Mark: Hi, it's Mark Bossert. I'm here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, Vancouver's best auto service experience. 25 times, voted by their customers as the best auto repair in Vancouver, BC Canada. And today's guest is a Mercedes. We're talking Mercedes today. Bernie, how you doing?
Bernie: I’m doing well. Always love talking about Mercedes.
Mark: So this is a GLK 350, the guest today, a 2010. What was going on with this vehicle?
Bernie: So this vehicle came to our shop to have the engine mounts replaced. The owner of the vehicle had just bought the vehicle and he'd been told by Mercedes that the engine mounts were worn out and wanted us to replace it. So ordered the mounts. Drove the vehicle into the shop. Replaced the engine mounts and went for a road test afterwards and noticed an interesting sound coming from underneath the vehicle. Thought maybe, we didn't do the job quite right or something.
There was a scraping sound when you accelerate and go faster and go, that's interesting. I mean, it's a very involved job changing engine mounts in this vehicle. There's a lot to remove and replace and perhaps a metal shield was rubbing against the front drive shaft or something like that, we figured. But doing a little more research, we soon realized the noise was actually coming from the transfer case which was not something we touched. It's at the back of the transmission. And the noise had been there all along. We just never noted it beforehand. Never road tested it beforehand because we drove the vehicle in and the owner was new to the car, so didn't really realize it was a bad noise.
Mark: Let's go some pictures. Investigate what happened here. So here's our lovely looking GLK 350.
Bernie: Yeah.
Mark: What kind of mileage did this vehicle have?
Bernie: 95,000 Ks. So still young. I mean, beautiful looking. It's hard to believe you know, at the time of this podcast is a 15-year-old vehicle. It looks like brand new still.
So inside the transfer case, this is what we found. If you can see where that yellow arrow points, that bearing has got chunks of metal missing on it. That should be usually a very polished, shiny, cylindrical piece of metal. Takes a lot of time and wear for that thing to bust apart. But it has.
Mark: This one looks really bad.
Bernie: Yeah, that one's really bad too. There was like quite a few of them were really bad.
Mark: Up here. That is not a good sign.
Bernie: That is not a good bearing. And so it's always gratifying when you see it though, to go, yeah. That's where the noise was coming from. That red arrow's pointing to the bearing race, which sits inside the cover. And that you can see like a little bit of pitting. And again, that should be a very, very smooth, highly polished, hardened piece of metal, and so it's worn out as well. So there are four bearings that we replaced doing this job. There's two shafts.
This is the back case where again, you can see that bearing at the bottom. That was the worn out bearing, the highly worn out bearing. They're all slightly worn.
This is the rear of the transmission. There are two bearings that sit inside there as well. Just poking through the right hand side, there's a hole that's the front drive shaft right through there.
Mark: So this piece is fitting into this piece?
Bernie: Exactly, yeah.
Mark: And then we have?
Bernie: So these are the gears reinstalled. You can see sort of at the end of those shafts, well at least the shaft on the right, you can see the bearing. And then on the left further in, you can see the other bearing. There's a planetary gear set that sticks onto the back of the left side.
And then the case goes on and it's all back together. Then that little triangular shaped piece with three bolts and a shaft sticking through the middle is where the rear drive shaft attaches.
Mark: So again, an inherited problem from someone buying a used vehicle, but it sounds like they took the vehicle in for a check at Mercedes, and Mercedes didn't discover this?
Bernie: I don't know who he bought the vehicle from. We didn't ask, did not think to ask, Hey, where'd you buy the vehicle from? But yeah, it's interesting.
Mark: He bought it from the dealer?
Bernie: Well, the dealer had recommended changing the engine mounts, but that was from some previous repairs or previous service. So it may have been a private sale and either someone didn't know about it, didn't notice the noise. Sometimes these develop over time or maybe they knew about it and just sold it. Hard to know. It's hard to imagine not noticing it 'cause it was very distinctly loud.
Mark: I imagine that if this failed, it would be a pretty catastrophic failure.
Bernie: Yeah. It would start making a lot more clanging noises and banging and then of course, then you start breaking gears and things, and that's when the repair would start to get expensive. Because these parts are not available, from what I remember doing the research, I mean, I don't think these gears are available from Mercedes. They just have the whole transmission assembly and that's it. So we have an aftermarket kit we can buy. It actually came with all four bearings and seals. So it actually kind of a nice little thing. The only thing it missed was one very long bolt that's recommended replacement. So we were able to buy that from Mercedes. So some parts are available.
Mark: So you replaced all the bearings, I assume?
Bernie: Yeah. All four.
Mark: Once you're in there, it's best to change all the bearings, essentially.
Bernie: Oh yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.
Mark: Do the job right the first time, in other words. The credo of Pawlik Automotive.
Bernie: Exactly, it's a little more work, a little more money, and then you don't have to do it again. I mean, ever on this vehicle.
Mark: Right, it's already had 15 years of use.
Bernie: Yeah, that's right. It probably won't be around for another 15, but you never know.
Mark: If you're looking for service for your Mercedes, you got a weird noise happening. The guys to see in Vancouver are Pawlik Automotive. You can reach them online at pawlikautomotive.com. You can book your appointment there, or you can call them (604) 327-7112. They'll check out with you what's going on. They'll get ready for your appointment. You have to book ahead. They're always busy. Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC Canada. Thanks so much for watching and listening. Thank you to our guests for appearing today. Thank you, Bernie.
Bernie: Thank you, Mark. And thanks for watching and thank you Mercedes.
