Warren,
I got no official assistance from Mercedes-Benz, but I did negotiate a fixed price with some assumptions on what would be replaced. The cost grew a few hundred dollars, and when I went over the job with the service technician to understand why it grew he pointed out I got a very good deal, especially on labor. I kind of believed him but also suspected I was being manipulated. In the beginning I was not all that confident I wanted to fix the car as with 162,000 miles, by the book, it was not worth much more than the engine rebuild was going to cost.
The warranty for the extra time and miles did not seem like it was such a good bargain either as I had had a Starmark warranty on the first 25,000 miles I drove the car when I bought it and it was 100% trouble free. In fact, I fully expected that if the engine ran 12,000 miles and had no failures, it would run 300,000 miles and none of the things that were included in the extended warranty would fail. I still thought the bent rods were an anomaly. At the time I was so unaware of the rod fatigue issue I was presuming the engine would not need six new rods if only two were bent. The mechanic insisted he should replace them all and did. Looking back I should have been suspicious. Anyway the paper study comparison of cost before starting the job showed a difference of more than $3,000, so I opted for the rebuild by someone who's face I looked into when he said he would do the job right. Like I said I was not unhappy with what the shop did, just that it happened at all, and then the turbocharger seals started failing, and the bill for that was just over the top.
The engine was disassembled and the block sent to a local machine shop to be measured, the feasibility of boring to fit the apparently available larger sized pistons (I think I was told they come in a couple of diameter increments larger than stock). Once that was established, which took a few days, they ordered pistons. When the pistons arrived the original block was rebored and honed to suit. They did some checks for cracks and the like before boring, but there was no reason to suspect there were any other hidden forms of damage. The engine was never overheated or run out of oil so there were no other effects to report back to me. I think if there had been a trace of owner/operator abuse apparent I would have heard about it as there was a definite interest in expanding the scope of the job on the part of the shop manager.
Since the job took nearly 5 weeks and I was interested, I stopped in and checked the progress out periodically. I know the mechanics there reasonably well and was invited into the shop to see some of the stuff for myself. While I did not check serial numbers of parts, if a new block was needed I am certain I would have been charged for one, even a used one. Once the block came back from the shop and all the parts were in, the reassembly was pretty quick.
The next problem that "broke the camel's back" was the turbocharger leaking oil and the cost to repair it, estimated at around $1,500 for the part (MBCA discount again) and a large dollar value, near $700 if I remember correctly, to install it. By the way, I found a source for the rebuilt turbocharger from someone on this forum in another thread, where they are $475 with a core charge. If you are interested I can try to dig it up. I was considering doing the job myself until I concluded I was not interested in taking the engine compartment apart to get to the turbocharger. On the E300D TurboDiesel the turbocharger is right out in the open, something I checked when I was shopping the lot.
I am optimistic the newer car will be less challenging to the do it yourself type, and will skip the built in engineering error of the 350SD. The space under the hood is mysteriously greater for the smaller car, with a similar sized engine. And once again I have a few years and up to 59,000 more miles of Starmark warranty protection with the car to make sure the car is ok. It continues to amaze me with its performance and agility. Jim
__________________
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)
|