Harmonic balancer /crank pulley wobbling very bad. Afraid it will come apart and cause catastrophic damage while my kids are driving. Mercedes covered this part under same engine family but only from model years 1998-2001. Would like them to take responsibility for the same faulty part as the others.

- Avella, PA, USA

Dec 2013, with "our new" 2003 mb C240 traveling 55mph on cruise, I accelerated, "poof". my brother driving behind us disappeared in a cloud of white smoke from my exhaust. He had to pull over, he could not see the road. The "cloud of smoke" appears every time I use the cc or maintain a constant speed for any length of time. On a recent trip of 2000 miles, it consumed 7 qts of oil. With only 75K miles, its hardly broken in. The problem is "sludge" built up inside the engine because of a "poor" engine design. There is/was an "active class action settlement": in 2003, by "O'keefe", to repair/replace all 1998-2001 mb motors with this sludge build up. Daimler Chrysler "did not" fix the defects in the engine design, they simply shifted the "problem" to the owners by telling them which brand of oil to use. If you "google" Mercedes with "sludge/consumption" or smoking, you will find scores of mb vehicles newer than 2001 that still exhibit these same smoking/ sludge problems even though they have complied with all of the new mb maintenance requirements. So the problem was never "fixed". it should have been expanded! the problem stems from the sludge built up in the motor (inside valve covers and oil drain gallery's). It does not allow oil pumped up to lubricate the rockers/ cams to return back down to the "sump". this "excess/trapped" oil has no where to go, it slowly seeps into the intake manifold where it collects, when the vacuum is right, gets sucked into intake runners, sent to the combustion chambers, ignited and expelled as exhaust, overwhelming the catalytic converters. There are 2 problems: 1) ridiculous amounts of unwanted illegal/emissions 2) the immediate "peril" of anyone traveling behind you being instantly "blinded" at highway speeds all mb vehicles with similar motors should be immediately tested & repaired!

- Port Richey, FL, USA