How much does a dealer charge for an inspection?

[iuecon99]

I took my 1998 E320 to the repair shop yesterday and got the following list of suggested repairs:

Alignment to fix play in left inner tie rod $345
Replace spark plugs $410
Replace coolant recirculation pump $395
Front wheel bearings have play $430
Rear differential slight leak, reseal $600
Clean washer fluid reservoir $65


Some of these I can do myself or won't have done. Mechanic said only the first ($345) was "essential" right now. The total of the repairs at $2245 is certainly more than the car is worth. I plan to just drive it into the ground and hope to get an additional 5000 or 10000 miles out of it then just scrap it. Currently has 145000.

I'm thinking about going in to a dealer to have a second opinion inspection done so I qualify for roadside assistance as this hunk of junk could completely fail at any time. How much do they normally charge for this? Just want them to examine it and see if they come up with the same suggestions, not do any repairs.

[anziani]

iuecon99,
You don't tell us where you live but it sounds like you need another mechanic. If you include your home town in your "avatar" we could make recommendations. $345 is outrageous for alignment. $80-100 is the correct amount. In fact all of the other things quoted are extravagant. My '97 CL500 just turned 150K and it runs like the fine Mercedes it is. You should easily get another 100K out of your E320. I'd find another mechanic quick!
Anziani
'97 CL500 150K
'95 E420 132K

[ILUVMILS]

Im guessin the $345 includes replacing the left inner tie-rod and an alignment.

[iuecon99]

Originally Posted by ILUVMILS

Im guessin the $345 includes replacing the left inner tie-rod and an alignment.

Yes it does, I didn't make that clear. I would be surprised if the prices are far out of line, this place has a good reputation. I am in the Portland, OR area and there don't seem to be many Mercedes mechanics here. It's more a question of what can I get by without doing and still safely drive the car for 1 or hopefully 2 years than not trusting the mechanic.

I work from home so I am not a heavy driver but in the summer I put on a couple hundred miles every other weekend. So probably an average of 450 miles per month for the year with most of that in the summer.

I am in the Portland, OR area so it's damp all the time which I assume isn't great on the car but not as bad as the midwest.

[iuecon99]

Originally Posted by anziani

iuecon99,
You don't tell us where you live but it sounds like you need another mechanic. If you include your home town in your "avatar" we could make recommendations. $345 is outrageous for alignment. $80-100 is the correct amount. In fact all of the other things quoted are extravagant. My '97 CL500 just turned 150K and it runs like the fine Mercedes it is. You should easily get another 100K out of your E320. I'd find another mechanic quick!
Anziani
'97 CL500 150K
'95 E420 132K

I think these guys are pretty good, but if anybody has recommendations in the Portland, OR area to get a second opinion I'd appreciate it for sure.

The big problem is I don't have the time/inclination to do many repairs so I would have been better off with a Honda or Toyota, and that'll be my next car, just trying to see what more use I can get out of this one first.

[anziani]

Iluvmils,
Good point. Since you are a Benz master mechanic, how do the other charges look to you?
I wouldn't fool with the "slight" differential leak at this point. And $430 for front wheel bearings? Sounds like a thorough cleaning, repack and re-torque would solve this problem.
Anziani

[JamesDean]

Originally Posted by anziani

Iluvmils,
Good point. Since you are a Benz master mechanic, how do the other charges look to you?
I wouldn't fool with the "slight" differential leak at this point. And $430 for front wheel bearings? Sounds like a thorough cleaning, repack and re-torque would solve this problem.
Anziani

New wheel bearings for the 210 appear to be 50-80 per side. Not horrible really.

[jake12tech]

$410 for sparkplugs? What are they trippin' on acid? $345.00 is OK for the tie-rods that's it though. Find a new mechanic is my only advice to you. These guys should be put out of business for for that quote on spark plugs.

