PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - W124 Sunroof Issue - Tilt okay

Jeremy5848 · #14 06-30-2009, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oso

So what was the ballpark cost of having the dealer do it? I have the same car you do and sounds like the same problem you had.

I managed Friday to get the service manager to admit that he had at least 12 hours of shop labor into the job, not counting this latest stuff on the inner panel (the "headliner" part). I don't know what their shop time is these days but it's gotta be at least $125/hour and maybe $150/hour.

When the service manager agreed to give me the labor free (he owed me a favor) I don't think he thought it would be that big a job. The parts (last September) cost me (less MBCA 15% discount and plus 7.5% sales tax) $870 out the door. The headliner part will be another $500 from me plus another hour of labor (which I don't have to pay). Ballpark total $3000 if you have to pay California dealer rates for everything. I suspect a more experienced mechanic could have done the job faster but the parts would have been the same. Older threads here and elsewhere have estimated $1000-$2000 for a sunroof job.

Mine is probably a worst-case situation – my sunroof had a lot of broken parts that had to be replaced (took over a page just to list them). If I were to do the job myself or with an independent mechanic, I'd take a small 12 volt battery to the local Pick and Pull and test sunroofs until I found one that worked (they can't all be broken). I don't know what P&P charges for a complete sunroof but probably not more than $100.

If you can get a sunroof to open, it's fairly easy to pull apart. An experienced mechanic with the right alignment jigs could then put the pieces together in your car in just a few hours. Some parts could maybe be repaired--dealer isn't gonna do that but you could. That would save a lot of money. You could probably have the same job done for $1000 or less with junkyard parts and a semi-retired wrench willing to work for $50/hour.

As these cars get older and older, there are fewer people who remember how to work on them, and some parts get hard to find. I'll bet Mercedes raises the price on the few leftovers, too. List price for that inner panel with the headlining is $6XX and there really isn't that much to it.

Jeremy