4rvrDarwin

Good Day Fellows,

I own a 1993 400e with 103,000 miles. Got it 4 month ago when it had 99,000 for $3,800. No maintenance records. I'm the 3rd owner. Got it from a friend who deals with selling cars. He came across it at an action, told me about it, and now I proudly own it!

It's a California car (although it may have spent some time of its life outside of it?). It appeared to be well kept. Everything worked on it when I got it, save for a drivers electric headrest and a rear window defroster. Drove very nice.

I took it to a very well reviewed Mercedes indy, who told me the car is in very good condition. All bushings are good, everything appears in good/very good shape. Only issues is a very small leaking of steering box and power steering pump, and very small leaking from valve cover gasket. The rear shocks leaked too.

This mercedes indy was not the only one who has done work on my car, one other indy did radiator flash, and a suspension/brakes/tires shop did, well, shocks on my car. I've nugged them all to look and tell me about overall condition/anything needing attention. All said the car is in very good shape.

Since I got it, I've invested about $4k and small change into it to get it up to tip-top shape (OEM, OES parts, except brakes):

*new tires
*new brake discs and pads for all four corners (brembo rotors, ebc red stuff pads)
*a pair of rear touring Bilsteins shocks
*brand new upper engine wiring harness
*cables and plugs
*brand new engine mount
*brand new fuel filter
*transmission flash and filter
*radiator flash
*lots of different fuel system cleaners
*oil change Castrol Edge 10w-40
*cosmetic blemishes fixings (hood ornament, grille, headlighdoors, etc)

So, I've been putting abut a 1000 miles a month. I punch it all the time. Took the car to 130 mph several times. Car drove real nice with no issues. Smile every time. My confidence grew.

For this Thanksgiving long weekend I wanted a road trip. From LA to Portland, OR via Freeway 5, but to come back via Hwy 1 and Hwy 101 which snake along the ocean for the most part. I'd set off to Portland on Wednesday with MB; wife would fly to Portland on Friday, where I would pick her up and head to the coast to go back to LA along it.

I was concerned taking an almost 22 year old car this far. So I hit the search function and found couple of threads where people had similar concerns, but everyone just said "go for it", sighting examples of their own 3, 4, 5, 6 thousand miles road trips, etc. Needless to say, all of my family members and business partners were against this idea.

Merc made it to north San Francisco just fine. I had a lot of fun playing with several drivers along my way, including brand new 335 which was shocked when I wasn't far behind him at 140ish mph - not kidding

But just 1.5 mile from my motel (on the outskirts of northern San Francisco, I heard expensive metallic grinding and snapping, and saw coolant vapor escaping from under the hood. The car was not overheating, rather vapor representing coolant being spilled on hot parts.

I open the hood, and see that auxiliary fan has disintegrated. Attachment point broke off, some of the fins broke off and punctured radiator and cooling hoses. The radiator itself appeared dislodged from its position somewhat - like it was loose and wobbly. 3:30 am in San Francisco, on the first night of the 4-day, 2000+ mile journey. In a few hours it was morning of Thanksgiving.

Had the car towed to the nearest Mercedes indy (11 miles from break-down point). Took Uber to San Francisco international airport to get a rental as everything else was closed due to holiday. Rented a brand new red SLK250 and departed to Portland.

Now it's Monday morning back in San Francisco. An indy tells me that a radiator was not installed correctly by the previous owner: "... it was not on lower support, but squeezed in....." and "radiator was only attached to the front of the car via two top mounted clams" - I maybe mistyping what he actually said, but I'm relating the meaning as I understood it - "eventually clams gave off, radiator dislodged from it's position, and auxiliary fan started chirping it, breaking up, and puncturing radiator and couple of hoses".

He tell me I need everything new for auxiliary fan and accompanying parts, I need new radiator, radiator supports straightened (this may even require couple of weld spots to reinforce them). His labor rate is $135.

He is telling me I'm in for $2,400 + tax. **** huh?

I told him to fix it and headed to LA. Will go to San Fran next week to pick the car up and drive it back to LA via Hwy 1.

QUESTION OF THE DAY FOR ME: ss $2,400 + tax a complete garbage, or is it just on the high side, given that, apparently, the indy is located in a swanky part of San Fran?

Any inputs/thoughts/opinions on the situation from fellow w124 owners is very welcome. Need some compassion

Plutoe

Hey do me a favor--send me a PM, because I have a gorgeous waterfront lot available near Fresno!! It's in the swankey part of town!!

4rvrDarwin

Plutoe, compassion - not mockery. I had no choice where my car would break down. Towing to LA from San Fran to my mechanic was unreal. And I needed to go on to Portland to pick up my wife. As we'd be returning 1000+ miles along the shoreline, I needed a decent replacement for w124 - an SLK, not Ford Fusion.

I'm back in LA as I have work. I cant be towing car from one mechanic in San Fran to another via telephone in Los Angeles. I took a bet and had it towed to the nearest Indy on google maps.

4rvrDarwin

Is there not one person who could chime in as to what should something like my break down cost at an indy that charges $135 an hour???

Please, somebody, share your knowledge.