[JamesDean]

Originally Posted by iuecon99

Alignment to fix play in left inner tie rod $345
Replace spark plugs $410
Replace coolant recirculation pump $395
Front wheel bearings have play $430
Rear differential slight leak, reseal $600
Clean washer fluid reservoir $65

Dealership alignments run from $125 to $189 where I am at. Dealership wanted to replace my front tie rod assembly at $215 (labor+parts) per side. So assuming the alignment includes a new assembly, $345 sounds OK. If not...then tell them to piss off. IMO, You don't align a car with play in the tie rod. You replace it and then align it. Especially for $300+

Spark plugs you can do yourself. I cannot see $400 for that. I believe the M112 has 12 spark plugs. So $60 in plugs and 2 hours?
Here is a how-to, same engine different car DIY: M112 Spark Plug R&R - MBWorld.org Forums

Not sure about the coolant recirculation pump. Is that the main water pump? or the aux pup for the hvac system--if it has that? From what I can tell the aux water pump looks easy to replace. I think the part is like $150-200 maybe.
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/tech-help/262078-w210-aux-water-pump-brushes-replacement.html

Front bearings have play? I assume they mean to replace them? Not sure how much that runs. If the w210 is anything like the w124...I think its $20 in parts per side and maybe an hour of labor? $430 seem excessive. If they dont replace them and they just adjust them then $430 is insane.

Not sure about the differential leak. What exactly is leaky and what are they going to replace? Based on their other estimates.. I don't think $600 would be enough to pull the different and actually reseal all of it. I could be wrong ?

Clean washer fluid reservoir? of what?

[iuecon99]

Originally Posted by JamesDean

Dealership alignments run from $125 to $189 where I am at. Dealership wanted to replace my front tie rod assembly at $215 (labor+parts) per side. So assuming the alignment includes a new assembly, $345 sounds OK. If not...then tell them to piss off. IMO, You don't align a car with play in the tie rod. You replace it and then align it. Especially for $300+

Spark plugs you can do yourself. I cannot see $400 for that. I believe the M112 has 12 spark plugs. So $60 in plugs and 2 hours?
Here is a how-to, same engine different car DIY: M112 Spark Plug R&R - MBWorld.org Forums

Not sure about the coolant recirculation pump. Is that the main water pump? or the aux pup for the hvac system--if it has that? From what I can tell the aux water pump looks easy to replace. I think the part is like $150-200 maybe.
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/tech-help/262078-w210-aux-water-pump-brushes-replacement.html

Front bearings have play? I assume they mean to replace them? Not sure how much that runs. If the w210 is anything like the w124...I think its $20 in parts per side and maybe an hour of labor? $430 seem excessive. If they dont replace them and they just adjust them then $430 is insane.

Not sure about the differential leak. What exactly is leaky and what are they going to replace? Based on their other estimates.. I don't think $600 would be enough to pull the different and actually reseal all of it. I could be wrong ?

Clean washer fluid reservoir? of what?

Thanks- yes, that was to replace the tie rod and align. I was just typing off the estimate but when I talked to them they did say it needed to be replaced then aligned.

The spark plugs didn't seem urgent and that's something I'll do myself (even I can do that... I think).

Believe it is the HVAC pump. That one he didn't seem to think needed to be done for a long time, if it all. They seem to give everything they would recommend to have it "as good condition as possible" rather than "safe to drive even if uncomfortable and looks like crap" which is what I'm going for.

Differential leak doesn't need to be fixed. I've monitored that myself for several months and at this point it's not something I would at all consider doing, especially with only trying to squeeze another year or two tops and 10-12K miles out of this car.

yes, that was to replace the front bearings as well. Basically this car is falling apart but given my limited usage I'm hopeful it'll carry me another year at least.

[JamesDean]

Originally Posted by iuecon99

Thanks- yes, that was to replace the tie rod and align. I was just typing off the estimate but when I talked to them they did say it needed to be replaced then aligned.

The spark plugs didn't seem urgent and that's something I'll do myself (even I can do that... I think).

Believe it is the HVAC pump. That one he didn't seem to think needed to be done for a long time, if it all. They seem to give everything they would recommend to have it "as good condition as possible" rather than "safe to drive even if uncomfortable and looks like crap" which is what I'm going for.

Differential leak doesn't need to be fixed. I've monitored that myself for several months and at this point it's not something I would at all consider doing, especially with only trying to squeeze another year or two tops and 10-12K miles out of this car.

yes, that was to replace the front bearings as well. Basically this car is falling apart but given my limited usage I'm hopeful it'll carry me another year at least.

I dont know if I'd say falling apart.

