Hi,

My other car is a chevy truck, and I havent even had to take it in for major service yet, so I have no idea how much things may cost. Id like estimates form people who have had these services done, preferably at dealers.

- Timing chain & tensioner replacement

-Antifreeze flush and replacement

-replace power antenna

-adjust valves

-head gasket(possibly acceessible during valve/timing chain adjustment/replacement?)

-belts/hoses

-rear diff fluid change

-trans fluid/filter

-fuel filter

Any other repairs or advice would also be appreciated.
Thanks so much for all the help I have gotten already, you guys are great, and Ive learned quite a bit in no time.

JMH

JMH,

As Bill mentioned, most everyone here tries to do most of their maintenance and repairs themselves and will take their MB into the dealer only as a last resort. My experience, not only with MB cars but with others, is that even the experts can make mistakes and these mistakes cost you money. These mistakes equate to replaced parts that were not defective and time spent changing them. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been given advice from a MB lead mechanic only to find out from this forum that his advice was all wrong. These mechanics need to know so much about so many different models that they can’t be experts on all of them including your model.

My best example of this was when my air conditioning failed and a local shop wanted to install a new, very expensive relay. With a little homework, I found the problem to be a bad fuse hidden under the hood. My cost $.13! More recently, my car developed another air conditioning problem. A different shop was going to charge me $600 to change out the compressor. As it turned out the drive belt from NAPA was not as tacky as the OEM belt from the dealer. Another huge savings. Even last week, a highly recommended MB mechanic in Miami told me that I needed a new head gasket because he thought it was leaking oil. It turned out to be the vacuum cutoff valve. My cost; a 6-pack, 1 bolt and washer and some GoJo.

The bottom line is that if you spend some extra time asking questions of mechanics, parts dealers and most importantly this forum, you will save considerable dollars. And for me, it’s the thought that I did it myself.

Mav

__________________
'91 350SDL 165K miles
Lovin' her until she blows...
'01 Dodge Ram Cummins 4X4 DWR
Stump pullin' beast...

Trust me; you will spend less on the MB diesel maintaining it than you will on a smallblock Chev or V6 powered truck. The MB diesel is just so easy to work on, and it has no distributor to have to mess around with.

JMH,

What model and year diesel do you have? Also, how handy would you say you are?

If you’re new here, you will find that most of the answers to your MB diesel questions can be found right here.

Mav

__________________
'91 350SDL 165K miles
Lovin' her until she blows...
'01 Dodge Ram Cummins 4X4 DWR
Stump pullin' beast...