My check engine light started going on and off about 2 weeks ago. I finally got into the dealer; they checked for faults and found codes 1200, 0064, and 1208. I have no idea what they meant, but they told me they found the engine timing was off of the left side of the engine. They thought the timing chain gear was worn and they would need to remove the engine and disassemble it to find out for sure!!! Then they tell me this has been a problem and MB fixed the problem in 2008. My car has 120,000 highway miles, but they said they'd had cars in with less than 50 and the same problem. Has anyone heard of this problem? I'm looking to replace the car, but how do I know the problem is fixed, if I never heard of it in the first place. I can't find anything online about this.

 

those are cam advance solonoid codes. but the particular code you have is for the balance shaft gears being worn out. the engine needs to come out and taken apart to repair it. im not sure on how mercedes is taking care of these issues but, all the ones ive seen were from cars that were still in warranty. but it is a known problem and there are many more to come in the future when some of those cars get some more milage on them.

 

Thank you for your insight. I am looking to replace the car and Mercedes was giving great incentives and somewhat good trade-in value. My concern was seeing in written form the knowledge of the problem from Mercedes before I buy another 350 in any model. Yesterday my service manager e-mailed me exactly what I wanted. I'm somewhat satisfied now with that information. I still don't like that owners where not notified of the problem when it was first recognized. The car is great and I don't trade in every 3 years normally, so I'm sad to see it go; but I also don't want to put $6, $7, or more thousand to repair this car.