Boy you really have to be carefull.

[jim messina]

Last week after reading about flex disc implosion I decided it was time to check the old girl out. I have a guy at a tire shop who will let me put her on his lift. With 175k on her I didn't have much hope of eithier one being good. Much to my suprise they were both in excellent condition probabley due to the fact that she has never been winter driven. We had a look at the front end and drive line which also looked good. (replaced lower ball joints about a month ago) However I did notice the differential was a little wet. The guy at the tire shop won't work on the car because he knows nothing about mercedes. Myself I don't do much except routine maintence and simple stuff (haven't the tools and the experience wrenching on cars, or the confidence to really tear into her.) So I called a guy who has a big shop in the suburbs of Detroit, he adjusted my valves for me earlier this year. Oh yeah he said you better take care of that right away before that pinion seal implodes. Quoted me 3.5 hours labor and 30 bucks for parts Total 355 dollars. Seemed kinda high so I Pm'ed Brian and he told me it was 1 hour job. In the meantime I found a small shop in Canton Mi. who agreed to have a quick look at her. The old guy put her on the hoist and laughed when he saw the differential. He said don't worry about that little bit of seepage you have but for GP drained the fluid and put new in, we cleaned it up real good so I could monitor it in the future. He said if does go bad he would put the opinion seal in for a 100 bucks. Since April I have come across 5 places where I wouldn't let them touch my vehicle because they are rip off a###holes. I am not stupid but am ignorant of many things mechanical. Thanks to this site I am learning alot and really appreciate some of the good people here. I almost gave up and sold the SD because of the issues of keeping her maintained at a reasonable cost. I know I have to pay for the service but just want to be treated fairley. I would like to call that jerk up that quoted me 355 dollars and let him have it but have decided not to stoop to his level. Sorry just had to vent......Jim