And then This Happened for the Second Time...

[Hayes Riviere]

Do you think the lights hanging out could be a form of vandalism? Weird that they would just fall out.

 

[ExpeditionAndy]

Do you think the lights hanging out could be a form of vandalism? Weird that they would just fall out.

No because we had just stopped to get fireworks and they were in. We went through the automatic carwash and then went home when we got home and I went to back into the driveway, I noticed the light hanging down in the camera.

 

[jeff kushner]

Now it's four. My wife's 2003 E320 Mercedes finally gave up the ghost or was about to so we bought her 17 Escape Platinum 4WD 3 weeks ago.

How many miles on the 320? I bought a '02 SLK230 with 7,500 miles in '03 and now it's VERY close to 200,000 miles and nothing has ever broke other than a ignition lock cylinder which was my own fault for having so many keys on my ring. I'm going to invest in replacing the suspension since it's in such great shape...and the 1 button roof retraction is very sick!

jeff

 

[ExpeditionAndy]

How many miles on the 320? I bought a '02 SLK230 with 7,500 miles in '03 and now it's VERY close to 200,000 miles and nothing has ever broke other than a ignition lock cylinder which was my own fault for having so many keys on my ring. I'm going to invest in replacing the suspension since it's in such great shape...and the 1 button roof retraction is very sick!

jeff

There was nothing wrong with the engine and transmission. It only had 99,800 miles on it. It was having electrical issues. (the 2003 E320s were known for that.) It had something going on that kept taking out a module under the passenger seat. It would cause a fully charged battery to discharge in 36 hours if you didn't drive it. MB's explanation was that whatever was taking out the module caused the module to wake up other modules and systems that were supposed to be sleeping and that created a power drain. That module was $500 from MB but I found it brand new on Amazon for $119. They couldn't identify what was going on and it was just getting unreliable.

In addition both rear springs were broken, and the bolts and bushings were seized to the frame. They said that if the tech broke the sub-frame taking out the bolts it could cost $4000 to replace and we couldn't take the chance of that. The vehicle was only worth about $3000 in good shape and this one wasn't. It had various dents and scrapes. The anti-lock brake pump was out ($2500) to repair that, and there were numerous other things wrong with it. The Service Adviser that we worked with at Mercedes Benz for the last 10 years, told us that it wasn't worth investing the money in a car that was worth less than the cost of the vehicle. Even if we had repaired all of those things it still would have been a 14 year old vehicle that was waiting for the next thing to go wrong.

Most importantly my wife who never wants anything, was ready for a new car.

 

[ExpeditionAndy]

I was at the dealership this morning at 7:20 AM they replaced both license plate light housings under warranty. No one said anything about my LED bulbs. I stopped at the carwash on the way home and was home by 7:54 AM. I think I'll take a nap now.