Dealer trying to charge me for Parts, Trap Ox Replacement, 1985 300D (CA) - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

frankengrant · #1 01-24-2011, 06:11 PM

I took my car to the dealership today at 9am, they just called me claiming they need 400 dollars worth of parts to fix the car. They claim the previous owner welded an egr port shut on the side of the old trap ox and they need some hoses and clamps (which they claim they would have reused and should be there) and this will cost 400 dollars.

They made no note of this or mention at all last week when they took the car in to inspect it and to pre order parts. I will have the part numbers they claim to need in a few minutes. What should I do?

frankengrant · #2 01-24-2011, 06:16 PM

617 142 0264 pipe, egr $276

617 142 0240 bracket $65.03

617 997 0190 clamp x2 $33.55

000933007019 screws x2 $4.62

josha37 · #3 01-24-2011, 06:16 PM

maybe i should ask the dumb question... why is your car at the dealer..?

frankengrant · #4 01-24-2011, 06:18 PM

Because it is a free recall (at least it is supposed to be).

My car never had the trap oxidizer replaced in the EPA mandated campaign with the updated cat ox.

latitude500 · #5 01-24-2011, 06:21 PM

Could you just mod the car, simple cutting out the trap ox and having a pipe welded back on. Your going to need to remove the EGR anyway. Just an idea.

I would stay away from the stealership.

casioqv · #6 01-24-2011, 06:25 PM

That sucks, $400 for EGR parts that should be removed immediately and thrown in the nearest scrap bin. I'm guessing they either legally can't, or won't do the retrofit without getting the EGR system fully reinstalled and working?

If so, maybe you can get these parts free from someone doing an EGR delete, and then pull them back off after you get the trap oxidizer removed by the dealer.

frankengrant · #7 01-24-2011, 06:30 PM

Yea its a load of crap. I am not going to pay for parts that I am going to remove when I take the ox cat off. The only reason I took it in was to possibly get a free turbo replacement in case mine had been damaged.

I am going to give them a few options:

Leave the hole open on the new Ox cat and let me plug it.

Weld the hole on the new ox cat for me

Order parts and fix it without me paying

Throw my old system back in

I dont think any of those four are legal except the one where they eat $400 of parts cost.

If they had told me about this when they took an hour to inspect my car, I would have forgone the replacement and got a new pipe fitted.

Renntag · #8 01-24-2011, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankengrant

4) Throw my old system back in...

If they had told me about this when they took an hour to inspect my car, I would have forgone the replacement and got a new pipe fitted.

This is your best option if it looks like you are not going to get what you want.

Poor communication is very common as employees are pushed to perform at 125%, something has to give and sadly, its clear communication.

For the love of pete, the car is 25 years old. Its an antique by any standard.

How many other dealers are there in the region. Go talk to the sales manager, maybe he might have some influence on the off chance you might be back to buy a new or used MB.

casioqv · #9 01-24-2011, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renntag

Go talk to the sales manager, maybe he might have some influence on the off chance you might be back to buy a new or used MB.

As soon as my MB dealer sees me drive up and realize I drive old diesel Mercedes they immediately begin to ignore me and profile me as probably the least likely person ever to buy a new MB. The salesman let me walk by without even making eye contact, and I often have to wait 30mins+ at the parts counter. Maybe it's just because I once had them price out every coolant hose for my 190D (I think it was about $1000) and then complained about the price and didn't buy them

Rusty got 'em for me for like $300.

frankengrant · #10 01-24-2011, 07:01 PM

Just spoke with the service manager, I told him I cannot pay for the 400 dollars of parts needed, he says he will have his parts guy call around to local yards and see if there is a car available that he can pull the parts from. This looks like it is going to turn into a long ordeal.

Renntag · #11 01-24-2011, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by casioqv

As soon as my MB dealer sees me drive up and realize I drive old diesel Mercedes they immediately begin to ignore me and profile me as probably the least likely person ever to buy a new MB...

And thus begins the demise of a dealership.

one of my friends is a simple guy, he dresses in plain clothes, if he's been doing yard work in the morning, and has to go to the garden center he may include a trip to the bank in the same errand to be frugal. Some times he'll be depositing very large checks for his business, not what you'd expect from a guy with his appearance.

My point is that you can never make assumptions about a person or treat them differently than anyone else.

Example: Lets assume you'll never buy a new car and nothing used the dealer has would ever be old enough for you. Your just a cheap sob. You may have a friend that is looking for a totally different car to buy and he says "I'm thinking about buying a new car, where should I go?". Well you sure arent going to send him to the dealership above. You might explain that "the guys on the benz forum suggest you go to so and so" and its an hour away.

My point is that you reap what you sow.

My guess is that the dealership is making so much money they can afford to **** on people. (or they think they can).

charmalu · #12 01-25-2011, 02:34 AM

I don`t think the dealer can legally replace the trap, and let it go out the door, w/o having the emission system working properly.

when I bought my 85 back in 97, the dealer replaced the Trap under the recall. the engine was lacking power because the trap was plugged. sure ran better after, but at high altitude, the thing was sure choked down.

My Indy told me to change it like the 83 is set up. best advice I ever recieved.

Take the car home, forget the dealer, and start listening and reading the info on the forum. can`t go wrong. You don`t need the trap in Arizona.

Charlie

frankengrant · #13 01-25-2011, 02:59 AM

Yea I plan on taking it off and replacing it with one of these:

http://monstercraftsman.net/?l1=products (the trap cat bypass)

Anyone ever do that?

I only took it there to get the turbo replaced possibly. I want the damn thing off of my car, in hindsight I probably should have not even taken it in and just threw the bypass on.

vstech · #14 01-25-2011, 09:23 AM

I plan to take my 87TD in to have the trap bypassed, and possibly get a turbo... mine's all complete though. once I get the engine running that is...

Hatterasguy · #15 01-25-2011, 09:58 AM

Pay the $400 they are doing you a favor as it is, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. As with any old car sometimes you open up a can of worms and run into unexpected problems. They can't let the car go out the door with a none functioning EGR system.