Some of the items are somewhat routine. Tie rods, bearings, are normal wear items. I think 150K or so is a decent life for them. I suppose it also depends on the quality of life. I think sitting for periods of time isnt good on them. I had to replace the bearings in my 420SEL for that reason.

[iuecon99]

Originally Posted by JamesDean

I dont know if I'd say falling apart.

Some of the items are somewhat routine. Tie rods, bearings, are normal wear items. I think 150K or so is a decent life for them. I suppose it also depends on the quality of life. I think sitting for periods of time isnt good on them. I had to replace the bearings in my 420SEL for that reason.

I drive at least somewhere every day but there are times it's only 5 miles or less around town. Have to think the rainy weather hasn't been great for it either. I bought this used and it looks like as someone here put it there was a lot of "deferred maintenance" on the car since the person was planning to sell it. Having said that, I did get a full inspection that did not turn them up at the time of purchase so it's possible the 5K miles or so I put on was the breaking point for some wear and tear items. Will probably see about fixing the couple most critical items that I can't do myself. It's a shame I don't know anything about cars.

[pawoSD]

Prices look high compared to the dealer around here I go to...

I imagine a big part of the cost is also the markup on the dealer parts. I know for spark plugs on an E320 it can be done in under 2 hours with about $65 of spark plugs (there are 12 of them).


An E320 maintained should go much much further than 150k. My brother's has 151k right now and runs fantastic. It has had all needed repairs and maintenance done when needed. Any car will need repairs. If the car is in decent shape otherwise its much more cost effective to repair it than to dump it. People are too quick to look at the "value of the car" vs. repair costs. If you have to buy another car, what is that going to cost, + repairs it will inevitably need? A car is not an investment as a general rule. With proper maintenance that car should easily make it another 100k or more.

[iuecon99]

Originally Posted by pawoSD

Prices look high compared to the dealer around here I go to...

I imagine a big part of the cost is also the markup on the dealer parts. I know for spark plugs on an E320 it can be done in under 2 hours with about $65 of spark plugs (there are 12 of them).


An E320 maintained should go much much further than 150k. My brother's has 151k right now and runs fantastic. It has had all needed repairs and maintenance done when needed. Any car will need repairs. If the car is in decent shape otherwise its much more cost effective to repair it than to dump it. People are too quick to look at the "value of the car" vs. repair costs. If you have to buy another car, what is that going to cost, + repairs it will inevitably need? A car is not an investment as a general rule. With proper maintenance that car should easily make it another 100k or more.

You do make a good point- there will definitely be repairs regardless. I was spoiled by the last car I had, a Toyota Avalon. Got it used with 55K miles, drove it about 75K miles over 6, 7 years and literally not a single big repair, and hardly any even minor repairs. Didn't have a car the last 7 years so I forgot some things and made some big mistakes. The most important one was probably buying a Mercedes when I can't do any repairs myself since they're an expensive car to care for.

If I could get another 2.5 years (20K miles) out of it with only about 4 or 5K for repairs I would be OK I guess. But yeah, I need to forget about the cost of repairs being more than the value of the car and focus on what will minimize my costs going forward. I am going to list it on craigslist and see if I can get $2000 for it I would probably sell it and move on to something cheaper to maintain.

[oldtrucker]

I imagine a big part of the cost is also the markup on the dealer parts. I know for spark plugs on an E320 it can be done in under 2 hours with about $65 of spark plugs (there are 12 of them).

Stealership mark ups may be up to 300%, so what was quoted contains probably a pretty juicy parts mark up, at the same time a Stealership may also charge $140.00 per hour for labour.
When it comes to estimates or check ups, the dealer / repair shop is in between the chairs. If they don't include something into the estimate and it breaks down, the customer will complain, why didn't you tell me.
If the shop lists everything, the customer will complain, does it really have to be fixed, again the shop is put in between the chairs.
So they rather tell the customer, your heater seems to be a little weak in output and you driver door opens a little rough!

Wheel bearing, unless they make a grinding popping noise, they can be repacked and properly adjusted.

Tie rods, you'll definetively want them fixed.

The rest of the estimate, could be ignored or fixed when it really breaks.

And on another note, a 1998 E320 does not fall apart after just 16 years, although it may seem like it.
Nothing in the world will work forever without maintenance or repair!