Concerned my mechanic isn't bothering to work on my car...

The timing chain broke last weekend, and it's going to be a lot of work to repair everything. I'm not sure what all went wrong, but I have a feeling they're a little intimidated by the idea of tackling such a labor intensive task. They're good mechanics, but slightly unmotivated. Island time, I guess; I've lived here (Virgin Islands) long enough to expect and understand that. On the other hand, I want my car back. Right now I'm driving my '88 Trooper. The only thing I thought of to prod the mechanic along is telling him someone is REALLY interested in buying the Trooper, so I need the Benz back as soon as possible. Any suggestions on getting them motivated?

[Robert W. Roe]

Try calling three times a day to ask when your car will be worked on?

Get a lawn chair and a cooler full of your favorite beverage. Place the chair and cooler in the middle of their garage entrance. Now sit and wait...... When asked what you are doing, tell them that you are not moving until your call is on the rack.

When the car is ready, take it home.

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William
76 240D (W115) - 550K miles
78 300D (W123) - 200K+ miles

[stevebfl]

Are you paying them?? If so why aren't they working on it? I can't understand why an experienced shop would delay such a job; its pure gravy.

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Steve Brotherton
Owner 24 bay BSC
Bosch Master, ASE master L1
26 years MB technician

Yeah, we're paying them. My father does work for him and we let him pay with credit instead of cash, but I know for a fact that he will be working for cash this time because we have no credit built up right now. How long should a job like this take? Steve, I see your point. I'm seriously into car audio and when I have a big install planned I can't wait to get started, and I would expect the same attitdue from a mechanic, but I must realize it is a job, not a hobby. I don't want to be a jerk about it, but I do want my car fixed as soon as possible.

[stevebfl]

I don't think you ever said what car you have. It makes a big difference as to how much work it is.

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Steve Brotherton
Owner 24 bay BSC
Bosch Master, ASE master L1
26 years MB technician

'85 380SE

[stevebfl]

The book pays 25 hours for a valve job for that V8. That is what we usually do, including new guides. Occasionally there is need to remove the front cover to deal with the lower right side rail. This adds another12- 15 hours to the job.

Unless you have thread failure with the head bolt holes this should be a piece of cake. We usually take a week for the job, but this is only because we usually work it in stages, disassembly/estimating, parts gathering, head work, and reassembly. None of our techs that would do this job would take the alloted time. My main engine tech would like to do nothing but those heads. He probably would do two in a week if we had them and didn't have other things for him to do.

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Steve Brotherton
Owner 24 bay BSC
Bosch Master, ASE master L1
26 years MB technician

When I restored my '78 W116, I commissioned a professional bare-metal repaint. However, the shop dragged their paws for a couple of months when they realised the enormity of the task, like removing four previous paintjobs, rust rehab, and disassembling loads of chrome pieces. A couple of half-stripped W107s and a W115 were likewise placed on the back-burner as the shop was more keen on the quick, fast $$$ late-model respray jobs. The shop delegated the odious labor-intensive paint-stripping task to apprentices and the occasional idle worker.

After two months of gentle suasion, small talk, and positive encouragement but with NO progress, enough was enough. I finally turned up with a few members of my old rugby club in a friend's tow truck ready to tow the poor W116 to another shop. I offered the shop owner cash for job done thus far (~30% of total cost).

Well, the shop pledged to finish the job in one week and true enough, four workers were assigned to the W116 8 hours a day.

My car came out beautifully exactly a week later......wow, nothing like an oven-baked bare-metal repaint on a 22-yr old car.

To SoundAdvise, get a tow-truck, mobilise some "large" friends, and tow your W126 to a shop that values your time and business. :p

Hisham
'78 W116 280SE Euro (restored)
'95 BMW 325is
'84 Volvo 240GLM
'95 Proton Wira