AMGfan

My dad accidentally hit a half empty 12 oz can of soda onto the center console. The car is stuck in limp mode and we took it to MB of Tampa. The damage is the following (per their breakdown):

2001 E320 (out of warranty)

Body Harness $1150
ETC Control Unit $596.70
Fluid $11.21
Connectors $8.00
Lock $.78
Misc. $200

LABOR: 45hrs = $5000

Total w. Tax plus Shop Fees = $7967.59

What to do? I'm thinking of calling AAA and getting the car out of there and taking it to an independent repair shop. I know of one in Tampa I have used, but that has been almost 3 years ago.

Question 1: What do you guys think of taking it to an independent repair shop?
Question 2: What do you guys think of pulling the body harness from a salvage yard (they have several here)?
Question 3: Anyone in Tampa on the board that has experience with a shop?

Thanks.

Jakpro1

What do I think....I think I am ditching mine when the warranty runs out. Ouch!

Yeah, I would look to a local Euro repair shop and at least get an estimate.

Here's a quicky link to google Eurocar service search ...some are Benz dealers

Sorry to hear of the trouble

AMGfan

Jak...checked out a shop and we will bring it over there for them to look at it...I told the shop manager about the estimate and he was shocked. His exact words..."What is MB of Tampa doing?" I just wish MB would kiss me before bending me over.

Jakpro1

At least dinner, maybe a movie.

Dvinn

Yikes, 8 Grand from a spilled soda? The cost of parts doesn't look that bad but Looks like the dealer is over charging you on the labor.

Grumpy666

Ouch! In addition to my condolences, here's a suggestion for future reference. By telling him the previous estimate, you've given him some wiggle room to inflate his estimate and still be well under the MB quote. Don't disclose this info when you're doing comparison shopping. Now, he might be a stand up guy who would never do that - or he might have a house payment coming up with no immediate funds - I don't know. I've been around long enough that I no longer give other people a chance to hang one in me before I mistrust them. Guilty until proven innocent. I know - it's a rotten attitude, but maybe that's why so many old people are cranky - they've experienced more of what life has to offer.

TECHNICIAN

You shouldn't need all that. You need a shifter assembly. Should be about 600 for parts and 3-4 hours of labor. They are trying to **** you.

mainroman

First of all you need to sue those suckers for trying to rip you off.
I'm very VERY seriously in doubt that you need either of those parts.
Why the hell would you need Body harness for? Wires are isolated, you can deep them into water and then use.
ETC Control Unit - not really sure what it is.
But anyway, you can buy parts for around 300-500$ used. But with warranty.
And pay about 300$ in labor.
But even that seems too much, I'm sue you can fix it with 500$ budget.
Sucks anyway - but at least it is not 8k, or 1.5-2k independet shop will charge you.
www.car-part.com
Lot's of parts there. Also check your local junk yards.

But first, find someone with brain to tell you exactly what is wrong with the car.

mainroman

5000/45 - 111$ per hour.
I mean, what Are they going to hire a lawyer to do the job???
Come on.
I think even those pigs at the dealerships charge like 30-40 per hour, not more.
And also they have a book, and the book says how many hours is needed to get a job done and how much to charge.
And they cannot charge a dime more, even if they were working on it 2 weeks.

aintME

This sounds about right. My brother did the exact same thing (spilled soda) in his clk. From what I remember, all he needed was the "shifter assembly" which might be the ETC control unit? I still have the old one sitting in my garage. When he got the old unit back, it still had soda in it!

I heard this happens often with the cup holder being in the "perfect" location. Needless to say, he learned, the hard way, not to put any open drink container in that frickin cup holder.

AMGfan

They did use that work book...must have been in dog years.

mainroman

It's amazing how they rip people off ;-(.

AMGfan

ETC Control Unit $596.70
Spacer $8.00
Lock $.78
ATF (tranny fluid) $12.00

MB of Tampa recoding $185

Labor $225.00

Total w/ tax $1114.40

He stated that the short was not from the spilled soda. He stated that when he took out the ETC unit that it was full of TRANSMISSION fluid. Apparently, there was a leak from the transmission plug (I'm not very technical so I apologize) underneath, which flowed THROUGH the harness wires and ended up in the ETC unit.

He stated that he replaced the ETC unit, removed as much of the tranny fluid from the harness, and replaced the leaky transmission plug. He estimates that this was a problem that has been brewing for at least 2-3 YEARS and that is just bad engineering on MB's part.

He stated the reason they wanted to charge 8K was they were going to replace the wiring harness completely (mucho labor - still unreasonable).

So...MB was going to make us think it was the soda in the transmission boot area which caused the short. Thanks a lot MB.

PS...The mechanic stated that I would need to change this transmission plug at least once a year to make sure that it won't happen again.