01BlackE320

After 6 years of ownership and 75k mile of driving (total of 135k on the car) I had my first breakdown. My daughter uses the car down in Delaware and lost the serpentine belt on her way to work. She was able to muscle it (no power steering) a few miles to her job in the pouring rain.

This was labor day and AAA towed it to a local repair shop that they recommend but was closed. The next day I called the shop and they informed me they wont touch a Mercedes but there's a Mercedes specialist right next door called M-Tech (wilmington, DE). Called them and went and grabbed the car. Called me right back and said the pulley split in half and shreaded the belt. Said there was some noise in the tensioner and recommended I replace that as well. I thought was good advise. This is all stuff I could do myself but I'm in NY and she really needs the car. Total for new belt, pulley and tensioner was $485. That's a lot of green but I obviously paid MSRP for parts. at least there's no tax in Delaware . Anyway she was back on the road later that day running perfectly.

Musikmann

That price does not sound unreasonable. As you stated, they probably bought the parts from a dealer and charged you MSRP plus maybe some of their own markup. At least you should now have the new style tensioner which is less likely to give you trouble.

01BlackE320

yeah I'm not complaining. That thing could have grenaded and taken casualties, like my water pump or A/C. My daughter got to work safely and I found a solid Mercedes Indy in her neighborhood.