It would be useful to get a handle on what's going on with the A35 engine and how many are effected and how long MB are taking to get the cars fixed
A35 Engine Cylinder Head Problem Poll
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Forrester
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Welcome to the forum. I moved your post to the correct location and thread.
Good luck resolving this.
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315 Posts
You are fortunate for them to even stump up 75% of the cost. Many others have had to pay for the entire repair out of their own pocket. This is because the, although common failure, has not been actually put through a safety recall.
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If the car has had full Mercedes Service History, you have a better chance of more goodwill.
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I agree it should be FOC, I managed to get mine down from £5,400 to £1,400, but still not happy about it. I'm surprised no one has suggested a class action against Mercedes for a car with a faulty Cylinder head.
Hi,
How did it go getting mercedes to good will your engine rebuild? I'm currently in contact with a garage now
Hi,
was your car out of warranty when you got this reduced? my car is just under 4, so out of warranty in uk, but only has 33k miles on it. this does not seem like standard wear and tear with how much this has been reported. I was initially pushed back for good will but will be fighting this
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Mine was 8 months out of warranty and had only done 20,000 miles. This is not wear and tear, it's a manufacturing fault which they are fully aware of. A guy at the garage said they've had some cars as low as 5,000 miles fail !!. I had bought the car from the dealer and had it serviced there, so when it failed I spoke to them. At first they offered £500 off, but I couldn't afford 5k for the repair but they must have heard my wife in the background saying she was going to put it on social media as she was absolutely disgusted. They phoned back a few minutes later and offered £1,400 which I accepted. I still feel ripped off at that, we shouldn't be paying for their mistakes in manufacturing. Hope this helps
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315 Posts
Guys, save yourself the heartache and maintain a manufacturer warranty. All modern cars aren't built to last and these kinds of failures plague all brands. I used to be a staunch opponent of extending warranties, but I'm glad I did on my A35, as my cylinder head needed replacing and I would've been pissed if I had to fork out of my own pocket!
Thanks for your update, so far They have offered to cover 75% of the cost which I have accepted but it will still set me back around 1500 ish. Currently without a car, could be for weeks depending on how much a courtesy car may be. I do feel like since there are so many issues with this Mercedes should do a recall to check the parts and replace them as good will as opposed to making Customers foot a heavy bill but my local dealership have been fantastic in assisting so I am very pleased with their help
I agree, there’s been enough failures now for MB to realise they have a manufacturing problem. So unfair for them to remain silent and let owners find out the hard way.
I had a Ford Focus RS MK3 prior to my A35 and Ford recalled every one of the early cars to change cylinder head gaskets, whether in warranty or not. They admitted early RS cars had had the wrong gasket fitted during the building process.
Shame on you MB, recall the A35’s and restore people’s faith.
MB recalled the original A45 for its turbo. Slightly different in that almost all of them blew after 5k miles, off the top of my head. So they couldn’t escape liability as they would have been overwhelmingly under warranty.
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There’s a certain amount of discrimination going on by M-B.
Because USA & Canada are more litigious than say UK/EU, all A220 / A35 owners have an extended 15 year engine warranty provided because of this issue. But not in the UK/EU or Rest of the World.
That’s M-B for you. And no, they are not a ‘premium brand’ per se. They may have some premium cars in their line-up, but they are not a ‘premium brand’. Good marketing and advertising though
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Because USA & Canada are more litigious than say UK/EU, all A220 / A35 owners have an extended 15 year engine warranty provided because of this issue. But not in the UK/EU or Rest of the World.
That’s M-B for you. And no, they are not a ‘premium brand’ per se. They may have some premium cars in their line-up, but they are not a ‘premium brand’. Good marketing and advertising though
Where did you find this? Could you send over a link?There’s a certain amount of discrimination going on by M-B.
Because USA & Canada are more litigious that say UK/EU, all A220 / A35 owners have an extended 15 year engine warranty provided because of this issue. But not in the UK/EU or Rest of the World.
That’s M-B for you. And no, they are not a ‘premium brand’ per se. They may have some premium cars in their line-up, but they are not a ‘premium brand’. Good marketing and advertising though
View attachment 13179
It was shared originally by one of our members from Canada. It cuts no ice elsewhere such as the UK.
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2 Posts
Hello guys i'm new to the forum and would like very much if you can give me your opinion. I'm from Brazil, the a35 is not a common car here, but it's a dream. I found one 2020, out of warranty, with 51k km. There's no history of the cylinder head problem beeing fixed under warranty either.
From what I could see when reading the topics, the problem seems to have appeared more frequently before this mileage. Even so, I'm demanding a cylinder compression test before considering the purchase, do you think that this way I am relatively protected from the problem? and whoever had the problem fixed, has there been any case of the problem appearing again or with the new part number there are no reports? Thanks
From what I could see when reading the topics, the problem seems to have appeared more frequently before this mileage. Even so, I'm demanding a cylinder compression test before considering the purchase, do you think that this way I am relatively protected from the problem? and whoever had the problem fixed, has there been any case of the problem appearing again or with the new part number there are no reports? Thanks
If you look at the posts the most recent A35's do not suffer from the cylinder problem. If I were buying I would expect to see proof that the cylinder work had been undertaken, given the year of the vehicle, or I would walk. I believe there are cars which are okay and do not need the work but I wouldn't risk my money on that.
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9,100 Posts
Unfortunately it can happen at any mileage.
My car was a 70 plate which is late 2020 and only had 33k miles when the cylinder head issue occurred. Ended up getting it fixed for 1100 gbp after i complained to Mercedes enough to get the initial 5000 gbp quoted reduced. I wouldn't risk it on an A35 after being stung like this without extended warranty and it has actually made hesitant about purchasing Mercedes in the future
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Thanks for the advice.
I don't know if we have information on the approximate date the cars were factory corrected? I saw a forum member who bought a brand new one in December/2023 and had the problem, but I couldn't find information on its actual manufacturing date. Scary if cars from 2023 still have the problem.
I don't know if we have information on the approximate date the cars were factory corrected? I saw a forum member who bought a brand new one in December/2023 and had the problem, but I couldn't find information on its actual manufacturing date. Scary if cars from 2023 still have the problem.
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