It never rains ... but it pours

[Bristolian]

Just by way of counterpoint, I have a 2016 E-Class as well (an X218 CLS, but same thing). I've done 45K miles in in in the two years I've owned it, and only needed to replace consumables in that time- tyres, batteries, front disks and pads, the odd drop link. It is serviced on the button at a good Merc indy and appears to be running perfectly at its current 125K miles. I intend to keep it for years yet, I'll expect to take it over 200K.

Obviously I am now hammering on any wooden objects near me.

I would always choose to repair rather than sell, on the basis that you now know what else has been fixed; you obviously have mechanical sympathy and can do some work yourself which makes it more feasible to keep a fairly complex car running.

Thanks for your input. My instinct is to repair and keep but I have to bear in mind how my wife feels (even though she doesn't drive) as if doing long journeys in the car makes her nervous then that's not a good thing.

My plan, when buying the car, was to run it as my last ever purchase before voluntarily giving up my license - which is not on the horizon for quite some years (I hope).

 

[Bristolian]

I would tend to agree, that's how it's marketed. I bought the newest car I've ever had (a 2014 which was 7 years old at the time) thinking that this was new enough to last, but not old enough to be a walking repair job. Turned out I was wrong; even though it spent its first 4 years as a motorway car doing 25k a year, it still ended up costing me £175/month as I mentioned upthread.

A quick look on a leasing website would get me a similar saloon (Skoda octavia) which is petrol not diesel, but for a £2k initial payment, £232/month. That's not a lot more than mine cost me to keep, and you get the peace of mind that it's not your car to repair if anything goes wrong.

So I think the middle ground is suffering somewhat i.e. it's either bangernomics and pray, or lease new

Leasing is out of the question for me.

 

[Bristolian]

Wow! I didn't expect to get all the responses above, so thanks for those. I put the Steel Seal into the car this morning following the instructions on the bottle and their web site. Once the warming up and idling process was finished I went for a ride on my bike to clear my head and destress

On my return (and after a well deserved shower) I headed out to the car. The damp patch under the car that was there this morning has dried up and there's no obvious evidence of leaking from the head gasket when I poke around in the engine bay so on first impressions this may have worked. I need to run some errands in the morning so that will show if the leak is stopped, or not. It won't, however, tell me if the fix is temporary or permanent - that's something only time will tell.

SWMBO has made her position clear; fix and sell but my own mind is thinking fix and keep. Whatever, no definite decision will be made until my garage owning mate is back off holiday in a couple of weeks and he's cast his eye over the situation. He may well get the casting vote but at least I will know it's unbiased.

 

[Jameshow]

Wow! I didn't expect to get all the responses above, so thanks for those. I put the Steel Seal into the car this morning following the instructions on the bottle and their web site. Once the warming up and idling process was finished I went for a ride on my bike to clear my head and destress

On my return (and after a well deserved shower) I headed out to the car. The damp patch under the car that was there this morning has dried up and there's no obvious evidence of leaking from the head gasket when I poke around in the engine bay so on first impressions this may have worked. I need to run some errands in the morning so that will show if the leak is stopped, or not. It won't, however, tell me if the fix is temporary or permanent - that's something only time will tell.

SWMBO has made her position clear; fix and sell but my own mind is thinking fix and keep. Whatever, no definite decision will be made until my garage owning mate is back off holiday in a couple of weeks and he's cast his eye over the situation. He may well get the casting vote but at least I will know it's unbiased.

I sold a Mazda bongo spares and repairs with head gasket issues which they are prone to, he told be he has one previously which has done 30'000 miles with steel seal in it!!
Good luck with yours👍

 

[Cavalol]

Cars are incrasingly being made to last a little over 6 years, that is all the motor manufacturer wants, 2 years for the first owner then 4 for the second, then the quicker it dies the better for them - they are not interested in anyone having something that they are not profiting out of.

Owning a car outside warranty is becoming financially unwise.
[/Q

Possibly another reason for PCP companies to constatntly push cars onto people.

I wonder if head gaskets is a problem with mercedes, my wife has one (a mercedes that, her head gasket isnt failing) when the manufacturers 3 year warranty ran out we took out an extended 2 year warranty, one of the exclusions in that warrant is the failure of any gasket!

I will add that her car is coming up to 5 years now and 30k, and it hasn't been any bother at all, and nor should it have been the money they cost - she will probably get another

My van is 16 year old and there always seems to be something wrong with it now, spent 700 last year keeping it going, which seems a lot, but then far less than the depreciation on a new one.
Rusts getting the better of it now, i doubt it will pass its next MOT in dec.

I think it's because head gaskets (like clutches, for example) are consumables. The first couple of years of the A35 AMG do suffer from actual head (rather than gasket) problems, but these should be done under warranty.

