Had my first issue with the car. Slow puncture on the front - took the wheel off to see if I could see cause. Lo and behold, a crack in the rim on the inside. Paint lifting suggested it had been there a while. Contacted the dealer I got it from and he was excellent. By last night, a replacement rim was ordered and is being shipped to me today. He's also said to send him the bill for swapping the tyre over.

Wow! That is very good service. I'm impressed.

Yes - he was most apologetic and very concerned that I don't drive on it (I didn't tell him that I've just come back from an 1100-mile round trip - more than half of which was pulling a trailer - ignorance was bliss on both his and my accounts...)

You lucky bugger!
Front or rear wheel? I'd guess towing lowers the load on the front axle?
Nice save too, most dealers would just laugh.

A neighbour is currently kicking his e-class: it dumped him at the side of the motorway with a quarter tank of fuel, but apparently thought it was empty, and turned off the fuel pump to preserve it... Mercedes are unable to locate as yet a reason for this.

Your turn to gloat was it Neil

I've heard issues with C-class fuel pumps before, an expensive repair.

With the exception of my 2001 S210 E Class (which was a pile of rubbish - but Mercedes learned from that disastrous period), my E Classes (I've had 4) have been great - the newest one faultless. They are really nicely screwed together.

Do you know when you're having a day when things are just not working out?

Chased up the location of my spare wheel as I'm getting desperate for the thing. Found out that they'd apparently tried to deliver it yesterday morning and "left a card" - aye, bloody, right...

So, I ended up driving to Swindon (a good 45 mins each way) to collect it a longer if you include the fact that they've just moved so their location was wrong.

Back home, open it up and, guess what? It's the wrong size!!! (A rear wheel instead of front). Spoke to the dealer and they will lend me a tow car for the weekend but it means driving to Bristol and back.

Such a PITA.

What a nightmare. Sounds as though the dealer has tried to do the right thing, but been let down by numpties! Although I guess it depends on who ordered the wrong wheel...

It was the dealer that ordered the wrong wheel - I'd sent them a picture showing the wheel size AND part number - seems they found a wheel with almost the right part number...

So they lent me a Disco last night but at the filling station I found one of the rear wheels was hot so it's gone back to have the brake checked (apparently it has been standing a while - not surprised £11k for a 10 year old Disco - albeit with only 60k on the clock - is too much). They're delivering me it or something else today.

I have to say that I'm glad I didn't buy a Disco or at least one of the type I drove yesterday. The Merc is so much more comfortable and relaxing to drive and is a fantastic tow car - just frustrated by this wheel issue.

Reasonably happy morning this morning. I had an "ESP" warning message which reading up could be anything up to and including a worn steering rack. Quick trip to a Merc specialist with the STAR system and diagnosed a faulty brake light switch (£13 apparently) as well as telling me which of my parking sensors was iffy (£11 off eBay) and he didn't want paying (I left him some proper beer money).

If my name was, say, "Jim", it would have needed ALL of the things it could possibly have been

Yes, that's an observation I have made! Glad you were luckier (or better at buying cars!) Depending on how things go tomorrow, I may be starting a new "how can Jim make life hard for himself" thread in the near future...

Thanks and good luck tomorrow. I've tried my bro but I think he's travelling abroad ATM as I've had no answer.

Cool, no worries. I've done a bit of research and I'm pretty laid back about it, so we'll see!

Glad the race car is sorted (and the tow-car!). Really looking forward to Sunday.

Dave - race tickets here today, thanks.

And, since I'm on a roll, the local Merc dealer has brake switch in stock.

It's all going to go wrong

Forecast looking cold and possibly showery, rubbish

Proper Knockhill weather. Good day to be in the garages

£13 spent, switch installed, symptoms gone.

Hopefully the parking sensor will be a similarly simple fix

Hurrah!