Drink.Tai.Tea

Invoice from mechanic.

This post is for a friend if mine who owns a 2012 Mercedes C250. When the car is running a gasoline smell can be detected from the engine. Her mechanic told her it was a broken intake tube. He is waiting ting to charge her over $500 to fix it. I'm hoping it is something simple to fix that I can do for her so she won't get ripped off. However I'm not certain if intake tube means exactly that, an air hose? I have a copy of the invoice that I'll attach. I can't make out all the handwriting to figure out the details of the part.

Josh.A.Hussey

Price seems right for the part.
Labour seems a bit outrageous... If it's what I'm thinking it is, it's a 5 min fix you could do yourself guaranteed.

Do you have a VIN for her car?
I can get you the repair info and exploded views. I don't wanna see your friend get scammed!

Knightmare69

This is the first time I've heard anything about the OEM tube breaking. I've always had a gasoline smell with my car and my mechanic never found any issues. Our friend should get a second opinion or at least have the shop point out where the tube is broken.

Josh.A.Hussey

+1

And even if it did break, I figure you'd get flag a MIL if prob from MAF sensor or something... Especially if you were smelling gasoline.. Maybe it would cause the ECU to pump fuel in thinking that you were running really lean and trying to get a richer fuel mixture?

What engine is in the C250 again?

Either way, it seems a bit odd...

Knightmare69

M271 evo according to wiki (the evo part)

Josh.A.Hussey

Ahh, not the same engine i have. Didn't think so.

But either way, it should NOT cost her 1.5 hrs to repair. If that is even the necessary repair...

IGB

You are a good friend...

Generally, the cost of labor will vary from one region to another. So without knowing which state you are in, any information will be speculative. Also, I am not sure if this estimate was provided by a Mercedes dealer or an independent shop.

One thing you can certainly do yourself, is the air filter. As for the "Intake tube", it appears that this is the blow-up chart for it... It probably a lot more complicated than it really is.



And a quick search on random Mercedes Parts website (Click here for link) reveals an MSRP price of $250, with a discounted "wholesale price" of $187.50...

IGB

Also for the tires, the Michelin Pilot Super Sport 225-45R17 (Fronts) can be had as low as $133 each ($43 difference on each tire X 2 = $86) and the Michelin Pilot Super Sport 245-40R17 (Rears) can be had for as low as $161 each ( $46 difference on each tire X 2 = $92) for a total savings of $178 on the tires...

Josh.A.Hussey

IGB, you give very sound advice. Very knowledgable fellow.

twowheelin

I would be very skeptical of the 'intake tube' being related to the gasoline smell. There is no liquid gas anywhere in the intake tubing. Fuel is sprayed inside the head, which is on the interior side if the throttle body which is separated from the shown intake tubes by the turbo and IC. I've had the intake parts shown pulled apart, and there wasn't anything that would take more than 15-20 minutes to replace. Also the charge of $275 to change 4 spark plugs seems quite high.

IGB

Here is how I would validate the idea that the exhaust fumes smelling like gasoline is related to a cracked intake tubing. It is possible that with a broken/cracked intake tube/inlet, unmetered air is introduced into the system which would then run "lean". This is when PCM would try and compensate for the lean mixture by adding more fuel to the air/fuel mix, some of which ends up not fully burning and escaping through the exhaust. And hence, the gasoline smell.

Agreed! Keep in mind that the $275 he is charging includes the parts cost of 4 spark plugs @ $19.50 each, (which can be had for $9.67 on Amazon), but even then, the remaining $195 he is charging is for 1.3 hours of labor (which sounds about right for an L4 engine because the labor rate book shows 1.8 hours for my V6) but the rate they are charging is a whopping $150 an hour.

I almost said "this sounds like dealer (parts & labor) pricing"... Turns out this is a dealer!

IGB

You are very kind, sir! I do what I can to reciprocate to a great forum where everyone contributes more than their share.

You do a great job offering the ultimate repair tool to whoever needs it, like here:

Josh.A.Hussey

Thank you sir.

And in regards to your validation of the gasoline smell possible cause, I agree completely. See my second or third post. Same train of thought!

Glad to see I'm not out of my mind haha.

IGB

You're very welcome!

I actually did read that part... after I posted. And I too was comforted by the similarity.

Great minds think alike...