I had a post about a month and a half ago about a bad hesitation between 500 and 1500 rpm on a 86 420 sel with 180,00 miles. Well here was the problem, after taking it to two different major established auto repair shops in Corpus Christi TX, and more than a week of the car being in their shops, and $1000.00 in parts replacement and trouble shooting, both places were totally stumped!!!!
I got wise and took it to the MERCEDES shop and in less than 5 minutes of listening to the car the mechanic knew exactly what it was,

it was the timing chain, it skipped a tooth on the passenger side overhead cam gear!!!! they had it fixed and on the road in less than a day!!!!

I learned a very valuable lesson, it is, don't be cheap and go for the shops with a lesser hourly rate, YOU pay in the long run!!! in this case more than a thousand dollars than necessary. GO CERTIFIED MERCEDES MECHANICS, HERES TO YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many of us are not trained by Mercedes, me included.

To be great at what you do, you must love it and be willing to invest in the tools and literature. You must be willing to spend the time to learn the causes of problems and be willing to listen to your customer.

Thanks for telling us the fix, but I am sure that some of us indpendents on the board could have found this as well. I'm sorry that your local independent let you down. I would think that they lack in one of the above departments.

You're Sooo! Right Benzmac
 

Just my .03 worth,

There's quite a difference between the trained mechanic and the experienced. I'd rather have the aft, the books don't teach it all. Too many times have I relied on so called trained mechanics with all their certificates hanging on the wall, but application was zero. The guy with greasy hands and a not gonna get wipped attitude by a hunk of steel generally knew what the problem was just by sound alone, or a few simple tests. Experience, it's not over rated.


Charles