Mercedes Benz of usa
Balance Shaft Defect in 272/273 Engines Built 2005 to 2007

In Mercedes Benz knew of a significant defect with the balance shaft on 272/273 model engines. The first bulletin was released in August and the earliest known internal document was February. This issue exists for nearly all vehicles with this engine type built in late 2005 through mid year 2007.

What is occurring is that the balance shaft on these engines was not hardened properly causing the balance shaft to deteriorate and wear down completely over time. This creates many performance and safety issues. Major issues that have been seen include the teeth on the cam shaft breaking off while driving cause the vehicle to stop running, people have been almost killed when their vehicle stopped abruptly on the road. Others are seeing the metal shavings from their shaft entering the rest of the engine causing complete engine failure. Currently Mercedes Benz has not acknowledged the issue publicly.

The repair for a new balance shaft (which has been replaced with “new updated materials”) runs anywhere from $4,500 - $6,000.

I have personally spoken to 20 people with this issue and recently spoke to an independent Mercedes dealer that stated this is happening to hundreds of Mercedes Benz and as the mileage on the 2006 2007 vehicles continues to rise, he expects to see well over 1,000 Mercedes Benz with this issue in the next 12 months. The dealer also stated that this issue exists on all 272/273 motors with in a specific serial number range and that Mercedes will not issue a recall notice on this due to the fact that it would cost in excess of 1.5 billion dollars to repair all the affected vehicles. If these numbers from the dealer are even remotely accurate, this could be the most costly recall in automotive history.

All of the people I have spoken with are willing to speak to anyone about the issue and public social networking sites are being created to publicize the issue. The dealer as well as a few mechanics are also willing to provide statistics as well to our cause and fight Mercedes Benz on this significant mechanical defect.

Company: Mercedes Benz of usa
Country: USA

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