I had one fail just out of warranty (2005). about a $1500 repair for me. i just marked it down as a cost of owning it. i knew about SBC when i bought it, and i chose to accept the risk, on my car, and the wife's.

I see a few 211 issues. SBC, trunk wires that break, and you lose power trunk, and the third brake light. ball joints that are short lived, but overall, i still like it. amazing mix of comfort, power, and economy. ... at a price.

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1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

.......Zactly!

Let's all give advice on how to commit fraud on the open internet. What could go wrong?

CORRECT!

I'm sorry if this sounds like it's in poor taste or anything else but anyone who has prior warning and fails to act has to accept at least some liability. Morally and ethically, there was a timely warning prior to the event that was not addressed. Ignoring this warning was negligence by any definition. I deal with stuff like this every day. "It wasn't too bad until recently, I didn't do anything about it because _________ and now it's destroyed" or "I knew something was wrong months ago but..."

Think about it this way. You sell someone a car, six months later something malfunctions and they ignore the warning. They wreck the car a month after the warning and property is damaged and maybe someone was injured. Are you liable? This assuming you didn't intentionally hide anything or mislead anyone. It was working when you sold it and something went wrong later, that person didn't make a reasonable effort to get it inspected or repaired. Would YOU feel comfortable paying or it? Is it fair to ask someone else to pay for it if there was prior warning but it wasn't addressed? I do agree that it should be addressed if the dealer intentionally mislead the owner of the car. If the light was on and the driver had reason to believe there was an issue, they should have got a second opinion.

If the dealer did not misrepresent any material fact, they should not be responsible. If either the dealer nor Merc was not responsible and they do have to pay for it, they will simply defer the cost in higher prices so we can all pay for it. That's not moral or ethical either.

This makes no sense. The dealer would've gotten paid by MB warranty, they don't "fix it for free". If they could've performed the repair under warranty there's no doubt in my mind that they would have.......

Actually the damning evidence I was thinking of would be "Sbc pump out of service code". I know they would be happy to get paid and do it if they had noticed. But if it had the Sbc code and they failed to notice and failed to save the codes and someone got hurt in a car crash because of it ....

The fact remains I took the car in when it had a brake message 1 year ago and they did nothing about it and said car was great. That's a bad shop imo.

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What Would Rudolph Do?
1975 300D, 1975 240D, 1985 300SD, 1997 300D, 2005 E320 , 2006 Toyota Prius

It's highly unlikely that they "failed to notice" the damning SBC code IMHO. Do me a favor and find the paperwork they gave you from the first visit and post it. Something here doesn't sound right.......

And. . when the car owner took the car to a independent garage, they didn't provide him with codes or specific area where the SBC failed or timed out, just the statement " Originally Posted by biopete
The Sbc pump totally failed. They said "it needs a new Sbc pump and is not safe to drive until it is fixed. " they didn't give me any codes this time either."

How can the car owner claim " engineering defect" without a shred of supporting evidence?

Any chance the dealer would have a record copy of what was done during the first time in? Refusal to pull it could be interesting. You may have more faith in dealerships than is warranted today as well. some strike me as pure clip joints. I am all too well aware that everyone has to make a living.

I was standing in a line at a dealership in Maine waiting for the people ahead of me to pay their bills and depart. I think the lady in front of me should have protested the bill she was presented with.

When I asked what they would charge for what I wanted done I walked. Ten percent of what he quoted to get it done when I arrived at home the next day with the new to me car.

Yes, the original short-test will be in the customers' file. It should also be on the paperwork the OP received when he picked up his car.

As far as refusal to pull it? I doubt it. The documentation is all there. The dealer is well aware of the liability they face in a case like this. I'd really like to see the paperwork. It probably details the diagnosis followed by "client declines repair at this time/Vehicle is unsafe to drive". At least that's how it goes in my dealership......

Without details as to what she had done and the specific car, that statement is meaningless.

This doesn't mean much either since you don't directly have to pay for a facility, tools, utilities, workman's comp, parts sitting on the shelf, some reserve in case the job goes badly + lots more.

Apparently you did this on your free time. Next time you need to repair your own car, take unpaid time off work for all activities related to the repair and see how much revenue you are missing. Or even better, take unpaid time off work and fix a random persons car. Bet you won't be charging 10 % of dealer prices.

Dude I wish I had taken the car to you a year ago. You would have noticed the brake message. What's your email? I'll forward my email convo with the dealer manager where he sends me the one work order receipt from January 2105 and states that is the only record he has. and I ask for the codes He pulled and he says they don't save those amd can't get them. Maybe you can show me a way I can get the codes from that January 2015 scan. That would be cool.

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What Would Rudolph Do?
1975 300D, 1975 240D, 1985 300SD, 1997 300D, 2005 E320 , 2006 Toyota Prius

They may have uploaded the short test to the MB server in Germany. I can check if I have the VIN...........

WDBUF26J56A890170

Thanks. That would be awesome. I understand my fault was assuming they saved codes. Also not returning it when the brake message persisted and would not go away for nothing. If anyone would like to see the email convo and receipt to satisfy their curiosity send me a pm with your email and I will forward it to you. It's not confidential or anything.