i took my car ('92 400E)to the local mercedes dealership yesterday due to the fact that it's still hesitating and missing. they diagnosed it as needing new spark plug wires and quoted me only $1400.00 for the job!! now that would be approx. $700.00 for parts and the balance would be labor.....fastlane wants approx. $200.00 for the wires, $2.50 for each plug and $12.00 to ship it two day air......hmmmmm, i wonder which way to go.......

Are you sure thats not a quote from your local hospital for a medical procedure?
Oh wait... thats way to low for a hospital bill.

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-Marty

1986 300E 220,000 miles+ transmission impossible
(Now waiting under a bridge in order to become one)

Reading your M103 duty cycle:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=831799&postcount=13
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=831807&postcount=14

If I had to guess I'd bet that the estimate they gave you includes distributor caps and rotors. They're a common problem on M119 engines. They're also quite expensive. Call the service advisor who gave you the estimate. Let us know what happens.

actually, i replaced the caps and rotors myself last year and told the service advisor as much. they were not included in this quote

I recently replaced the plugs and wires in the S420. It took me 6 hours over 3 days to lay the wires such that the slack is even between the spark plug valley and the distributor area. The biggest problem was getting to the coil behind the headlight. What a PITA. Hopefully the W124 coils are positioned for easier access.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

From the implied labor quote it doesn’t appear to be much easier.

But when you (rjbodratti) do this or have this done pleeeeeeease report back about any improvement. After sitting for a few days, my 400E start up and run fine for about 15 minutes, but will then sputter for 10 minutes, and after that runs fine, and continue to do so as long as I use it daily. Previously one of the gurus (Stevebfl) suggested plug wires as a solution. I just don’t get why one or more wires would fail intermittently, and only after a few days of non use.

Steve if you read this, would you explain??

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

i will report back after i do the job this weekend. from what sixto has reported, i may need three days to get the job done......

my son and i installed the new plug wires and plugs in my car over the weekend. the entire job from start to finish took just under 3 hours. i am happy to report that car is running great - the diagnosis from the dealership was correct.

Let me make sure I have this correct.

Assuming Fastlane makes a reasonable profit at $220 for plugs & wires, and you would pay the dealer some sales tax on that amount (let's just say $20):

$1400 minus $240 (a "normal" retail parts price) = $1160 gross margin for the dealer. Dealer labor of say $30/hour plus 35% burden (taxes, work comp insurance, etc) for two hours for an experienced mechanic with the correct tools (his own!) would be $81 labor cost. Throw a $50 at the Service Advisor/Writer, chip in a $20 each for the parts guy and the cashier and the dealer only has $989 left to pay the rest of the bills.

Poor dealer.

A good comparison would be dealer rates vs independent rates. You have a better chance of winning the Power Ball than earning a comfortable early retirement from running an independent shop.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

i would have had the dealer do the work if the price was anywhere near reasonable (in the $400.00 range). my only reason for taking it to the dealer in the first place was for their diagnosis of the problem. they charged me an $82.00 diagnostic fee, (basically 1 hour of labor) which i thought was reasonable enough. had i taken it to my normal independent garage, i'm thinking that it would have taken more time for a diagnosis, so even though his labor rate is only $60.00/hr. it may very well have cost me more there. so the whole job cost me around $350.00 in parts and diagnostic charges and the three hours or so of labor. it's almost inconceivable the dealer would quote that kind of number....maybe the didn't want to screw around with it and high-balled the quote........

Is there any way you can find out exactly why the estimate from the dealer was so high? Everyone knows the parts and labor cost more at the dealer but there must be some other explanation for such a high quote. Believe it or not they may actually appreciate knowing the outcome of your situation.

i did get an explanation of sorts from the service advisor when i took the car in. he explained that the plug wires had to be put together by the dealer - they did not come already assembled from the wire manufacturer, whoever that might be. so there must have been an hour or two of labor just for that, then of course the "hand looming" of the wires themselves when they were installed in the car. before i picked up the car from the dealer, i had already gotten the cost of the wires from fastlane. so i did mention to the service advisor that i could get the wires for a couple of hundred dollars. he reacted as if he knew he was boning me - that the price he was quoting was ridiculous to begin with. as i said previously, maybe they just didn't want to be bothered doing the work.......

That's why the "dealership" is also known as the "stealership"

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1999 Porsche 996 Carrera Convertible
1994 420E - SOLD
1986 300E - SOLD, what a car
609 Certified