Vlad-II

Ok so yesterday to impede on my issues after this devastating Hurricane Sandy, and being without electricity for 5 days, my NYS Inspection was due. So I did it. And it FAILED.

They are asking me to pay these outrageous prices below for the parts. I told them, after a hurricane like this, this type of money can best be spent on other things more important. He told me my wheels could pop off the car at any moment if I keep driving the car like that. Yeah right I find that hard to believe, they need money so they can upkeep their luxurious state of the art service center. That's really what it is lol.

Front Lower Control Arms - $1,100
Torson Bar - $220
Valve Cover Gaskets - $890

Bottom line, these are outrageous prices and I will not pay it so doe you guys have any suggestions? And this is crazy because I replaced the LCAs less than a year ago and they already failed. The thing is though they weren't replaced at the stealer, my Indy did the job and I don't even know if those parts were genuine. Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated as to what parts I should order, to keep these prices at bay because there are other things that I'd like to do in the car, can't dump that much money on something that I know could be much cheaper.

I find it hard to believe that LCAs would fail an inspection... They took and scrapped my red inspection sticker off too, to add insult to injury. This is the LAST time ill go to a dealer for an inspection, only reason why I went was because they were the only mechanics open after this ridiculous storm.

6speedclk

Brake clean the valve covered! Put end links on your sway bars and take it to a different dealer!

Vlad-II

Do you think I can get away with just changing the bushings? Because the LCAs were changed in early 2011 so thats a little more than a year and a half ago but I still find it kinda crazy how they're already faulty.

6speedclk

Did you change all 4 controarms but not the bushings? A cheap set of bushings could start leaking prematurely. If you change the bushings only the front ones will need done. On the valve covere the only thing that realy leaks is the separation points of the breather chambers that are sealed with black RTV and the breather hoses get hard and brittle crack when when you remove them.
I only recealed the breather chambers on my C240 and its held up grate. I also baught my car with a cheep set of control arms and ther have been fine for 2 years and 30k miles. But the back ones were labeled left and right incorrectly so I had to switch them around when I noticed my wheel hitting them.

Vlad-II

I think I'm gonna go ahead and just try changing the bushings, its a cheaper alternative and at least it will help me pass the inspection as there won't be too much play. If anybody can recommend a good pair of cheap control arms, but good longer lasting LCAs that would be great.

As for the valve covers, they told me "valve covers", which ones? All of them? The dealer quoted me $890 to get them all changed, I don't know which one's they are referring to.

As for the Torsion Bar, another thing thats new to me, I searched everywhere on Parts.com and various part sites for that, couldn't find Torsion Bar anywhere, my guess is they mean "Sway Bar"? I swear I changed that bar at least 2 times already since I brought the car. So thats ridiculous if its broken again. But my guess is if the LCAs are bad, it in turn causes damage to the Sway Bar, that holds the LCAs in place.

So if you guys can recommend a good site where I can purchase the part and just pay the labor to have it installed that would be great, certainly not paying $2000 dollars though, because thats just foul. I'd rather spend that money when the car gets to the 100K or heck, put that as a down payment towards a new lease, lol.

REGULAR GAS CONCERN:
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In wake of Hurricane Sandy, there is a terrible gas shortage that really is effecting my entire area. I had no choice fill up my car with 87 Regular Gas. The car says 93 Premium Gas Only on the fuel tank. If I do it just once, will it cause serious damage to the car? The car is 10 years old and it has about 94,000 Miles on it and its close to its second major service, (Service B). I've NEVER put regular gas in my car, ever except for this time. So I figure that since I rarely do it, it couldn't harm it...

Vlad

Peydidy

Iv put 87 in both my w203s and never noticed a difference, but I still put 91 (thats the highest level in my area) in 99% of the time just because everyone says your soposed too. I think you'll be fine doing it this one time

mleskovar

You're right, they're trying to rip you off. They can fail you for that stuff? Sounds like there's a scam going on between the inspectors and the DMV. Since you already paid for the inspection have them show you where any of their "findings" are bad enough to fail a safety inspection. Wheel fall off? Are you noticing any problems with tire wear, stability, cornering, or anything? Is oil dripping to the ground? Are independents qualified to do safety inspections?

FrankW

What kind of inspection other than emission does NY have?

That sounds like a lot of dealership bull to me.

MW_ATL

Regular fuel will run fine. The ECU will compensate. We went through having no premium in Atlanta for a while a couple of years ago. You might notice a difference in feel after a while or you might not - depending on how well the butt-o-meter and/or imagination are tuned.

Hope everything gets back to normal for you soon!