Mark: Hi, it's Mark Bossert. I'm here with Bernie Pawlik. Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC Canada. Vancouver's best auto service experience, many times voted that by their customers and we're talking cars. How you doing, Bernie?
Bernie: Doing very well.
Mark: So today's guest is a 2010 Mercedes Benz GLK350. What was going on with this vehicle?
Bernie: So the owner of this vehicle had just purchased the vehicle and noted there was some noises in the drive train. He'd seen actually seen one of our videos on transfer case bearing problems on this vehicle. And figured he had the same issue. Lived actually a long ways, like 80 kilometres away from our shop, but decided to come in because of our previous experience and expertise with this vehicle.
So brought the vehicle in, we did an inspection on it. We verified that yes, the transfer case bearings were worn out. It's a common problem on these vehicles. But we also found another surprise that the front differential was making noise as well. So our inspection process is of course to drive the vehicle and listen to it. You can hear the noises when we drive it. Then to do a hoist inspection and we can listen with a stethoscope to make sure you know where the noises are coming from because noises can be deceiving. Sometimes it sounds like it's coming from the right, but it's actually left. And so in the process of doing that, we found the front differential was very noisy too, and recommended replacing that.
Mark: So not an inexpensive or uncomplicated repair. Fair enough to say?
Bernie: No. A lot needed to be done. And we won't really talk about the transfer case bearings. because if you wanna look at our list of podcasts, you'll find, one on a similar vehicle, same vintage and get all the details from that. But we're gonna talk about the front differential here. So there we go.
So this is the front differential. Now this is the front subframe removed and a lot of components gone. The red arrows point to the differential assembly which we replaced with a used unit was the most economical way to do it. Rebuilding them can be a bit sketchy. Some things are rebuildable, some things are better just to be replaced. And we chose to do a used one based on cost and availability.
Mark: This looks like something out of a movie. All the parts have fallen off the car. What's going on?
Bernie: Yeah. Well they were gently unbolted. Yeah. These are all the parts that need to be removed to do the transfer case bearings and the front differential. So you know that big chunk of metal in the front, that's the subframe. The engine mounts sit on there. The steering rack is mounted there. You can see the wheel hubs on the outer sides, there's an axle shaft sitting near the front. There's an axle shaft back there. There's a stub axle there. There's more axles, exhaust, et cetera, et cetera. Exhaust. Exhaust. Yeah. So, in all fairness to do the, just the differential would, there would be a few less pieces removed, but most of the items that you see there would need to be removed to just to do the front differential.
So people often ask you, why is the job so expensive? Well, nowadays this is just what it takes to do a lot of repairs on cars. A lot of things need to be removed. This is more of the, items that need to be removed to do the transfer case bearing.
So here's a view with the differential removed. So you're basically looking at the engine oil pan there. So the differential actually bolts up to the side of the engine oil pan. And again, you can imagine just doing an engine oil pan gasket on this vehicle, how much work that is. because you have to take the differential off and the axles and the subframe and.
Mark: This is the oil pan down here.
Bernie: That's the oil pan there. Fortunately no leaks. So we left it alone.
Mark: What's this?
Bernie: So that's the differential with the cover removed. And if you look on the right hand side, you can see a bit of a spiraly shaped thing. That's the pinion gear. The ring gear is the other sort of main component of the differential, that's not in the picture. But basically it's kind of difficult to see here, but the oil, we didn't find any bearings that were completely fried.
But you can certainly see metal filings in the oil. So that's, you know, good indication.
Mark: These little flecks here aren't pimples.
Bernie: Yeah, exactly. There's a lot of flecks goldy coloured metallic flecks in the fluid.
Mark: Here, in here..
Bernie: Yeah. All over the place.
Mark: Not a good sign.
Bernie: Yeah, not a good sign. So things are worn out. So yeah. Major amount of work to do this job. And you're probably gonna ask, how was it afterwards? It was nice and quiet. No humming noises or loud sounds. Don't need to turn the radio up to drown out the noisy bearings.
Mark: Yeah, so this is a new owner of this vehicle, didn't do a pre-purchase inspection?
Bernie: Did not do a pre-purchase inspection. Very expensive repair. However, he did tell us the price he bought the vehicle for, and it was a very good price. Very low price, I think. They never disclosed to him, Hey, by the way, you're gonna need to spend this kind of money. because people will often go, well, I don't know. And they didn't say anything. I think some car dealerships are, in all fairness, a bit ignorant. And there are people who sell cars that are ignorant, which is why you should always get a pre-purchase inspection to know what's going on with the car you're gonna buy.
But you know, in all fairness, I think that the price the guy paid for it was very low. A good deal. Would've been a better deal if he didn't have to spend the money on these repairs. And the mileage was low too. 130,000 kilometres, which is quite low for a car like this, of that age.
Mark: 15-year-old vehicle.
Bernie: Yeah.
Mark: And how are these GLK 350s other than the transfer case differential issues that you might run into?
Bernie: Yeah, they're generally pretty good. We don't see a ton of them for repairs. You know, the transfer cases seem to be getting to be problematic. But you know, if that's the worst thing that happens, it's not really too bad. Other than that, they are pretty good, decent, solid cars. Probably recommend the gas motor over the diesel. There's a GLK 250 diesel, which is actually probably more reliable than the 3 litre V6 diesels. But you know, that's a whole new podcast.
Mark: Yes. Diesels. Hmm. So if you're looking for service for your Mercedes Benz in Vancouver, the people to see are at Pawlik Automotive. You can reach them online pawlikautomotive.com, you can book your appointment right there, or you can call them at (604) 327-7112 to book your appointment. They're always busy. You have to book ahead, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver. Thanks so much for watching and listening. Thanks Bernie.
Bernie: Thank you, Mark. And thanks for watching and listening.
