Originally Posted by Edward Wyatt

The prices seem a bit high, but not outrageous. I imagine that the cost of doing business in over regulated California is quite high.

No matter the state, the shop has to PAY to dispose of the fuel filter, oil filter and oil. It also has to pay for uniforms, building lease/mortgage, shop equipment, tools, an Alldata type of service, shop supplies, rags, fender covers, electricity, phone service, payroll, workmans comp, and possibly health insurance. So the shop simply didn't make an obscene profit by charging 5.4 hrs to do an LOF service, fuel filter change, sparkplug change, and CO setup.

Changing the fuel filter on these cars wasn't a gravy job when they were new. Today with deteiorated fuel lines and hoses, the task must be done with the utmost care. I could see it being billed out as an hour of labor to be fair to the shop.

A proper service takes an hour to do on these cars, they also take a hair over two gallons of oil and a somewhat expensive filter. It's Mercedes, not a Kia. I can see an hour of labor there.

We are left with 2.4 hours of labor:

The man paid for the knowledge in addition to the above mentioned items. His car is fixed isn't it? Most shops wouldn't know how or have the equipment to set up a CIS fuel system. I assume the car was running poorly and that is why the plugs and fuel filter were changed. Consider yourself luck that they didn't condemn the $$$ plug wires and/or equally $$$ cap and rotor. Figure 1.4 hours to inspect the ignition system and replace parts as needed. Most euro shops use a scope before and after changes to make sure the secondary igntion is up snuff. How many of you shadetree guys have one of those in your garage?

A good shop would inspect the secondary ignition and replace parts as needed before moving on to a fuel mixture adjestment. That is what they did.

An hour of labor to set up the fuel injection is pretty fair, considering the car has to pass smog and should be done with a four gas analyzer that again, none of you shadetree guys own. They cost thousands of dollars.

I think the real issure here is about the economics of spending almost what the car is worth in repairs, not what the shop charged.