Ive noticed a change in some shops approach to servicing these old diesels,only their parts and wont replace what you want to replace ,will only replace what they recommend to do the job .This could result in what could be a $300. ,this is cheap for Houston , into a $1500 job.A quote given to me by one mechanic /owner ,Im tired of replacing and quoting prices to replace parts on a 30 year old cars .end quote.In return I explain Ive replaced the tie rods ,Ive replaced the idler arm ,Ive replaced the parts that I can get too ,the part Ive left out is the one I cant replace and thats the lower control arm bushing without a spring compressor ,simple you would think . Nope, he really goes into a tizzey when I tell him about were I bought the parts,before I can explain further ,he says "Im not interested ".Parts are all german except one .Am I missing something? Do these mechanics feel that If its not a grande their squeesing out of you at a given time its not worth their lift time.

I think the average all-around mechanic hates suspension work (I know I do as an amateur). It's dirty, it takes a lot of brute force and it's hard to complete without barking a knuckle or two. You might have better luck at a wheel/tire/alignment shop where they specialize in that kind of stuff.

This is not just for these old cars, I think the reason for such practice is liability - e.g. someone gets only one part replaced on the suspension because he replaced all others oneself. Now if any part fails in the suspension linkage failed in service the mechanic can be dragged in as he worked last on that car.

And - bigger bills mean better revenue.

Sometimes - they just blurt out an ungodly dollar amount to shoo away the customer - old cars are a pain to service (no computer to tell where to look)

__________________
2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)