earz04

Posting this for my buddy:
Has a 2003 S500 4MATIC and last night he heard a very loud pop followed by grinding anytime it was in gear, a very LOUD grinding. After having it towed to the stealership they quoted him almost 11k for the repair's.

The repairs consist of the following:
Front Drive Shaft $1,000
Right O2 sensor at $283.50
Shield around the starter (??) $106.25
Rack (I believe relating to rack and pinion steering) $2,200
Right catalyst hardware $710.00
Starter Motor $386.40
Align (No clue what this is due to price) $1,300

Plus a few random nuts, bolts, screws etc


Part's subtotal: $6347.35
Labor: $3462.00

Sales Tax/Shop Fees: $1079.03

Total: 10,888.38

Any advice on any possible recalls or advice on what direction to go is much appreciated!

babyman1737

You're looking at multiple repairs for many different, and unrelated systems. Driveline, exhaust, steering, ignition. To repair all of these systems as you have explained sounds about right for the price at a dealership.

You have two other options, which are to do repairs yourself, or to go to an independent mechanic. I don't know of any recalls that are a part of the problems you explained. The car is 10 years old, and probably outside of any recall period anyway.

Don't be too shocked, $10k to repair an S-class that won't run (well) isn't bad. I had almost $20k in proposed "repairs" on my S600 when it ran perfect, except for a rear tie rod they said needed to be replaced.

haoz129

Stick with your chief complain then carefully select major issue you want to treat.
Ask them what are the problems your car has not what they can replace.

When the dealer saw my car they pointed out a 5mm hair thin crack in my sunvisor which cost $500 to replace.
Guess what, I am still living with it.

I'm not suggesting you to ignore problem and I do value dealer's professional opinions.
I'm encouraging you to prioritize the existing issues and digest them in your pace.

And Brad is right, it is always smart to get a second opinion from an indy.

Good luck.

Howard

MBtech1098

From the description it sounds as if the repairs are all related. It seems like the front universal joint of the front driveshaft broke. If he does not need a trans or a diff, he should consider himself lucky. I have seen front diffs lockup causing the u-joint to snap and the driveshaft putting a hole in the side of the trans.

All the parts listed are in that area.

I am curious to know why alignment is listed at $1300.

S600Keith

That does not sound completely out of line for the dealer pricing. It is, of course, way out of the realm of common sense. You will probably be able to complete most of that on your own for 15-25% of the dealer pricing. Similar to babyman, I had an S600 that was running just fine and took it to an INDY mechanic and was quoted over $19K for repairs/maintenance. Did most of the work myself for less than $2500. There was some things I could not do myself (even the indies said they could not do the Electronic Ignition Switch so that was done by the dealer) but there is nothing mysterious or inherently difficult about working on these cars. If you have wrenches and screwdrivers and know lefty-loosy-righty-tighty then you can fix just about anything on these cars. Wish you luck with the problems. Sounds like you have a few different systems that need attention at this point.

Keith

tusabes

Find a parts car on eBay or the parting out forum in this website and get all the needed parts

Then find a good Indy to swap them all in

Should cost under $1000 parts and about $1-2000 labor