Toolboxes have wheels, so you can roll them from shop to shop if you have a hard time turning hours at one shop for rerasons too many to list, you can try another shop.

I know guys who had rolled their tool boxes to almost every shop in this city.

Theese type of guys usually end up starting their own shop after they get tired of working for everybody else and their mother.

The W210's are absolute junk. Have a 2001 E320 with 54K, and am selling it and never buying a late model MB. The car is rusted out, not to mention the biggest steaming pile I have every owned. MB should be ashamed of the crap that they are producing now a days. Quality ended with the 124's, 126's and the 140's. I think we can all agree on that. All the late model benzes are rusting out up here in central NY. 210's, 208's, 220's, and the new Gwagon's. Its horrible.

The true question is, why does MB only give a 4 year rust/corrosion warranty on there brand new cars, while most other Manufacturers are offering 10 or more? bmw=12, VW=10, audi=10. They know there cars are junk, they dont want to be held accountable.

Sorry to hijack your thread. Its sad where this company is going. I used to be the biggest fan.

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93 300D 2.5 Turbo, Black/Palomino 273K
09 E350 Black/Black 41K

Hmmm - interesting, the 210s seem to be great in Atlanta and lousy in New York. Possible I suppose. With the spring perch problem I don't think I'd buy one that had been exposed to prolonged humidity higher than about 20 percent.

I like working on the one's I get fully paid for.
All the hours...and all the parts....and in cash !

.

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[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

The dealer bills the tech out at 120 to 150 per hour, they charge book time: 3.0 hours to replace spark plugs on an ML 320. Now a seasoned tech can have this done in less than 30 minuets with an air ratchet. In cali, a b+ service on a 2001 S500 goes for around 1300 to 1950 at the dealer, the tech will get to flag approx 6 to 7.5 hours, now a novice tech will take all that time, as to the seasoned pro, this will take approx 2.5 hours give or take .5 (without short cuts).

What you should be paying for, is a seasoned professional working on your car, fixing it right, the first time!

Techincians are under paid. A ball player gets millions to play ball, but the guy that has your life (and family) in his hands whenever he takes a wrench to your car, gets a backbreaking hourly (flat or straight) rate. If the ball player has a bad day, he has a bad game. If the tech has a bad day, makes a mistake, it could be catastrophic!

I really get tired of people who complain about service pricing at the dealerships, especially when they find an outfit that offers the same parts and service for less, they still complain.

By far, the 210 is the most solid benz I have seen (in the small sedans), and by far, the Mercedes is the eaisest vehicle that I have ever had the pleasure to take a wrench or computer to. But, in my opinion, any Mercedes after 2005, I WILL NOT TOUCH. I believe in purity in automobiles, and Mercedes has depurified itself. The Daimler/Chrysler merger was a good business decision, but, this made the benz a bad taste in my mouth......05 and newer....

I have worked on them all, and Mercedes (05 and older) is still my car of choice.

My two cents...........

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www.theworkshopmercedesbenz.com
Nahum:1.7

I agree. Tech's are underpaid. It requires alot of skill and finesse to become a valued MB mechanic. Safety is a concern. What makes me mad is the fact, like the basketball player, you have have people that really arent that smart making more money. But i guess that raises another issue in total. As long as I wasnt paying an exorbitant amount on a repair bill, I dont mind paying more than a "normal" mechanic would charge. To me, quality, and having it done right is paramount. Its such a hassle to have to take a car back 2 or 3 times for the same problem. If you have a full shedule, sometimes this is an impossibility.

05 and older? Hmmm...I would have said 95 and older was my cut.

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93 300D 2.5 Turbo, Black/Palomino 273K
09 E350 Black/Black 41K

Well, since leaving the dealership world in 05, I started out on my own, providing mobile service, maintenance and repairs. I have performed many full services: B+, coolant flush, trans service, spark plugs, all pads and rotors w/sensors, including airmatic strut reseals on a 220 (2001), all mobile at the clients home.

I agree, having the car done right is paramount, and by me being a mobile service, THAT IS THE ONLY WAY I CAN DO BUSINESS! There is no room for error, but you cannot stop a bad part, or a faulty set of brake pads, or that ever present "fault-that-occured-on-something-else" that is nowhere near involved with the repairs you performed.

I mean, a GOOD/TOP FLIGHT tech, spends a lot of time perfecting his/her craft, and quite frankly a good amout of money (the tool fairy does not exist!).

Ok, your a DYI kinda person, but when you look at the time you spend finding out the information to get the repair done, getting the right tools, making the mistakes before/durning and after the repair, the time spent getting help/assistance while peforming the repair, the time spent shopping parts, and or returning them if they are wrong/or do not work, You add all that up, and you come out actually more than the dealer would have charged you.

Of course, I have been reading on the success repair and maintenance stories on this site, but on their initial attempt, it was time consuming and hard. They got better as the did it over and over, but it took some time. As with the seasoned pro, they paid their dues to be able to virtually fix a car as they read the complaint on the repair order, and I stand behind this statment due to the repair advice given by some top flight technicians on this forum, FIXING CARS ONLINE!

