$6000.00 For A Headjob!!! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

1badav · #1 12-12-2005, 10:46 PM

Now get your minds out of the gutter and focus on this.

Before dieselpwr announced that his '86 300SDL was sold, I had contacted some MB service facilities here in SE Wisconsin by e-mail asking for a price quote on the repair of a cracked head to see if his vehicle made any sense for me to pursue. Check this out.

"This can be a risky proposition. Without seeing the car I cannot make a very accurate quote for work. It is very common that either the head gasket or cylinder head (or both) have failed on this motor. The cylinder head costs $2000.00 new. I would not suggest finding a used head because it will suffer the same fate sooner or later. There is a host of parts that need to be replaced with the cylinder such as the pre-chambers. To get this job done for $4000.00 would be a very lucky lower end price. It could easily extend to $6000.00++ depending on what else we see. (Water pump, block and pistons, injection pump and injectors...). Give me a call if you would like to discuss further."

I understand this person is doing this blind, but I gotta tell you I was somewhat taken aback at this. Does this seem in line? And yes, I recognize that in different parts of the country the cost of living is higher, but try to take that into account when considering a response.

#2 12-12-2005, 10:49 PM

It sounds like they are not very interested in doing the job.

pawoSD · #3 12-12-2005, 10:53 PM

There was some random woman filling in for the normal MB service dept guy at the dealership here when I was ordering parts....I wanted a quote on an alignment, she said "Between $300 and $500 depending on how many bolts they have to replace or remove" exact quote. Mind you she gave me this quote less than 5 seconds after me telling the model of car. She had no clue what she was talking about. I could have made her look like a fool in front of some important people in the office at the time, but I was nice and simply left. Went back to pick up the parts, Jim, the actual service person, was in, I asked him, he quoted around $150, and could do it the next day, I had it done the next day, it was $147.84. Thats more like it. I ate about $7 in cookies and coffee/hot chocolate.....gotta make an attempt at getting moneys worth.....

Austin85 · #4 12-12-2005, 11:17 PM

I once paid $1,400. to go to Amsterdam..........

but for $6,000 you would really be getting screwed.....

erfaniman · #5 12-12-2005, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pawoSD

There was some random woman filling in for the normal MB service dept guy at the dealership here when I was ordering parts....I wanted a quote on an alignment, she said "Between $300 and $500 depending on how many bolts they have to replace or remove" exact quote. Mind you she gave me this quote less than 5 seconds after me telling the model of car. She had no clue what she was talking about. I could have made her look like a fool in front of some important people in the office at the time, but I was nice and simply left. Went back to pick up the parts, Jim, the actual service person, was in, I asked him, he quoted around $150, and could do it the next day, I had it done the next day, it was $147.84. Thats more like it. I ate about $7 in cookies and coffee/hot chocolate.....gotta make an attempt at getting moneys worth.....

grrr, that pisses me off...buy hey, at least you got the 7 bucks worth of hot choco and cookies

PagodaLover · #6 12-13-2005, 12:07 AM

I think Metric will ship you a rebuilt longblock for your car for less than that - about $4500-5000 maybe.

In general, I have completely given up on dealers. Only certain independents will tackle our cars in an honest and receptive way.

pawoSD · #7 12-13-2005, 01:58 AM

We don't trust the independent shops around here, we suspect one of them sabataged the 82's tranny, (we brought it there for a fluid change a few months after we got it, it hadn't leaked a drop, after he worked on it, it began leaking like a faucet from the torque converter seal the very next day.....dealer redid all the seals, not a drop has leaked since (running Mobil 1 Syn now too)

)

Also, all the shops around here charge between 70-and 80 an hour, dealer is 95 and knows what they're doing/will follow the amount on a written quote if it takes longer than they expect. The guy we used to go to down the street had the best prices, around $55-60 an hour, but all the sudden he decided he wouldn't work on "diesels" anymore, and said to take our MB's someplace else. Thankfully I am only at the dealer about 2-3x a year, if that. 2005 I have been lucky, its only been there for a $147 alignment, and a $170 labor job to fix a problem with the center carrier bolt being loose

, as well as a tranny yoke being loose, solved a lot of vibration and clunking issues with that job.

