My A35 just diagnosed with the same cylinder head problem. 2020 car with 28K miles. Under warrranty although Mercedes still opted to take on 75% of the cost leaving the warranty to cover the remainder. Does anyone know if the repairs are likely to be carried out with an improved head? Are the later model engines designed with an improvement otherwise I cant see anyone risking owning an A3without anextended warranty which is an additional annual expense.
Our 2019 A35 with 40k miles, which we have had since new and has had a very easy life last week, started to show an engine light. this was investigated by our local MOT man who was putting a new battery on the car at the time. ‘Cylinder 4’ was what came up on his computer. After putting a new coil on it we noticed the engine had started to feel a little jittery after it warmed up. It then showed an engine light again. (but it was not always staying or coming on constantly) We spoke to an independent MB specialist who advised a valve problem and this could also lead to a cylinder head replacement. He advised us that as the vehicle‘s warranty had expired but it had full MB dealer service history and was relatively low milage to book into a MB dealership and then after repairs plead for a goodwill gesture.
we dropped off the vehicle to my local MB dealership, they quoted £270 to investigate. They then came back with low compression and said that it would be £4,000 to take the head off to make further checks. I asked the MB employee if this was a known fault on the A35 (after i had read up on MB forums that the valves could be faulty on the earlier cars) and also mentioned to him the USA/Canadian MB letter. He said that he was not aware himself as he had not been employed at MB that long. I asked if there was any technicians that could advise me if this was a known problem with these engines but was told the only other person who could have assisted me was on annual leave. I asked to have a think about it before agreeing to pay 4k. When I called MB back to agree to the further investigation work I was informed that he had spoken to a manager who said that MB had previously given a 50% goodwill discount to someone who had the same issue, but could not promise anything until they took the head off to investigate the issue further.
i will update more in the next couple of days.
