I'm not sure how valuable your time is or if you even like to work on your cars but it might be worth trying to do more of the work yourself. I'm just too cheap to take my car to a mechanic and I'll take my chances of doing as much as I can myself with the advice of the members of this forum. The only thing I've taken my car to a mechanic was to have the lower front control arm bushings replaced and have it aligned afterward. I didn't have the tools to do the bushing job nor do I have an alignment rack. Basically this front end mechanic is the only mechanic I trust and in addition he's very reasonable.

Wow, that is high! Shop I use is good and in Metro DC area and rates are $60-$70.

Amen to that, Lietuviai.

I've had the SD for two years now, put 33K on it, and have spend about $1500. in parts, including maintenance items and a new stereo system. They are not that costly to maintain if you do the work yourself. If you have the dealer do all the work, I simply cannot see how you can economically justify owning one of these vehicles.

I believe you can lease a brand new E-class car for something on the order of $7200 per year. Cost is about the same as what you are paying now and you get to drive a brand new car every three years.

Wow.... those maintenance totals are horrific! I cannot believe a well-engineered Mercedes requires so much in maintenance! It makes me very leery of buying an SDL at all.....

-Marc

I bought my car in May of last year, and a year later and 20K miles ive spent about $6k at it. The car was in amazing original condition, didnt need any work until the AC system went.

The other stuff ive had fixed has only been becuase I want my car to be in absolute impeccable shape.

Since purchase ive had the following done aside from routine oil changes every 2500 miles and 1 valve adjustement:

New climate control unit
New Water pump
New Aux fan
New Blower motor
Fan Clutch
New AC compressor (R-134A)
New front rotors & Calipers, Brake pads all around
New Headamps
Complete front end rebuild & Alignement
New wheel bearings all around
New Steering shock
New shocks all around
New Head Gasket seal
New air filter bracket
Adjust Transmission shift modulator
New Windshield
New Becker radio from 1991560SEL
6 Disc CD changer

The following is what is left to be done:

Motor mounts
Transmission mounts
Muffler mounts
Replace coolant resivoir due to hairline crack leakage
Repaint wheels in silver or anodize in gold
Replace belt line trim mouldings all around (faded and oxodized)
Replace grille insert (faded and oxodized)
Wood shift knob
Nardi wood steeringwheel


All in all im almost finished with getting it up to top spec,
and once its all completed i might have it resprayed by a top notch MB restoration shop in my area in the same color with clear coat to help against the salt air & oxodization, ( riddding the body of a couple minor dings in the process.)

Its a labor of love with these cars as they will probabaly not return any monetary value upon resale (like that will ever happen anyways).
But as we all know, they give so much more than words can say. MB diesels are the best.

No offense but thats what you get for bringing an old car to a dealer. For any car over say about 6 years old stay away from the dealer. Every jobs price I see there, I could have done myself for 1/4 or 1/8 the cost. SDL's are great cars and not to much to own. I bet if I brought my car to a dealer they would want me to put $10k into it, or more.

As far as the work ive had done (on my 123 300DT not SDL) its all been at a MBZ ndie shop in Sacramento, where my family and family friends have had their cars serviced for years. I didnt include alot of little things in my total. (I have records for every little thing right down to the recipet for a set of mercedes-benz logo valve caps i purchased, and every bottle of diesel fuel additive ive used)

If youre not mechanically savvy, or just dont have the time, a good reputable indie shop is the best way to go. NEVER go to the dealer.

Trailing arm or trailering arm... which is it?

My list above is from an excel spreadsheet I keep for repairs of each car. The descriptions are VERY limited. That total bill was $3049.47 and included an oil change, trailing arm, bushings, and a new antenna mast. And yes, it was done at the dealer.

Parts were $1575.44
Labor 1320.22
Supplies 69.09
Tax 84.72
Total 3409.47

They replaced the EGR because it was supposedly leaking oil. (This was before I wisened up to the ways of the dealer)...

EGR Valve 380.00
EGR Gasket 1.10
Screw .50
Gasket, Exhaust 1.00
Vac Hose, 7/32 .52
Air Strainer 2.60
Engine Hood Insulating Pad 62.00
Adhesive 19.00

Parts 466.72
Labor 136.40
Tax 28.00
Total 631.12

Oh, I know all about that and was fully aware of the cost of going to the dealer. Until recently, I was traveling full time for my job. Sometimes I was only home 4 or 5 days a month. Based on my salary at the time, a few hundred dollars given to the service department here and there to have a car in perfect condition was in my best interest. Until now, I really didn't really realize the scope of the charges. Looking at the big picture, all I can say is WOW!

Now on the other hand, I have a regular in-the-office job and am free evenings and weekends. *Hence the reason there are no dealer or indy visits for the past 40k miles.*

I'm pretty mechanically inclined and have done most of the work on my vehicles over the years. This rear suspension job I need done is beyond what I can do here at home. I found a used part for $125 shipped from California and am pretty set on having the independent shop in Pontiac, MI I mentioned earlier do the work. I was quoted $300 labor knowing I was bringing my own part.

I have a real tough time thinking about using a USED part on my vehicle. I'm trying really hard to get past it. Actually, the new lower control arm was almost $1600 new from the dealer, so the huge price difference makes it a bit easier to accept.

> 220108 Glow Plugs/Dash Pad/Radio/Vacuum Pump 3306.38

This one in particular throws me back. Can we trouble you for the breakdown on this one? Did a glow plug break off in the head?

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

Okay. Here ya go...
FYI: This was done at an independent import service shop, NOT the dealership this time.

220108 Glow Plugs/Dash Pad/Radio/Vacuum Pump 3306.38

Parts breakdown
6 glow plugs 101.10
front crank seal 15.45
acc link rod 13.60
vacuum pump 410.00
engine cleaner 4.00
sealant 8.00
dash pad 610.00
bulb 5.60
refurb radio 500.00

Labor breakdown
Diagnosis 180.70
Vacuum pump 69.50
Crank seal 218.30
Degrease frontal engine area 27.80
Replace glow plugs 173.75
Removed old and replaced new dash pad/radio 831.15

Parts Total 1667.75
Labor Total 1501.20
Supplies 60.05
Environmental 3.50
Tax 73.88
Total 3306.38

I thought dash cap in place of dash pad.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

Lance, for the sake of curiousity, could you ad up the total on all your service records, including the ones from the PO?
I did that on my 300D and came up with just a bit over $15K. My car was taken to the dealer as well as an indie for all its work by its PO's. Since I've owned it, I've done 99% of all the work myself.

Well I've included all the dealer and indy records that didn't solely deal with routine maintainance. The previous owner of my car didn't do anything themselves...not even change a light bulb.

$58,676.20 total
$32,105.40 labor
$26,570.80 parts/taxes/shop fees

My receipts for parts I've worked with total $4162.17

$62,838.37 over 300,000 miles or 20.9 cents per mile