isosunrise91

I had my car read on Friday by a local mb tech who has star. Some minor errors like brake lamp switch, and drivers side keyless go antenna. However, he saw a code that mentioned intake manifold has an issue... nothing about running lean. No check engine lights, nothing. He said "it's on its way out and will fail most likely leave you stranded".

What's a job like this cost at an Indy? Is it worth it? 09 e350 4 matic with 172k. Otherwise a solid car! I'm highly concerned about even driving the car...

95viper

isosunrise91

I believe the flap.. but he did this through star so could it tell him the flap was broken? He mentioned there's a diy kit out there but doesn't suggest as anything is possible and the entire manifold could be shot.. how much time do I have until I'm stranded? What's the cost to replace something like this?

95viper

MBENZTECH

Just replace it with a new aftermarket made by Pierburg. Fixing the outside problems will leave you with the inside problem. I have seen plenty at my shop where they fix the outside and a few months later the inside plastic decides to break.

cetialpha5

The Pierburg manifold is around $600. Plus labor. As mentioned above, if you plan on keeping the car for a while, you should replace the manifold. The interior flaps get gummed up and eventually break off causing engine damage. Fixing just the lever and the external parts does nothing for the internal parts and it's just a basic short term fix.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...ierburg-516475

isosunrise91

Car has 172k miles on it.. is it even worth it at this point? Spent $1400 2 months ago to rebuild the rear differential... Still needs brakes all around, and a new tensioner in the front + belt, and a coolant flush to get rid of some Walmart fluid the last owner has in there.

Opinions?

95viper

isosunrise91

Im not afraid to do the Serp Belt + tensioner, other pulleys were already replaced so its that much easier on me. The manifold is something different and probably out of my league. I would also attempt the coolant flush, I saw a few videos and DIY's. I also dont think the coolant in the tank now would kill the car. Just dont want to put to much into a car where its not even worth the amount of money a manifold costs LOL.

cetialpha5

The other things like brakes, belt, tensioner are just basic maintenance. For the brakes, if you measure the rotors, you might even be able to get away with just buying the pads as sometimes if it's the first set of pads, they might still be thick enough to just slap another set of pads on them. There's actually youtube videos on how to replace the manifold, but it's a bit involved and will take some time. Your best bet is an indy but someone claimed that they just got the manifold and the dealer did it for around $300 which I didn't think was too bad. At least once it's done, you probably won't have to do it again during your ownership.

isosunrise91

Not to worried about the brakes, like you said basic maintenance.. But all brakes need to be swapped previous owner has slotted in the front, non slotted in rear. Squeaky all around. Have to press all the way down to engage brakes assuming pads are extremely worn?

Im not even sure what the car is truly worth at this point.. I look online and get mixed numbers.

cetialpha5

Well Nadaguide.com, kbb, etc are the usual places people look for car values. With that high a mileage, nadaguide says about $4500 for clean trade in, $6k retail. So if you're lucky and it's in good shape, about $5k. Still worth fixing at this point. When the drop down to $1-2k, then you start to wonder.

https://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/2009...350-AWD/Values

Not sure what kind of pads you have, maybe you just need to bleed the brakes or the previous owner put on some crappy aftermarket pads. My 2008 is fine, I just put Akebono pads all around. Stopping power is fine and no dust. You can probably get them from FcpEuro, they have a lifetime warranty on all their parts, otherwise, the pads are cheaper on places like Amazon but the pads themselves only have a 30 day warranty. Akebono is oem for many manufacturers too so no worries about the pads.

adamgoldberg

I'd recommend *not* doing this. It'll cost about as much to buy a micrometer to measure the rotors as it is to just buy new rotors.

Squeaky does not mean worn, it means there's vibration - most often from either being poorly bedded (broken in) or installed without proper lubrication, etc. I use a brake-specific "stop squeak" spray, it's kind of like aerosol plastic spray, that I spray on the back of the pads, and make sure to clean and lubricate everywhere that moves (slides, pins, etc). I've never had a problem with one of my cars and a squeak. (Though, to be fair, in the 1980s when I worked at a Midas shop, we had all kinds of magic incantations to remove squeaks (things like sanding the rotors, for example), and sometimes they worked.)

I depend on the wear indicators, and always (on a German car) replace rotors & pads at the same time (so if the wear indicators don't work perfectly it doesn't matter - the rotors are being replaced anyway).

I've just recently replaced the front brakes on my W211 E350 with reasonably inexpensive aftermarket pads & (drilled/slotted) rotors. Works fine, no squeaks. Stops as well as OEM. You can get front & rear pads, plus four rotors for less the cost of OEM parts for one axle.

If you have to press hard to engage brakes, that's a problem that may not be fixed by replacing pads (& rotors). Try to re-break-in the brakes (google for procedures, basically you brake HARD several times in a row to get everything hot, then let it cool down slowly). If that doesn't help, seek professional assistance... you don't want to need to panic stop someday and not be able to.

cetialpha5

You do realize that you can buy one for $5-$10 on eBay and you can even just get a caliper for about $9 on Amazon. I already have one so didn't cost any extra to measure it.

95viper

tjts1

Just replace the damn brakes. Pads and rotors are dirt cheap.
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adamgoldberg

Please don't use calipers to measure disc rotor thickness. Especially cheap ones. They're not that accurate. You should be using a micrometer.

For example, (these are numbers from some random web site; these may not be for W211, but they're in the right neighborhood) rotor thickness new is 30.0mm; minimum thickness allowable after refinishing is 29.0mm, discard thickness is 28.6mm. Do you really think you can measure with a $6 caliper to 0.1mm accuracy? At the very least, use a cheap version of the correct tool: ($52.10) -- like I said, cheaper to buy rotors than to buy the tool to measure them.

cetialpha5

There's still cheap ones out there. There are even a few under $20, but those are from China and would take a month for it to ship. Here's one in the US for $25. Or you could just eyeball it....

And yes, that caliper claims it's accurate to .1mm, as we used to say, close enough for government work.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Professiona...M/112957047912

Also the cross drilled rotors aren't that cheap. They're about $112 each from FCPeuro for the Zimmerman ones. At least they have a lifetime warranty.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...00-2204211812b

tjts1

The FCP warranty is BS. You have to ship them the part, wait for them to make a decision on it then if you're lucky they'll ship you a new one. In the meantime your car is sitting there on jack stands waiting... and waiting.

Centric E550 X drilled front rotors (same as E350 sport package) were $22 on Amazon.

adamgoldberg

That caliper says "Resolution: 0.01”/ 0.1mm; Accuracy: ±0.2mm/0.01”. That is, it'll display tenths of mm, but it's only accurate to +/- 0.2mm. If a new rotor is 30mm, and you must replace when replacing pads at 29mm ... do you really want to be +/- 20% ? My Mitotoyo 500-752-20 claims "Resolution: 0.01mm or .0005"/0.01mm, Repeatability: 0.01mm / .0005” , and I was able to get measurements +/- 0.5mm with poor technique.
If you're shopping for a micrometer for this application, you either need a brake-specific one (0.3 - 1.3"), or probably two (0-1", 1-2"). Best idea is to call around to pawn shops. I've seen nice ones for $25.

I thought FCP's deal was buy the replacement, send the old one + a form back, and then they refund you. Best case, you get a refund. Worst case, you've paid for a wear item.