Mercs certainly aren't fault free (check out the 'crabbing' issue on the GLC models, for example) and BMWs are probably worse. They're not alone, either.

 

[Marchrider]

I think it's because head gaskets (like clutches, for example) are consumables. The first couple of years of the A35 AMG do suffer from actual head (rather than gasket) problems, but these should be done under warranty.

Head gaskets should not be considered as consumables, as mentioned up thread, head gasket failure sounds like some throw back to the 1970s

proving something was a head failure rather than the gasket would be a daunting legal challenge against the vile (do whatever they want) motor industry. You probably wouldn't see you car for many years as parts were taken away for specialist investigations then held for years in storage awaiting your day in court (and all the time wondering if the court costs will result in the forfeit of your home)

 

[fossyant]

Never had a head gasket issue on a car. See what your garage owning mate thinks. My wife is a bit like yours - if it's not reliable it needs to go (and we are talking minor stuff). A failed fuel pump was the reason she changed her Yaris - it was 19 - the car was then owned by a neighbour for another 6 or 7 years. I'm one for keeping cars. What might seem as a big bill - say £500, is basically what you'd pay to buy/lease a new car each month !

Cars need maintaining, and bits wear out. It's usually a case to sell when they become un-reliable.

 

[Profpointy]

This graph should always be borne in mind when buying complex engineered products like cars. There is a sweet spot somewhere between 3 and 10 years where there is less hassle with a car. It should be reflected in the depreciation too e.g. JD Power ratings. Where your car is on the graph, only you can guess.

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By Bathtub_curve.jpg: Wyattsderivative work: McSush (talk) - Bathtub_curve.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7458336

Off topic re: the OP's question but very much related to the "bathtub curve, back in the day when testing our computer control systems for the nuclear power industry, we had to run them for a couple of weeks in a big plastic tent heated to 50C. The heat-stress way beyond any normal scenario was intended to encourage those components likely to fail early, to fail during testing rather than after delivery and thus greatly reduce the early-failures after going live. As an aside it was very unpleasant when you had to go into the 50C area to run a load of tests every hour or so. You were supposed to have someone outside the hot area to keep an eye in case you fainted. You certainly felt a bit wobbly after 15 minutes in the heat.

 

[CXRAndy]

My brother worked at Dunlop. The production work was extremely hot, over 100°F some days. They worked in shifts of 45 mins then a break of 15 mins

 

[Marchrider]

Off topic re: the OP's question but very much related to the "bathtub curve, back in the day when testing our computer control systems for the nuclear power industry, we had to run them for a couple of weeks in a big plastic tent heated to 50C. The heat-stress way beyond any normal scenario was intended to encourage those components likely to fail early, to fail during testing rather than after delivery and thus greatly reduce the early-failures after going live. As an aside it was very unpleasant when you had to go into the 50C area to run a load of tests every hour or so. You were supposed to have someone outside the hot area to keep an eye in case you fainted. You certainly felt a bit wobbly after 15 minutes in the heat.

future proof testing? with 'drill baby drill' we will be heading there

 

[Cavalol]

Head gaskets should not be considered as consumables, as mentioned up thread, head gasket failure sounds like some throw back to the 1970s

proving something was a head failure rather than the gasket would be a daunting legal challenge against the vile (do whatever they want) motor industry. You probably wouldn't see you car for many years as parts were taken away for specialist investigations then held for years in storage awaiting your day in court (and all the time wondering if the court costs will result in the forfeit of your home)

I meant that as in that's how the warranty company will see it. Head gasket failure is a very real thing, even in this day and age.

 

[Bristolian]

A quick update. Having put the Steel seal into the cooing system yesterday and following the instruction on the bottle the car was left to sit overnight. This morning I needed to run a few errands and needed the car so I checked the coolant level and it was as I left it yesterday There were no tell-tale signs of leakage on the drive and no spurious dashboard messages so I fired it up and went on my merry way. In total I drove about 30 miles before I got home again and was about 800m from home when the dreaded coolant top up message appeared on the dash

Once home I gave the car about an hour to cool off sufficiently to be able to remove the cap without getting scalded. The level had dropped in the tank but there was still no signs of a leak and certainly no steam like the other day - it took about half a litre to get it back to the correct level. I topped it up again and decided it was time for a coffee ☕ A while later I went back out to the car to check the coolant and it was exactly as I left it. I started the engine and scouted around the engine bay for signs of leakage but couldn't see anything and over the next hour there was no sign of the tank level dropping. I will have to wait and see what happens tomorrow 😕

Rather surprisingly, SWMBO said we should get it fixed and keep it Now I didn't see that coming