Consumer Complaint Detail
MERCEDES BENZ / 380 / 1981
0 Injured
0 Death
No Fire
| Components - Details | |
|---|---|
| NHTSA Complaint Number: 987064493 | Incident Date: Aug, 28 1987 |
| Consumer's City: TEMECULA | Consumer's State: CA |
| Vehicle Transmission Type: | Manufacturers Name: Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC |
| Model Name: 380 | Model Year: 1981 |
| Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No | Component's Description: Engine and engine cooling:engine |
| Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No | Persons Injured: 0 |
| Vehicle's VIN#: WDBBA45AXBB | Date added to File: May, 16 2021 |
| Date Complaint Received: Jan, 30 2001 | Complaint Type: IVOQ |
| Incident Reported To Police: No | Purchase Date: May, 31 1987 |
| Was Original Owner: No | Anti-lock Brakes: No |
| Number of Cylinders: 0 | Date of Manufacturer: - |
| Was Vehicle Towed: - | Description of the Complaints: The timing chain failed, and the whole engine had to be replaced. at the time, in 1987, i believed mercedes that the problem was a one time issue, and that the problem was due to a poor driver who had owned the car previously. last week, a fried of mine, had a 1986, 380 sl fail with the same problem. after more investigation, i found out that mercedes changed the design of the timing component to use a double instead of a single chain. the change was made late in the 1980's. after investigating this web site, i see that there is a high frequency of timing chain failures on the 380 sl models in the 1980's. i would like to see a summary of all the failures over those years, and i think that mercedes owes something to all of us who have had to replace engines. thank you for your attention.*ak |