ChuckinTucson

Just had the oil changed on my mother-in-law's E320CDI (2006). They recommended a coolant flush for $210, a fuel filter for $220 and said that the motor mounts were compressed and would be $834 to replace them. Do these prices seem reasonable to anyone? These prices are from the local Mercedes dealership.

wjcandee

Okay. Here ya go.

You have answered your own question. The prices are from the dealer, so no, they are not reasonable.

It's a 10-year-old car. It doesn't need new dealer parts. It needs good aftermarket parts.

It's an E320. It's a widely-serviced car. A good mechanic with experience in Mercedes is what you need. An honest person.

Now, let's break it down. Coolant. Look in your manual. Are you at 150,000 miles yet? I believe that MB doesn't recommend a coolant flush until 150,000 miles. And they recommend only to use the Mercedes coolant. This is one dealer thing I would agree with, although a good shop could do the job. But on this one thing only, you do want to use the official MB coolant. You can buy it online for less than the dealer. I haven't checked, but FCPEuro probably has it. Or Huskerparts.com. Those are two sources of MB and aftermarket parts for less than your dealer probably wants. Also, Partsgeek.com will have the parts in a box from the OE manufacturer (and they will show you who is that Original Equipment manufacturer), as well as good aftermarket parts. And you should be able to find a good shop that will charge you 100-120 per hour for labor, or even less.

Fuel filter -- again, look in your manual. What mileage does MB recommend a fuel filter change? Looks like partsgeek.com has the Mahle fuel filter for your CDI, which is a top-of-the-line brand, for $43.23. (Some of the filters on there look like they may not be the right filter, but the Mahle is definitely for the CDI. You can always CALL partsgeek.com and their folks will tell you exactly which part goes on your car, and often offer a discount or something if you buy it right from them on the phone.) Plainly, you can get someone, even perhaps Pep Boys, to install that filter for not a lot of money. Amazon.com has the Mann (which is excellent) fuel filter for $36.

Engine Mounts. $834? Hahahahahaha. I'm not sure if the engine mounts on the CDI are different, so you should check by calling, but Partsgeek has Lemfoerder and Bilstein engine mounts, which are OEM parts, for around $85 each. Huskerparts.com, about $100 each for the CDI mounts in an MB box. IF you need them...

PS Next time you need the oil change on your MIL's car, think Pep Boys for about $110 all in with the right Mobil 1 for the car. And they will give it a once-over as well.

Hope this helps...

cmriv

1280 or so dollars for some routine maintenance on a car that was worth 65k$ brand new is extremely reasonable. You can be a go by the "owners manual" kinda guy if you want, nothing wrong with that. Coolant breaks down, well before 150000 miles, owner manual is retarded. See, if you routinely take your car to a benz dealer you would see they have specials all the time on these kinds of things, and i understand this is your MIL's car. I know at my dealership we offer a winterazation special during the cold months 99 bucks, parts and labor, can't tell you how many people come in and request that, EVERY year. This would explain why their oil filter housing seals never leak, coolants exchanged yearly, and a minor/major service with oil change in between keeps those seals healthy. On another note, i do like the people who drive mercedes and try to loophole everything, ends up costing them more money down the road which in return helps me stack my bank account. Yes you can purchase many OEM benz parts from different vendors, but if you get work done at a benz dealership for 365 days those parts installed on your car are warrantied. No if and's or but's, unless you yourself cause damage to the parts after being installed. I'm biased, I work on these things for a living haha

cmriv

How many miles are on this diesel 211?

samaritrey

The coolant flush seems a tad high as Cmriv says most dealer have 100 specials before winter.
The Fuel filter takes no time at all like 15 minutes if you have the proper click-r pliers to get the claps off the fuel filter (can be gotten for less than $20.) The genuine filter can be found for $55 or the Mahle (OES) for even less. They say the fuel filter should be changed ever 20k on my car (same filter) so figure it is the same for the older I6.

The engine mounts are also not bad you can get Lemfoerder (OES supplier) for under $90 each side. The labor for this would be what an hour or two?



Fuel Filter Link http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/..._pg1.htm#item0

Mounts http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/..._pg2.htm#item5

CMRIV How often do you see oil filter housings leak? Never really heard of it unless the o rings are placed incorrectly or not replaced with the oil filter. And coolant every year is way overboard now every 3-4 years or say 75K I could understand if you are ocd about that type of thing but more than that is crazy kind of like the 3-4k oil changes when using synthetic and a high quality filter.

ChuckinTucson

Thank you everyone for your input. There is only one dealer in Tucson and they are definitely priced high because of that. I used to go to a service adviser there that was really a good and honest guy. Unfortunately he left after many years. The guy they turned me over to is nothing but money money money.

Unfortunately, I haven't found a good honest independent place in Tucson yet. If anyone knows of one, please let me know. I've been to three different MB independents and their prices are almost, but not quite, as high as the dealership.

The car has 104,000 miles on it. Nobody in the family is very mechanically inclined, so DIY is not really an option.

wjcandee

Those are good Pelican Parts links. Also, the Febi (Bilstein) mounts seem priced particularly-favorably at Pelican, and they're going to be a high-quality product as well as the Lemfoerders.

The original poster might think about sniffing around the local Pep Boys to see what flavor it is. In my experience, some limit the work they will do, while others (like the one nearest me) do a lot of heavier mechanical work for commercial accounts, and staff up with some true master mechanics in order to do so. When I was in there recently, they were changing an engine on an electrician's van and repairing deep in the transmission on a guy's older KIA, a guy who swore off the dealer because he trusted these guys more. Like any chain, your mileage may vary, but Pep Boys will always match someone else's price, and they are usually happy to install parts that you bring to them, which means you can bring your own filter, headlight ballast, MAP sensor, alternator, whatever, and they'll put it in. In fact, mine has several times recommended that I get whatever part from the Mercedes dealer, whereupon I get a good aftermarket part from Amazon or FCPEuro or PartsGeek (and now maybe Pelican Parts), and they put it in. Not every guy in the shop can do this work, but several can, and at the end of the day they have done good work for me.

So you might get yourself a good Mann or Hengst oil filter from Amazon and roll in there and ask them to give you a Mobil 1 oil change using your filter (they would likely recommend the Mobil 1 filter, which is okay but not great), and see how they react to working on a Mercedes. Then hang around, drink their free coffee, and see what kind of work they are doing on other people's cars. For a lot of things, they might be a good place to try.

ChuckinTucson

That's a great suggestion. I'll give it a whirl.

PelicanParts.com

Yes, as stated, we offer some good pricing for your platform and if you need any DIY help please take a look at our Tech Articles. You can always give us a call and we can have a specialist help you over the phone with any questions as well.

-Luccia

ChuckinTucson

Thanks, Luccia. I'll take you up on that offer.

PelicanParts.com

Glad we can be of assistance!

-Luccia