I was quoted the job for the long block replacement as a $10,400 job complete, and the other job as just under $7,300. Both jobs were burdened with removing the head to examine the engine and verify it needed to be rebuilt. I am not familiar with what a complete rebuild would be, but I think what I got was pretty thorough. The head was disassembled, cleaned and parts inspected because I insisted on it, and witnessed some of it. Everything came out ok, and the valves, guides, cam, etc. were all reused as-is. Did get a new chain, tensioner and rail, as well as pistons, rods and rings, bearings and lots of small stuff. The block was bored and honed, the pistons ordered to match, and the crank was inspected and re-used.

I was quoted a 15%, and on some parts, 20% discount with my MBCA membership. I also got a discount of 10% on labor. The long block "factory" rebuild was not discounted as it was not available through Mercedes, it had to be ordered from the agency doing the work. The prices for the two options were determined ahead of time, and I think the shop might have been slow at the time, so they may have steered me in the direction of having the engine rebuilt in house.

That the engine was rebuilt by the dealer was never my problem. My problem was that there seemed to be a design/manufacturing problem and Mercedes was not willing to step in and supply parts or labor, or something to acknowledge they put an engine into production that was flawed by their and the industry's standards. Parts like pistons, rods, crankshafts, blocks, heads, etc. just don't suffer fatigue failures if they are designed and built to well established standards.

I only ran it with synthetic oil (either Mobil 15W50 or Castrol Syntech 5W50) for the 100,000 miles I drove it, which seems to pay off. Other than the intake the engine was really clean. The intake had a lot of crud from passing oil and oil vapor from crankcase blowby accumulated.

By the way, does the "factory" rebuilt engine come with a new turbocharger?

The saga may be over but it still gets my craw that I got a substandard car from Mercedes. Jim

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Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)