[SR vanman]

Shortened Version: My van shut off on me while driving. totally dead. I had it towed to Merc. They diagnosed a faulty steering control module ($1000). Went to pick up the van and there was water on the passenger floor mat. Turns out the upper seal on the windshield was leaking water down the A pillar and flooding the S.A.M unit located along the kick panel. They replaced the S.A.M. (another $1000) and the problems seems sorted out. I sealed the windshield channel along the top and down the sides with 3M windshield adhesive. Didn't even ask how much a new windshield costs, I'm sure $1000 or more (turns out they aren't even available right now anyway)

I highly suggest every Metris owner seal the channel along the windshield. I had no warnings about the leak until it was too late and my S.A.M. was destroyed. BTW, the S.A.M. is not able to be tested, so you will get lots of fault codes for other modules because the S.A.M. is going haywire...

fun stuff!

 

[noodles]

Shortened Version: My van shut off on me while driving. totally dead. I had it towed to Merc. They diagnosed a faulty steering control module ($1000). Went to pick up the van and there was water on the passenger floor mat. Turns out the upper seal on the windshield was leaking water down the A pillar and flooding the S.A.M unit located along the kick panel. They replaced the S.A.M. (another $1000) and the problems seems sorted out. I sealed the windshield channel along the top and down the sides with 3M windshield adhesive. Didn't even ask how much a new windshield costs, I'm sure $1000 or more (turns out they aren't even available right now anyway)

I highly suggest every Metris owner seal the channel along the windshield. I had no warnings about the leak until it was too late and my S.A.M. was destroyed. BTW, the S.A.M. is not able to be tested, so you will get lots of fault codes for other modules because the S.A.M. is going haywire...

fun stuff!

Sorry to hear about your troubles. What year is your metris? Cargo or passenger? Mercedes-Benz used to have a problem with water going into places where you don’t want at all but the last time I’ve seen this issue was a 1999 C280.

 

[icerabbit]

Are you out of factory warranty??

That sealant should be good for the life of the vehicle.

And how would your vehicle have gotten so wet all of a sudden, when you go from driving it, normal ownership, normal washes, to dropping it off at the dealer and having the passenger flooded? without prior issue.

Did your service advisor or their manager give you any input as to how to handle this? My next thing would be getting on the phone with MB and even looking at NHTSA for options ... seems to me like that could be a serious safety issue, water entering while driving, vehicle fires, ... etc maybe they a recall is needed??

 

[DKTVAV]

I need to check it everyday now. I’m buying daily touch less drive thru car wash at Mobil gas station on the way to work and washing it almost everyday, less than 10 minutes each time, to get the most benefits of monthly payment. Luckily, I haven’t noticed any wet spots yet.

 

[pounce]

I’m buying daily touch less drive thru car wash

Wow. Is it a personal preference or do you have a job where the van needs to look perfect? Curious. What does that cost per month?

 

[SR vanman]

2016 pass with 60k. Bought used at 30k in 2019. Factory warranty expired.

The passenger floor wasn't flooded, maybe a 2in dia spot. The headliner had a faint water line that really wasn't noticable until we were looking for the source of the water. The tech took a credit card and was able to slide it from the inside of the windshield up through the top to the exterior. Pretty upsetting.

I agree, seal should be for life. I've had numerous vehicles with over 200k miles and no windshield leaks ever.

Maybe I will call MB and see if they'll do something. I'm not optimistic though.

The 3M sealant (and primer) cost about $30 and took less than an hour to do. Cheap insurance for the future. And to me it looks like factory (see photo)

Just passing on my experience. I know there are a lot of DIYers on this forum that will appreciate the heads up

 

[Gottlieb]

2016 pass with 60k. Bought used at 30k in 2019. Factory warranty expired.

The passenger floor wasn't flooded, maybe a 2in dia spot. The headliner had a faint water line that really wasn't noticable until we were looking for the source of the water. The tech took a credit card and was able to slide it from the inside of the windshield up through the top to the exterior. Pretty upsetting.

I agree, seal should be for life. I've had numerous vehicles with over 200k miles and no windshield leaks ever.

Maybe I will call MB and see if they'll do something. I'm not optimistic though.

The 3M sealant (and primer) cost about $30 and took less than an hour to do. Cheap insurance for the future. And to me it looks like factory (see photo)

If that's the "before" photo, it's not factory. There should be no visible sealant around the windshield glass. The van has an open body-color channel above and along both sides of the windshield.

Most of the leaky windshields I've experienced were the result of bad post-factory replacement. I suspect your windshield was replaced by the previous owner.

 

[pounce]

I am pretty sure he was showing us his pro fill job on the channel there.

Could be a replacement. Could be previous body damage.

Seems like a reasonable hack. The alternative is seeing if someone can pull it without breaking it and re-install it.

 

[icerabbit]

The windshield might indeed have been replaced due to a chip and/or traveling fracture, and it is not something that gets mentioned. The only reason one would be aware of it, is if after 2-3-4 years of driving and 50k miles, there's no little stars, scratches, etc anywhere. I'm very careful driving, will back away from or fast pass those construction dump trucks asap ... to avoid getting sand blasted or chip'ed. But even then, I replaced the front windshield on my previous van, prior to sale, and it was like crystal clear HD vision without some of the little nicks, sand swipe scratches from the wipers, ...

 

[DKTVAV]

I’m buying daily touch less drive thru car wash

Wow. Is it a personal preference or do you have a job where the van needs to look perfect? Curious. What does that cost per month?

No job related, just want a clean van.

I accidentally found that touch-less when needed gas few months ago. I'm driving by it to/from work everyday and all that time I swear I've seen it as a regular drive-thru car wash with those things (feather broom/ wheel?) that will pick up all the dirt of the vehicle washed in front of me and put them on my van. I used to go to a hand wash, with the same procedure touch-less wash, and wait for the worker to dry it out outside and vacuum inside. It takes about an hour on either my lunch time or weekend. Cost for them about $30 + Tip.

This Mobil gas station has a monthly cost from $19, $29 and $39 with daily wash and needs less than 10 minutes per wash for my $39 package. Less time with other packages.

 

[pounce]

That's seems very reasonable if you can go every day. Amazing.

 

[SR vanman]

The photo is post sealant added. I'm pretty sure it's the original windshield, I was able to get all the service records of the van before I purchased it. All work was done at Mercedes dealer. The original owner had bought the upgraded warranty and wasn't shy about using it. Wish they would have certified it when they sold it so I could have continued the warranty, but somehow it got to a non Mercedes affiliated used car lot right down the road from the original dealer. This is my first Mercedes and knew going in that repairs are outrageously priced.

Anyway, the tech offered to pull the windshield and reinstall it, but I didn't want to take the chance on it breaking.

 

[icerabbit]

Windshield replacements done by third party companies do not show up on CarFax, do they?
And, most people probably avoid going to the dealer to get the windshield re-placed, and opt for cheaper cost with a specialist company.
Plus, dealers may / will sub out the windshield replacement. They did for my first van back in 2000 that had a visible glass defect. For two other vehicles I price-shopped between the common top two three companies that only do windshield replacement, and the glass price was several hundred less than dealer price for the glass.

 

[noodles]

Windshield replacements done by third party companies do not show up on CarFax, do they?
And, most people probably avoid going to the dealer to get the windshield re-placed, and opt for cheaper cost with a specialist company.
Plus, dealers may / will sub out the windshield replacement. They did for my first van back in 2000 that had a visible glass defect. For two other vehicles I price-shopped between the common top two three companies that only do windshield replacement, and the glass price was several hundred less than dealer price for the glass.

If the windshield has a different date in the corner than the other windows, it was replaced. The glass always has the vehicle’s production year. When buying a used car I never rely on Carfax. It’s good to see where the vehicle was used and serviced and sometimes I see how the previous owner treated the vehicle. E.g. Mercedes-Benz dealership or Jiffy Lube. Good to see if they services the transmission, rear differential fluid change etc. But I check the glass around if any of them different than the rest. Walk it around with a paint thickness gauge, checking the body alignment and gaps between the panels etc. People can find small shops to repair their vehicles without reporting it to Carfax.

 

[icerabbit]

I never noticed dates on windshields. Guess I have to look around a bit next time I clean them.

 

[noodles]

I never noticed dates on windshields. Guess I have to look around a bit next time I clean them.

1. A trademark of the manufacturer.

2. Glass type:*Laminated ― a multilayered glass, Tempered ― a tempered glass.

3. The expanded type of glass:*I - strengthened windshield, II - standard multilayered windshield, III – worked-out multilayered windshield, IV – plastic glass, V - other (not windshield) glass with light transmission coefficient low than 70 %, V-VI - double glass with light transmission coefficient low 70 %, absence of index - glass light transmission coefficient not low than 70 %.

4. Countries have given an official confirmation of a code:*1-Germany, 2-France, 3-Italy, 4-Netherlands, 5-Sweden, 6-Belgium, 7-Hungary, 8-Czechia, 9-Spain, 10-Yugoslavia, 11-England, 12-Austria, 13-Luxembourg, 14-Switzerland, 16-Norway, 17-Finland, 18-Denmark, 19-Romania, 20-Poland, 21-Portugal, 22-Russia, 23-Greece, 24-Ireland, 25-Croatia, 26-Slovenia, 27-Slovakia, 28-Belarus, 29-Estonia, 31-Bosnia and Herzegovina, 32-Latvia, 37-Turkey, 42-EEC, 43-Japan.

5. Conformity with the American standards of safety M, AS, DOT.

6. Conformity with the European standard of safety ECE R43.

7. Number, month and year of manufacturing:*the figure with points designates year, the sum of points to figure – month of manufacturing, the sum of points after figure – month of manufacturing + 6. In marking XINYI the top figure – year (9 => 2009), the sum of figures on the centre – month (1+2+8=11 => November), decimal number + the sum of remained figures below – the number of month (10+1+2+4=17).

8. Conformity with the Chinese standard of safety CCC E000199/E000039.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Around here I had to have a calibration done at the dealer after the windshield was replaced twice. Nobody I found could do the calibration and may as well go through the dealer, the deductible was the same no matter who I used.