Help needed with mileage discrepancy

[philgdust]

Hi
I hope someone can help me with this:

My partner owns a 2003 CLK200Kompressor. She has owned it since it was 1 year old, and is very attached.
Recently, it would not open. It was recovered to a local garage who told us it had to go to Mercedes.

Our local Mercedes garage diagnosed a failed ignition switch. They replaced this, at a cost of 800 pound. When we received the car back, the mileage had increased by 9,000 miles.

They are saying there is nothing they can do about this, as it pulled from a faulty Instrument Cluster (it read 98,000 when they got the car, and 107,000 when they returned it).

When they received the car, we had been using the digital mph to guide us, as the needle mph display was not working correctly, and had not for a while. We know the mileage was clocking correctly however, as we have owned the car since almost new, and are well Aware of how far it travels.

Mercedes are now asking for 1700 pounds to replace the instrument cluster. It is worth noting that the digital mph was accurate when they received the car, and when they returned it to us, it was not. Now they tell us they have changed the digital to kph, meaning we now have no way of telling our speed in mph without getting it fixed.

Our main issue is the extra 9,000 miles though, as this now means the car lacks a fsh.

Can anyone explain what is going on please?

Thanks in advance (and apologies for the badly written Explanation. I am writing this on my brother in laws pc in Zurich on Holiday, and cannot find the Pound sign or exclamation mark)

 

[Giantvanman]

You don't say where in the country you are so my advice is generic…STAY AWAY FROM MB DEALERSHIPS for this kind of work; there is a reason they often referred to as Stealers. I would heartily recommend finding a reputable independent MB specialist of which there are lots. As odd as this sounds, they are immeasurable better at diagnosis than any MB Tech, the former being someone who survives on his wits and experience whilst the latter is invariably a fitter who will replace the whole and entire car, not caring if you are satisfied or not.

 

[Carrsey]

The MPH / KPH display, can this not be altered via steering wheel controls on the OBC..?

 

[automaniaman]

Digital Mileage Correction And Speedometer Calibration Specialists in London

 

[Carrsey]

Also as Giant says, find a decent indie, stealers are all about bonus, so everything has to be done as fast as poss, therefore min time is spent with finding the fault and its quicker to fit a new part than mess about fixing one..

 

[philgdust]

Thanks for the quick responses guys.
I don't, as a rule, use MB, but was told they were the only ones capable of sorting it.
I'm in Brighton. I've found an independant in Worthing now, who are quoting a lot less.

My main issues though, is it possible to recover the cars, mileage to what it was?

Thanks.

 

[BTB 500]

The MPH / KPH display, can this not be altered via steering wheel controls on the OBC..?

Don't know about the CLK specifically but normally not if the main speedo shows mph.

 

[Rory]

Now they tell us they have changed the digital to kph, meaning we now have no way of telling our speed in mph without getting it fixed.

Certainly in my car, it can only display kph - it's a legal requirement in the UK as the main speedo isn't dual marked. There is an unofficial way someone with StarDignose can work around this but dealers won't do it.

Perhaps that wasn't the case on 2003 cars, or perhaps it was modified ealy in its life and the dealer's reprogramming while fitting the new EIS has either updated the car, or put it back into its default state.

Can't explain the mileage - is there any possibility it was clocked in its first year, and, again, reprogamming has reset it? I've read that the mileage is held in multiple places in the car.

 

[m2287]

Sounds to me like it was clocked before you got it and the mileage now displayed is correct.

 

[gIzzE]

Sounds to me like it was clocked before you got it and the mileage now displayed is correct.

Beat me to it.

If the odo was rolled back at a year old from say 20000 to 11000 it would keep going up, however, if they replaced the ignition recently they would have probably pulled the mileage from the ecu and this would revert the mileage back to being correct again.

To be fair, it is a 13 year old car now, can't see it will really matter, of more concern is having a speedo that doesn't work when selling.

 

[markjay]

Certainly in my car, it can only display kph...

Correct, and as you pointed-out this can be removed using MB STAR, Google 'Delete UK Mode'.

..it's a legal requirement in the UK as the main speedo isn't dual marked..

The legal requirement is for the car to be able to display the speed in KPh (e.g. for when driving to the continent). But it does not have to be displayed at all times - some cars can switch between MPh and KPh and that's fine. The permenent KPh display on MB cars sold in the UK is how MB chose to implement this, but it is not a legal requirement as such.

 

[m2287]

Beat me to it.

If the odo was rolled back at a year old from say 20000 to 11000 it would keep going up, however, if they replaced the ignition recently they would have probably pulled the mileage from the ecu and this would revert the mileage back to being correct again.

To be fair, it is a 13 year old car now, can't see it will really matter, of more concern is having a speedo that doesn't work when selling.

Yep... I knew my CL was clocked when I bought it, didn't bother me as it had FMBSH up until the idiot who clocked it got his hands on it, they were the good days when you could ring up MB customer services and they would give you the full service history of the car there and then on the phone...

Anyway I recently replaced my speedo and when I had it coded he put the proper mileage back on it!