Other engine problem on the 2006 Mercedes Benz E350
2 crashes 1 fire 3 injuries 1 death 7 of the 44 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2006 Mercedes Benz E350 report other engine problem at a median of 95,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 72,500 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles, from 30 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 62,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 145,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 81,075 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 63,370 miles | 72,000 miles | 95,556 miles | 115,750 miles | 144,445 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 2 a crash, 1 a fire, 3 an injury and 1 a fatality are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2006 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Check engine light occurred at 45000 miles and remains active to date. During the first occurrence the dealer performed an inspection of the vehicle, reported no issues, and advised that the light should be ignored as a false alarm. Subsequent to the initial inspection the vehicle was taken in for servicing, at which time a part (cam sensor) replacement was provided. Most recently the vehicle was taken in for epa sanctioned emissions testing at a facility in the state of wisconsin. The vehicle failed the test. This was reported to the dealer and manufacturer; however neither are providing a cost free solution to resolve the issue. The dealer has quoted a minimum cost of $6500, and still no guarantee that it will resolve the issue. It is my position that the vehicle had a preexisting condition, and that the dealer failed to inform the nature and magnitude of the problem at the time of purchase when the vehicle was under warranty. Furthermore it has been discovered the NHTSA has released service bulletins on the mentioned issue. At this point it is unclear how an epa sanctioned requirement can be fulfilled if the dealer and…
2006 mercedes benz m272/m273 engine. *balance shaft issue* our 2006 e350 mercedes benz was just diagnosed that it needed the balance shaft replaced, a $5000-$8000 dollar repair. After doing some research I have found that many mercedes costumers have experienced the same problem. Infact a class action lawsuit has been filed specifically due to this issue and it seems that this engine part is faulty. *tr
Failure of the balance shaft (defective) causing loss of engine timing and engine skips and stalls. Mercedes benz has conceded in tech bulletins to their dealer repair shops that this is a common defect for 2005-2007 e-350 and other models. The dealer repaired my car and mb paid 60% of the bill as a concession. Repair required 30 hours of labor (removal of engine, replacement of balance shaft and other parts and then reinstallation of engine). Cost was $4,000 and my out of pocket was $1,900. *tr
Also reported on the 2006 Mercedes Benz E350
Other fuel system problem
Fuel leak or fuel odor
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Fuel pump failure
Other brake problem
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 44 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2006 Mercedes Benz E350?
Across 30 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 95,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 72,500 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2006 Mercedes Benz E350?
44 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 9.3 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed