I really hate to read/hear things like this.

It's this kind of experience that will make lindajane go spend $20k on some plastic crap just because people can work on it and it has a warranty. Then they'll never consider another old car because of something like this, it takes very little to sower a person. I've been haveing the same argument with my mother for a decade now, it's frustrating watching her spend five times what my 300D cost on a damned Kia that is falling apart after 50K miles. (note: nothing personal to lindajane, just common reference and observation)

The fact that he said it's "old and you'll have to play with it" show's he's a moron frankly in my opinion. If he'd said something like it's old and is worn and you can either put up with it being finicky or replace it, that would have been alright. But his answer is one of the things that makes me shudder. It's a short, short step to the kind of person that tosses parts at a problem with nothing but hope to back up the decisions. I have and am selling parts to civi's and commercial outfits on a daily basis, have off and on for about six years now. If I couldnt work on my own car I'd ride a horse.

Linda, find someone that KNOWS Mercedes and is recomended and tell them what happened and have them look at the car. By someone that knows I intend someone with independently veriafiable references, from here or elsewhere. Maybe your tech did the best he could, maybe he slaped used parts on there and figured he made a quick $500 with a used compresor and some spare cans of r134, we can't really say. But let this be a lesson, and I hope you don't turn bitter from it.

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One more Radar Lover gone...
1982 VW Caddy diesel 406K 1.9L AAZ
1994 E320 195K