C class coupe oil seal failure

[riano]

Hi guys, my c 250cdi is in for an A service and the dealer called to say there is an oil leak and oil is dripping onto the crank shaft. The car is still under warranty but they've said that Mercedes have refused to pay for it under warranty and are classing this as wear and tear.
The car is only 3 years and 3 months old (I bought last Feb hence 1 year approved warranty until the end of this month) and only has 29,000 miles on it. Is it normal for an oil seal in the engine to go in such a short space of time/for such a relatively young car?
Car was bought from main Mercedes dealer and has a full service history etc and I took it for the winter health check etc (no sign of leakage then).
I've been through the warranty and it states a few different oil seals in the engine and says all not specifically mentioned are excluded, now technically this means that if the car was 3 weeks old and the seal failed that technically the customer would be liable but I couldn't see them doing this on a car that young so feel a bit hard done by being asked to pay for mine while still under a comprehensive warranty, for a part that I would have thought should have a significantly longer life?

 

[Jonesy161]

Very poor customer support all round.

 

[190]

I'm not quite clear which oil seal it is but yes oil seals in general should have a much longer life and to exclude it is just pathetic. If it really needs doing and you end up having to pay I wouldn't let them do it on principle. Take it to a good independent.

 

[Deleted member 11979]

We had this problem with our e250 cdi cabriolet (basically a c class)

We bout the car second hand from Mercedes and had a 1 year used car warranty, which expired 3 months after the manufacturers warranty.

We took the car to Mercedes for it's mot, and they discovered an oil leak from the turbo.

They said, don't worry, it's not serious, get it done in a couple of months with the next service. I then questioned whether the seal was covered under the used car warranty, the service advisor assured me it was, in the back of my mind I thought I'd better check and luckily we did! The seal wasn't covered under used but was under new car warranty. We found this out on the last day of the new car warranty, and to their credit Mercedes Exeter booked in the work, even though it couldn't be carried out for a couple of weeks outside warranty.

I was relieved, but if I'd not checked the position then I'm sure I would have been mugged off as I was in the past with w210 rust and w211 glycol in the gearbox (I'm a lucky person you see)

I don't know what you can do apart from if you think it is really unfair treatment then use Facebook, an acquaintance shamed them and got a change of heart.

Good luck

 

[markjay]

Hi guys, my c 250cdi is in for an A service and the dealer called to say there is an oil leak and oil is dripping onto the crank shaft. The car is still under warranty but they've said that Mercedes have refused to pay for it under warranty and are classing this as wear and tear.
The car is only 3 years and 3 months old (I bought last Feb hence 1 year approved warranty until the end of this month) and only has 29,000 miles on it. Is it normal for an oil seal in the engine to go in such a short space of time/for such a relatively young car?
Car was bought from main Mercedes dealer and has a full service history etc and I took it for the winter health check etc (no sign of leakage then).
I've been through the warranty and it states a few different oil seals in the engine and says all not specifically mentioned are excluded, now technically this means that if the car was 3 weeks old and the seal failed that technically the customer would be liable but I couldn't see them doing this on a car that young so feel a bit hard done by being asked to pay for mine while still under a comprehensive warranty, for a part that I would have thought should have a significantly longer life?

If it happened on a brand new car, you would be able to get the dealer to sort it under your consumer rights, regardless of what the manufacturer's warranty does or does not say.

But in this case the car is out of the manufacturer's 3-years warranty, and is now covered by the 1-year Approved Used warranty. So this is down to the T&C of the Approved Used warranty... I agree it does not sound very fair that engine oil seals are not covered, but if this is what it says, then this is what it is.... but do ask the dealer to show you where exactly in the T&C is says that. If they can't show you that, then you could have a case.