Lets face it Mercedes owners: No one complains about price when a lawyer leaves the firm and starts out on his own, or a doctor leaves the hospital and starts his own practice. But when the guy, the guy that leaves the dealership, starts his own thing, providing the conveinence of a professional/courteous and correct moblile service, people still complain.

(did you know that the 9 bay area dealers here in the S.F bay area did a combined estimated $91,800,000 just in service for year end 2005?)

My three cents......

Happy Motoring!

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www.theworkshopmercedesbenz.com
Nahum:1.7

I'm not a tech... in fact, not even close. And my only experience with MBs is with my current model: '92 201 w/ 2.3 litre.

I don't see how anything could be easier to work on than this car.

Lots of room (because the 2.3 is small), very few gadgets (in the cabin or under the hood), and an absolute pleasure to wrench on -- in my humble opinion.

I also have a Volvo 940 turbo that's a breeze to work on, but its engineering is not on the same level as the MB.

Just my 2 cents... arguably worth that.

Jeff Pierce

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Jeff Pierce

Current Vehicles:
'92 Mercedes 190E/2.3 (247K miles/my daily driver)
'93 Volvo 940 Turbo Wagon (263K miles/a family truckster with spunk)
'99 Kawasaki Concours
Gravely 8120
Previous Vehicles:
'85 Jeep CJ-7 w/ Fisher plow (226K miles)'93 Volvo 940 Turbo Wagon
'53 Willys-Overland Pickup
'85 Honda 750F Interceptor
'93 Nissan Quest
'89 Toyota Camry Wagon
'89 Dodge Raider
'81 Honda CB 750F Super Sport
'88 Toyota Celica
'95 Toyota Tacoma
'74 Honda CB 550F

This thread is finally getting good.

Workshop Mb nailed it, and also someone mentioned that they had a tech do spark plugs on their Ml-320.

If you were caught taking out spark plugs at either dealership i worked at with an air wratchet and you got caught, the shop foreman would personally stuff your air wratchet where the sun don't shine and send you packing, and that's after they ambarassed you in front of the whole shop with the loudest verbal belittling you could ever imagine.

I would not take my mercedes back to that shop ,nor would I ever dream of taking spark plugs out with an air wratchet unless I wanted to see what the threads looked like in a ruined cyllinder head.

yeah, when you are mobile like me and worshop mb, you cannot make mistakes or cut corners or do shoddy work.
Wheel bolts must be torqued before and after test driving the vehicle if the wheels were off, you actually get better quality work that way than just taking it to the local shop and leeting whoever gets it work on it.
Remember, you can always request a certain tech at your dealership, and if they turn you down, go somewhere else.

As far as that guy taking spark plugs out with an air wrench, I would just have to question that shop in general, there is no way that should fly.

Man, when it comes to spark plugs, you should only use hand tools and work slow to avoid taking out the threads with the plugs.

I wonder if that guy uses air tools on the 117 motor spark plugs.
That makes me just cringe.

But worked on quite a few. My favorite is the 380SE: simple V-8 and lots of working room under the hood. Much easier than a 560 crammed into the engine bay of an SL.

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65 190d sold
85 380SE sold
87 560 SL 180K
84 380SE 96K (mint)

You don't understand, this is the fun part - stupid blunders, broken parts, injuries, largely unnecessary tools - and that's on a good day. It doesn't get any better than this. Seriously if one doesn't enjoy doing it doesn't make any sense at all. But some of us get pleasure out of it - perverse pleasure though it may be.

No, I do understand: I remember my first transmission: 1956 for pickup truck: My uncle gave me, my brother and two cousins a manual and access to his tool inventory with these simple commands: I want it out before I get back. Well, we spilled a lot of transmission fluid, well, we soon realized that is was our very own bodily transmission fluid (those transmissions have sharp edges!) we were spilling, I was 11 then.

Yes, the fun of blundering around, the thrill of victory, I did it!!

I am getting at the person who has no mechanical knowledge, and when they find someone who can give them high quality service, with high quality parts, for less than the big boys, they still complain.

I am not against the DYI, for Gods sakes, that is how the REAL technicians are born (my personal opinion).

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www.theworkshopmercedesbenz.com
Nahum:1.7

Oh, man, by those comments, you would just love playing with some of my toys.

Check out my project cars in my signature link.
project muscle cars are the ultimate toys to use a whole slew of cool tools on especially when you are building drag cars out of low buck, grandma grocery getter, plain jane 60's era cars that are destined for plasma cutter, welding wire, performance mods, and in your face paint schemes.
The project Barracuda in the pics will be extreme when finished with the in your face hemi orange paint and eye crossing strobe stripes, big rear slicks, a 625 horse small block hemi, and an exhaust note that will piss the zits right off the face of the punk behind you with the escalade and the eight 12 inch subs he's got pounding three cars back.
Yep, electric cut outs in the exhaust give you open headers with the flip of a switch.

I love working on 123s, 124s,126,s. Can fix damn near anything on these models. I hate MLs, those things are missing two points off it's star. 140s are great moneymakers in the shop. 202s and 210s are right behind them. FWIW my daily driver is a 300TE 4-matic!

Want to get my hands on a unimog, and paint it camo for hunting season.