Hi,
My car is dead. I called Triple AAA, they quoted $133 for new
battery. Is this a decent price?...wondering if I should just
have it towed to my mechanic and have him put one in,
(I'm scheduled to take it in anyway).
I just don't like to see her towed.
Thanks
Lindajane

Actually a fair price for the right battery

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

How much money are you going to save by having it towed?

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words

Buy a battery, take a bus or a cab and put it in yourself.

$133 is a good price.

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1998 Ford Escort ZX2 5 speed - 279,000 miles My Daily

1992 Mercedes 300D 2.5 202,000 - Pure junk
2000 Mercedes E320 Black - 136,000 miles - Needs repair

Don't forget to grease the screw and threads on the spring compressor.

I doubt a shop will install a group 49/H8 for less.

Sixto
98 E320s sedan and wagon

Yes, that is a fair price.

Thanks...

Well Triple aaa showed up, but he said they don't have
the right size batteries for that car. He got it started, but
said the battery shows as very weak, so it's been running
for a half hour. I just need to get it to my mechanic.
Thanks
Lindajane

If it's running, why not just drive it to a parts store that does have the correct battery?

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

That’s sound advice. 👍

that’s a fair price for the right battery.

I drove to Raleigh to look at an ‘87 SDL a couple of years ago. The owner had run it out of fuel. He ran the battery down trying to start it not realizing he was out of fuel 🙄. He called AAA. They brought him a battery. They installed the wrong battery 🙄. He then realized it was out of fuel 🙄. AAA towed it to a shop. The shop poured in fuel and tried to start it without trying to bleed the system. The battery wasn’t sufficient to do constant cranking. He paid to have the car towed to his apartment complex. He was told by the shop that the “fuel pump in the tank” was bad and needed replacing 🙄. He decided to sell it. This is where I came in 😁. I took the battery out of my 350SDL, along with a 14mm wrench and had the car running in a matter of a few minutes. The look on his face was priceless 😂. We chatted for a bit and I could tell that he really didn’t want to let the car go. He wanted $800 for the car. It ran great but was rough on the inside. I couldn’t buy it knowing how he really felt about it. He was a happy camper and I had a 3 hour drive back home 😂😂😂.

It wasn't very long ago Mercedes Roadside Assistance brought us a genuine Mercedes battery and installed it in our 87. The battery cost was comparable to a Interstate and there was no labor charge. The guy was driving a new ML diesel and when I remarked on it he offered to let me test drive it.
Pretty sure that was less than 10 years ago, but I heard that free roadside assistance is no longer available for the old cars.

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Brian
87 300Dturbo 180K #14 head still running R-12 SOLD 12/2017
02 F350 Powerstroke 180K
05 Chevy Express 1 ton w/Royal Utility box 120K
08 Infiniti FX-35 40K
15 Golf Sportwagen TDI 35K
10 Sprinter 3500 chassis with a Class A Winnebago on it. 56K

Hello,

Thanks all, She was due to go to the mechanic for a number of things,
so It started again for me and I drove her to the mechanic.
He'll put in a new battery. Glad things went smoothly!
Linda

I was curious so I looked it up. Seems if the car was purchased from a Mercedes dealer before 1/4/2011 and you still own it you are still eligible. It doesn't really say you have to be the original purchaser but the words "and you still own it" would seem to imply that. I bought mine in 1997 from a salesman who worked at Mercedes Benz but the car was actually his personal car, so I doubt if I qualify.......although they did it once no questions asked. The attached statement is so full of loopholes though it is ridiculous.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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Brian
87 300Dturbo 180K #14 head still running R-12 SOLD 12/2017
02 F350 Powerstroke 180K
05 Chevy Express 1 ton w/Royal Utility box 120K
08 Infiniti FX-35 40K
15 Golf Sportwagen TDI 35K
10 Sprinter 3500 chassis with a Class A Winnebago on it. 56K

Some people have been stung so much by service bills. When their cars developed new minor issues. Rather than risk another trip over the front fender at service shops they sell them. My take is they cannot determine what is minor and what is not.

In two cases I repaired the issues in minutes after purchasing the cars. It is better to at least get the car out of their owners sight before repairing an obvious minor issue. You have earlier identified in these situations.

Although if the person was really poor I might just charge them for my trip and part or parts. A short trip with minor associated parts I could not charge for. I do not need all the marbles.

After going a thousand miles to pick up a 240d on an early ebay deal. The car would barely power out of the garage. I saw immediately that the throttle linkage was seriously impaired. Got the ownership and asked the owner for a few things. Repaired the linkage and the cars new power astounded him. For five years he said he had been driving this car back and forth to work and had assumed it was normal.

It was this way when he purchased it he claimed. Old guy like I am now so he might have been honest. As otherwise the car was as described. He was moving and also asked me if I wanted a fresh Mercedes rebuilt turbo engine for free. Unfortunatly it was still in the car and without tools or connections in the area. Plus the time of the year I had to leave it behind.

The lady had it installed to replace one destroyed when something damaged her oil pan. The records and invoices with the car showed it had been in service for less than a month before the car was totaled in a collision. This was a long time ago now. Today I would have just had a commercial auto shipper pick up the whole car. I also think that the specter of that incoming storm may have had an effect on my thinking when there.

This was a week before Christmas and I tried to beat a storm on the way home with only limited success. It eventually became too bad to drive. That is when I found out that you can idle a 240 all night for very little fuel and you will get adequate heat. I had persisted so long in deteriorating conditions I could no longer reach a motel.

My best find oddly came from a good service facility. It was a circumstantial bias situation. The local commercial bio diesel was taking out injection pumps at an alarming rate locally at the time.

When this car was towed in the starter was bad. The car was fuelled with new vegetable oil. The customer told them the symptoms he had been struggling with. So they gave him an estimate for a replacement rebuilt injection pump and starter plus labor. The owner got another car instead.

I replaced the burnt off connection between the starter solenoid and starter motor. A piece of stainless steel strapping works well incidentally. Located the obstructed vent to the fuel tank. When I was draining the alternative fuel out the flow had stopped.

Ninety cents in parts and perhaps in two hours time it was running reliably and like a clock again after being flat bedded home. Low milage examples well maintained show people what these cars where really like performance wise when new. Thirty three years old now and the interior condition wise is still exactly as it rolled out of the factory.

I guess we have owned this one for about ten years now. I even believe the odometer although that is still usually a major reach of faith with these cars. I even suspect that some of my acquisition experiences with the 123 diesels bind them to me in a strange fashion. None of them are for sale and I only can hope that some of our children and their children might take over the stewardship of them. I know I respect and appreciate the things I got from my father.

MY mechanic just called with car news...said he could get me one for $155, he said
it's big. He said I could chance it with leaving the old battery, but It has been in
the car for years and I don't want to chance it being dead when I've left no lights
on again...I hope this is a decent price. I can't get one and put it in myself...and
not sure what to buy....