned on. Rough running is usually a sign of misfires and therefore there is a need to determine if the misfires are occurring to all cylinders or individual ones. Many times on Mercedes-Benz vehicles, the source of missfires throughout the engine is a failure in the mass air flow meter. The engine management on many vehicles is good enough to have the engine run quite smoothly, despite bad information coming from the MAF. A common sign of a failing MAF is a change in fuel consumption.

  • Fluid Leak Under Center of Car • It is common on older Mercedes-Benz vehicles to find a transmission leak near the center of the car – usually red fluid. This can have a number of sources, not least of which is the seal for the transmission pan itself. However, one of the most common sources of this leak is the electrical transmission plug attached to the side of the transmission. The seals in the plug begin to leak and fluid escapes. The leak is normally slow at first and only a few drops will be evident. However, it can speed up and the result of the lower levels of fluid in the transmission can be catastrophic.