I read about the whistling sound, but I couldn't hear it. It may have been there if I had a trained ear for it.

I have a several indy shops within a 5 minute drive of me, but the one I trust is less than a mile away. I decided on MB since I have a good relationship with the SA, they had an opening immediately, and they have parts on premise. The guys at European Werkstatt gave me a ballpark reference cost (which was right on) and admitted that MB WC isn't pricey compared to other dealerships.

Thanks for the offer, though.

 

no prob. and yes, that whistling sound was pretty faint. i just happened to have my window down and it was echoing off the wall of my work garage's parking ramp.

 

Hmm, I had my door open while parked in the garage and fired it up...didn't hear a whistle. And I like to think I have good ears being a musician and music teacher on the side.

 

well, i think i had just dewaxed my ears that morning, so that probably helped.

 

the bolts for the intake manifold are one time use just like the tranmission bolts. They are aluminum and break easily. They hold the intake manifold to the cylinder head. They have NOTHING to do with the head bolts. headbolts hold the head to the block and are actually under stress/pressure. good lord you people and your head bolts lol. take care of your tech too

 

wait a second, you guys are tipping service advisors? is that a joke?

 

sure, tim. don't you know that EVERYONE gets tipped out these days? oh, hold on, everyone except for me. maybe i'll put a tip cup out on my desk in my office.

 

Why would it be a joke?

I think it's fair to tip the SA and the tech that works on your car if they take good care of you. Sometimes being cheap will end up costing you more in the long run.

 

its hardly a matter of being cheap as much as it is an issue of having the reasonable expectation that someone to do their job. is it not enough that i buy a diff 60-80k car every couple of years with a provided warranty that i now have to also grease some local to fulfill a service i already own?

if this is the case, **** them. ill buy a ****ing honda on 22" spinners next and drive it right through the showroom window. rotors out? sorry, thats normal, talk to state farm.

 

haha this raises the best question of all time. how much do you really think the employees are getting paid. Just because you pay 140$/hr or more doesnt mean they see much of it. Service writers typically make from 4-10$ per hr based on there csi score (keep in mind they are just the communication between the tech and client). Techs range from 10-32$ depending on region. the 30$+/hr are far and few, very very old, grumpy, lazy, out of date and you probably dont want them working on your car. this is all based on flag hour commission system.

 

My immediate thought is why is that the customers problem and who cares? Do you tip gas station clerks for turning on the pump? Cheap *** ! Don't you know what they make per hour?

 

Well, this thread took an interesting turn.

 

thats a different perspective and a fair one. although pumping gas and repairing 80k$+ cars are totally different. surgeons get to name their price since they are running the show, techs not so much.

 

If I had a warranty I wouldn't tip them, in my case I don't have one, and taking care of the SA helps a lot.

 

tipping is ridiculous. i feel businesses should just pay their employees a fair wage. and yes, i know that probably means it will trickle down to the paying customer, but i prefer it that way. in south korea, for example, there is no tipping at restaurants (except for the tourist traps). prices are slightly higher, but it removes that stupid awkwardness of "oh, how much should we tip?".

also, i can better understand tipping for warranty work (esp if they shoehorn it in as a warrantable job), bc the tech gets paid less for warranty work.

having said all of this, though, i do tip my guys, even if via a case of sam adams at holiday time. i'm a walking contradiction!

 

I dont know how you guys do it! I would feel very awkward, walk upto my SA with 100 ppl around and offer him a 100$ bill or a case of lager.

On another note, lets bring this thread on track ;-)

 

There generally isn't tipping in Europe either. It's included.

Car should be ready in the morning so we'll see. If it's ready my 9am, I'm off to the dyno again.

 

In case I had to take care of my service advisor, I wouldn't be handing her cash.

I already have built a relationship with her. All my MBs have been to the same dealership and the same advisor. At times, I have spent 20-30 mins chatting up with her regards random cars - my son - or her daughter. Couple times, my wife's been to the dealership to pick up the car, and she gets treated the same way. During Christmas and holiday season we typically share joys by giving away different gifts to different people -our USPS mail man - my FedEx guy ( same guy last 3 years) - security at my office - my colleagues - etc etc. I have given my advisor wine bottle / fancy yearly diaries.

It's a relationship with the society.

 

Baby's back! Thanks for that other coupon thread, biglee73 reminded me I could use 2. I picked two $100 vouchers for $50 each so my service total ended up being $365.31 (technically, $465.31 if you include the cost of the coupons. The dealer gave it a free hand wash, like they always do, and even gave me some dealer plates

Now to reschedule my dyno follow-up...

 

Glad to hear everything went well for you. Now get back on that dyno!

 

Well, my appointment was supposed to be for 10am today, but as you can tell from my timestamp, that didn't happen. Working to reschedule for next week.

 

Good to hear! Glad everything was resolved without breaking your wallet

 

Hey Phenom, I was wondering if you scrape your lip at all?

 

Thanks, Sid.

Khmer...do a search on my threads, lol. I've been really good lately at not scratching it at all, but there was one tight parking lot in Oakland where I really couldn't take the ramp any shallower. That's the only one I have at the moment, but you can't see it unless you're on the ground.

 

I figured. Can't really avoid it with our vehicles. I've already scraped my stock lip with stock suspension at least 5 times going 1 mile per hour. Big dips. Able to go up the ramp. Going back down sucked.