Other than those two occassions, I've not had to go to the dealer this year. $320ish for the year is not bad at all I'd say. I did all other work myself.....some brake work.....rust work......some filters, oil changes.....not a whole lot this year! yay!

I am forcasting that 2006 has some suspension work in it, rebuilding the monovalve....new wiper blade rubbers, regular oil changes......thats about all I can foresee doing so far, I know more will come up though...

The 83 is a different story.....this year its been repaired a number of times, and now it has its massive sway bar surgery going on.....but after this it should be good for a long while....most breakables have been replaced....

Jim H · #8 12-13-2005, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig

It sounds like they are not very interested in doing the job.

Sounds more like they were interested in doing a $6,000 job.

nhdoc · #9 12-13-2005, 07:31 AM

When you asked about repairing a cracked cylinder head he's listed virtually every other part of the engine not associated with the actual cracked head and giving you a price assuming worst case (Water pump, block and pistons, injection pump and injectors).

You didn't indicate to him that there was anything wrong other than the cracked head, so he could have just quoted the job to replace the head and qualified it with a statement like "assuming no other work is required" as most other shops would have but he's basically already softening you up for a bigger bill so for that reason alone I would steer clear of this guy.

Why in the world would the water pump, block and pistons, injection pump and injectors all be affected by the cracked head? He probably figured if you were still interested in having him look at it after he threw out a rediculously high figure that he could easily turn it into an overpriced job because you were already warned about it.

aklim · #10 12-13-2005, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1badav

Now get your minds out of the gutter and focus on this.

Before dieselpwr announced that his '86 300SDL was sold, I had contacted some MB service facilities here in SE Wisconsin by e-mail asking for a price quote on the repair of a cracked head to see if his vehicle made any sense for me to pursue. Check this out.

"This can be a risky proposition. Without seeing the car I cannot make a very accurate quote for work. It is very common that either the head gasket or cylinder head (or both) have failed on this motor. The cylinder head costs $2000.00 new. I would not suggest finding a used head because it will suffer the same fate sooner or later. There is a host of parts that need to be replaced with the cylinder such as the pre-chambers. To get this job done for $4000.00 would be a very lucky lower end price. It could easily extend to $6000.00++ depending on what else we see. (Water pump, block and pistons, injection pump and injectors...). Give me a call if you would like to discuss further."

I understand this person is doing this blind, but I gotta tell you I was somewhat taken aback at this. Does this seem in line? And yes, I recognize that in different parts of the country the cost of living is higher, but try to take that into account when considering a response.

You probably talked to a service advisor. Which shop is it? In Milwaukee, Concourse Motors, we all know the service writer is an idiot so he spouts most anything that comes to mind. He has scared many a customer off. Another thing is that when you ask him to qoute blind, he is going to qoute high. It is a CYA thing. I talk to the person who DOES the repair not the clown at the desk.

Hatterasguy · #11 12-13-2005, 01:13 PM

Metric Motors is the place to have these engines worked on. I'd pull the head send it to them and see what they say. They should have no problem locating an 18 and up head. Figure between $2k-$3.5k depending on if you want all new injectors, cam, lifters, pre chambers, valves ect.

samiam4 · #12 12-13-2005, 05:25 PM

If I was quoting....

I would have simply looked up the hours for R&R the head, and added in the cost of a head gasket, and cylinder head. I can understand his CYA, but he really put zero time into it. It could be 2k, but could go over 6k too. Why not say something firm like "less than the cost of the 2006 CDI on the lot".

Service writers...

Michael

R Leo · #13 12-13-2005, 06:05 PM

I'd drive a Chevy minivan before I darkened the door of our local MBZ dealership for any parts or service.

Lance Allison · #14 12-13-2005, 07:25 PM

I dropped my SDL off at the local MB dealer for what ended up being a cylinder head replacement back in 2001. Although I had new valves and springs in the new head, the total repair order was around $5200.

For more info on that fiasco, I posted details here on this site. Just search for posts from me.

Diesel Giant · #15 12-13-2005, 10:35 PM

6k?? You can get a rebuilt engine for that. I would shop around before you commit to anything. Or better yet, do it yourself.