Plutoe

Wow, once again I am baffled at the verbage---what are you looking for---how to count to 135, why 135 dollars for labor, is 135 dollars per hour fair, how do I figure a bill based on 135 dollars/hr for labor when I don't know how many hours are allocated for the repair-------all I know if someone gave be a beer coaster quote for a repair job, I would had the quote to my dog and move on---

Maybe you are talking to the wrong person---do you know if they have a donut girl at the shop----that's my go to person when I am looking for Billy Bob or Abu Vignette to answer a billing question----why not call the shop and ask them the questions!!!

4rvrDarwin

Buddy, you seem to subjecting everything to the lowest common denominator. As such you are easily baffled by most basic question/s. When was the last time you did stretching? Being at least a little flexible is good for once' overall health.

I listed what is wrong with the car and what parts it apparently need. If you read my message, I've only had a car for 4 month; I did not mention that this is my first MB ever, so I have no experience. Judging from the numbers of post you have, and your daily activity level on this forum - you have experience.

Therefore, looking at what went wrong with the car:

* radiator support damaged (indy wants to straighten it and reinforce it with spot welds)
* fan, fan clutch, whatever else is part of that fan assembly; as the whole thing disintegrated
* radiator and couple of hoses

....and extrapolating from your experience on how many hours something like this might take for a shop to fix. Could you, as a old-benz-fellow-owner give me your opinion on what should something like that cost to fix

I have no choice in where to repair it. Car broke down 370 miles away from home, at 3:30am on Thursday the Thanksgiving. Slept 4 hours, got a tow truck to tow it to THE NEAREST indy, and went on getting a rental to get to my wife in Portland.

Th quote from the donut guy at the shop who happens to be the owner is $2,200 + tax

Je Suis Moi

Darwin - $135.00 per hour for an indy seems a little high to me. Mine here in the San Diego area only works on Mercedes and charges $95.00 per hr. But, you really had no choice and he knew it!!

That being said, I can see where the tasks that he will have to perform (replacing aux fans, radiator, etc) may be labor intensive. You have to move a lot of AC piping, etc. out of the way to get at the fans. Straightening and aligining supports may also take a lot of time to get it right.

Also, OEM Mercedes parts are the best way to go, but they are not cheap.

Good luck.

4rvrDarwin

Thanks a lot for your input. My LA indy also has $95 labor rate. This guy is in northern San Francisco, apparently in a rich(?) neighborhood. $135 is the rate he has on the sign hanging in his shop.

I realize what's done is done. I guess I just want to know how badly he overcharges me. Just so I know and find an inner piece with it. Not knowing is I think psychologically harder.

Thanks again!

93Corrado

Indy rates here on the East Coast hover around $100/HR too. If the Indy rate is $135/HR in San Fran, what is the rate at the actual MB dealership?

Sounds like you paid too much but in that situation you had limited options. So why beat yourself up about it? As you said, what's done is done. Don't dwell on it and move on. I would think actually knowing exactly how much you overpaid would be worse.

In the future always ask for an itemized estimate. Know exactly what they're charging you for the parts and the labor.

4rvrDarwin

Hey all,

So I got my car back. Had to pay for airfare and taxi from the airport to the shop. Damn San Fran, taxi cost was $115!!! When I took Uber from shop to airport, UBER was about $70!

At any rate, total cost for repair was settled at $2,300 including tax. For that I got 6.5 hours of labor and:

1. new radiator (Behr, but no MB stamp). Invoice says $530.... shish
2. Lower radiator hose: $117. Indy claims it's MB part
3. Fan blade: $197 (also claimed to be an MB part)
4. Visco Fan Clutch: $480 (also claimed to be an MB part)
5. small things, such as hose clamps, and antifreeze. etc <$50

Labor included heating up radiator supports and straightening them. No wielding was done.

Drove car home, taking it couple of times to 140mph. Drove very well, just like before.


Interestingly, when I just bought the car, it would routinely heat up even 110C - LA driving in dense traffic, high ambient temps. Car had cheapo green stuff. I re-flashed with 1 gallon of MBZ antifreeze, rest water, a bottle of water wetter, and it seemed to run cooler, never really exceeding 100-105C, and staying more often closer to 80C.

Now that indy put in new radiator and new cooling fill (also with MB antifreeze) the car runs warmer again, like it was with cheapo green fluid when I just got it. In traffic it may shoot up to 110C even though ambient temperature is now coolers since its winter month, even here in California. Indy says I have about 560% antifreeze to 45-40% water.

I doubt that waterwetter could be so effective, so that now with out it it runs warmer(?)

Also, I know the highest boiling point for cooling fluid is attained at 45% coolant, 55% water. Any thoughts on this and actual experience? Could the proportion of coolant to water really be the culprit of car running warmer again?

Ascension

Sounds more like the fan clutch is not working as it should if it runs cool until you get into traffic. Wonder if he used the MB factory or a cheap aftermarket.

4rvrDarwin

Hey,

Clutch was working fine before car breaking down, and now it has a brand new one, as the old one was destroyed by the radiator dislodging from its position.

I've noticed that my low speed fan does not come on A/C working or not, but both fans kick in when engine temp reaches 105C