Mbgallardo

Hello everyone,
This is my first time posting here, My GLK 300 2011 4matic just get serviced and the dealer gave me a few recommendations:
Motor Mounts: $1830.00
Engine Belt: $230.00
Brake Flush: 170.00
Thrust Arm Bushings: 805.00

As you can see it is more that $3k,very expensive form my point of view, my question where can I get those parts but a cheaper price? any recommendation??
Many thanks!!

C300fan2

I would take it to a local Indy euro mechanic if you arn't mechanically inclined to work on the vehicle yourself. Dont trust the dealer at all.
I did the belt myself for 40$, and brake fluid for 20$.
Are you having vehicle shaking or clucking when starting and stopping?
PS i have dealers flat out lie to me about things that needed work.

Mmr1

107123210

I know people hate dealers and I usually on't go to them either if I can do job myself. Or if it is a straight forward job ton one of my older cars that I am happy with local shop doing.

I can see some saving in using an Indy, but "not 1/3 the price" !

In our area, the dealers hourly rate is 48% more than my local shop. If the job requires OE parts, then no saving there. If doing brakes, tires or some other job where aftermarket parts are available, there could be a saving. But probably not more than about 25% if parts are of OE quality. Cost at indy might then be 1/3 less for some jobs.

Another thing with using dealer, is that they have fixed hours for most standard jobs and will quote you ahead of time. The mechanics are trained and follow the book when doing repairs. Many indies do jobs without the MB specs for torque, fluid etc. And many don't have the Star system for diagnosis. There are of course some very good MB specialist indies, but you wont find those everywhere.

Mmr1

B737

i cant believe they get that for a belt change...or a brake flush. absolute robbery. the engine mounts however are no joke. that is a big pita to DIY, I bet an indy would be close to dealer quote on that. Spark plugs on the 272 motor can be changed easily with simple hand tools.

OP if you are the least bit mechanical I would opt to do belt, plugs, and brake flush DIY...

107123210

Plugs are a bit more work than the old cars we grew up with. But only because each plug has a coil that must be removed first and plug connectors may be hard to release without tool. At least you only have 6 plugs on M272. My E320 V-6 has 12 plugs and they are not so easy to get at. (I changed them recently). First time, many years ago, I had dealer do them. It cost C$420 (incl tax) when labor rate was $110/hr. 2.2 hrs (for 12 plugs) At that time plugs were $10.25 each.

For brake flush, you really need a pressure bleeder. Motive Power or similar. Not sure about on GLK, but to do a proper flush including ABS system, they use some hand held device or computer to cycle the valves. I am in middle of brake job on E320 and will flush brake fluid - Just bleed at each wheel until fluid runs clear. Last brake flush was at a US dealership - They only charged me US$64.00.

I had serpentine belt break on E320 . Had to be towed to dealership in USA. 1hr plus $82 belt for total of US$204. Plus towing, but it was covered by insurance.

When it comes to GLK, ours is still under extended warranty, so any work would be at dealer. Our other 3 cars get DIY service except for jobs I would rather someone else do!

NYCGLK

Don't get me started about dealers.My dealer said my transfer case was leaking and that it should be resealed for 800 bucks. 3 years later it's not leaking, it's sweating, which according to MB is normal.
Also my dealer could not figure out which light bulb was out. Not joke, they could not. And it's one of the largest dealers in the country! After that they never saw my car again.

Engine mounts don't "have" to be replaced if you are willing to live with a some vibration. You can shop around and see who might do them for you for less.
Engine belt is a joke, it's a 1min job to replace, ok maybe 2min if you count rolling car in and opening the hood.
What are thrust bushings? Suspension arms are not that expensive and easy to replace, but would require alignemnt. Does you car pull certain way or has weird tire wear? My car is almost 10 years old and only saw alignment after once fender bender. All bushings look pretty good and car drives well.
Brake flush for 170 is actually not terrible. I did it once at a dealer and they put like 4 litters through the system. But an easy DIY with motive bleeder.
FCP Euro has most of the parts for probably half off the dealer prices. Dealer over charge for parts like nobody else. Some areas might be better than others. Engine mounts from dealer are 400...OEM are 144.

Mbgallardo

thanls for your reponse.
yes, im having vehicle shaking when stopping, do you think that brake flush service is the solution?

NYCGLK

nope, most likely warped or heavily grooved rotors that need to be replaced

Mbgallardo

thanks guys for all your recommendation, i actually started looking some videos on youtube about DIY,.

Rascally Wabbit

Motor mounts are hydraulic & do fail. Our dealership mentioned that ours were bad at 60K miles which surprised me. The job is a bugger & does require a special tool to access the bolt or bolts on one side. I wanted to do it but the Mrs. said to throw money at it. Indy shop utilised OEM parts & did the job for $1200.00, not cheap but the parts themselves are not cheap. The results are amazing, the smoothness at idle which had slowly eroded & not noticed is now smooth as glass. As to brake flush, is not that a part of the "B" service & to be performed every 20,000 miles?

B737