Engine began knocking while driving. Balance shaft malfunction. Caused vehicle to become non-drivable. Local dealer quoted 6k to fix. Contacted mercedes benz which indicated it would offer no assistance in repair of this problem. Internet research shows a consistent problem with the year and c-class vehicles. Other research indicates a defect in the balance shaft used by mercedes benz in this model and other models. Mercedes benz issued a service notification about this problem in 2008. Problem occurred on this vehicle while relatively close to home prior to being driven out of town. Had the problem occurred on the road, the driver and vehicle would have been stranded. A non dealer mercedes mechanic stated there was an 8-10% failure rate on the balance shafts in question. Mercedes benz needs to provide assistance to the owners to resolve the ones that do fail.
2006 Mercedes Benz C280 engine complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 13 of 13, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The car has a balance shaft issue like many w272 engines...we need to find a way to get mercedes into another class action lawsuit...this issue will cost me about 5000 dollars to fix...otherwise.
An engine air filter housing to mass air flow sensor seal tear caused the engine to surge and the car to buck forward instead of braking when the brakes were applied. Failure to break resulted in this vehicle rear ending another vehicle. Luckily the vehicle speed was low so no one was injured or killed. The sensory system failed to detect this issue until the tear worsened and the problems it caused were bad enough and continuous enough to trigger the check engine light (took approximately 1 month). Mercedes could not diagnose or find the problem until the check engine light went on. During that 1 month period the failure of the breaks to engage/engine surging/car bucking issue occurred 2 more times. Luckily no accidents or injuries resulted from these events. I have spoken to mercedes us and my local dealership about this issue. They refuse to acknowledge this as a safety issue or accept responsibility for it.
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