e500slr

I know this is the AMG forum but I need some quick advice about something. I took my E500 to the mechanic because the gearbox was leaking out. He's really close to me about half a mile so it was ok to drive, the car just started leaking. He said it was the gearbox sump gasket and so he did the gasket, filter and that little sensor as well as the cap. He reused the existing pan because he said it doesn't need to be replaced. Anyways I take the car and it doesn't leak for a couple of days but then starts leaking again. I take it back and he puts more oil in it and says its the cap for refilling the gearbox and puts a new cap on. I take the car and drive for a day or 2 then park the car for 3 days as I drive the E55 most of the time. A couple of days later I take the car out and drive it, 7 miles later on the freeway the gearbox starts whining and slipping and so I drive home immediately. The car when accelerating from a stop jerks violently, whines and slips. Anyway I make it home and then the next day I take it to him. Now this is the part that is making me question what to do next. He checks the car on the hoist and then tells me to drive it around the block for 10 minutes because he washed it underneath and wants to make it leak again so he can see where it's from. Again, he knows the car is whining and slipping and therefore something is wrong but tells me to drive it for a couple of minutes. I tell him to drive it himself to see what's wrong so he gets one of the guys working to drive it. Now while the car is clearly in this state the guy who works for him revs it to 4k rpm when driving and accelerates hard. About 5 minutes through the drive the car is leaking heavily now and smoke is pouring and the car is slipping bad, so bad the car wouldn't even take off in D at the lights. We get back to the shop and he puts it on the hoist again and inspects it from underneath. About 30 minutes of inspecting he tells me the transmission is gone. He then calls up and gets a quote for a gearbox and I tell him I'm going home to do more research and get other quotes for a gearbox. I ask him if while the gearbox is like this, if I can drive the half a mile home and not harm the engine. He says the engine is fine but while driving home the check engine light comes on. I make it home, garage it and turn the car off. I'm really busy so it's been sitting in the garage for a couple of days. I've been weighing my option for it but today I remembered the check engine light and I turned the car on, put it in neutral and revved very lightly and the engine sounded weird and there was a whine. This could have come from the gearbox but then again I was in neutral which I'm not 100% sure disconnects the engine totally.

My question and what's bothering me is did he damage the car more by getting one of his guys to drive it in that state and did he do damage to the engine hence the check engine light (I haven't followed up on the check engine light yet). I'm sensing some fishy behaviour as he called his "wrecker friend" immedaitely and got me a price. Could his actions with the car in that state have caused harm and shouldn't he have diagnosed the oil leak location from the beginning as it turns out it wasn't from the oil pan gasket which he charged me for?

Thanks for any help guys I just want to determine if I've been scammed by this guy.

cnterline

GregMB

Sounds like an incompetent mechanic to me...

You shouldn't have to drive the crap out of a leaking car for two weeks to "diagnose" that something is wrong. From the tone of your message it sounds like you already have concerns about this guy/shop. Take it to a reputable shop and get ready to spend some $$$.


-G

Sir-Boost-a-Lot

iTrader: (1)

Scammed is harsh word to use, implying he intentionally defrauded you. What more likely happened is you had a more serious problem all along such as a front pump bushing in your transmission beginning to fail, that the mechanic thought was a simple oil pan leak.

He fixed the leak, and as you kept driving the car, the other problem still existed and got worse. If that bushing was bad all along that Trans was going to come out of the car to be fixed no matter what. The whining you hear is probably from the pump inside your Trans, not the engine. It's always spinning anytime the engine is running, as it's connected directly to the crankshaft.

Best of luck with it!

3BNick

I wonder if your problem is you spun the bushing the torque converter rides in where it meets the fluid pump in the trans. The leak could have been coming from the bell housing and blowing back onto the pan where it would "look like" a pan leak to those who are unsure what they are looking at. Either way, it sounds like the box needs to be pulled anyways to find out. I agree with the others. Find a better shop.


EDIT: Damn! I'm too slow. Beat me to it. /\/\

55fanatic

My guess is that he wasn't scamming you, he was probably starting with the cheapest parts to replace. When my clutch went in my M3, my clutch pedal went dead. I had the clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder replaced first. when that $100 gamble failed we pulled the trans down to determine what the issue was. Just removing the trans is probably more in labor than to try replace the gasket and refilling with oil.

e500slr

Thanks for the feedback, scamming was probably the wrong word but I was a little puzzled with the way he treated it in it's condition. The gearbox was probably on the way out anyway. The problem is I've had too many dealings with bad mechanics and I just don't trust them anymore. I'm sure there are alot of great and honest ones out there but most will try to squeeze as much out of you as possible. The other thing that concerned me is he said he "really liked the car" and wanted to buy it off me. I told him that I would consider a good offer but I wasn't in a rush to sell it. He clearly liked the car though and so a little part of me thought he was trying to get it's price down by making it worse, offering me a crazy low price and fixing it properly himself but he hasn't actually offered to buy it so that's probably my crazy paranoia. It's not really the money I have to pay to repair it, I'm not bothered I know cars just go wrong and that's life.

55fanatic

That's the great thing about Forums, instead of asking if you've been scammed, you should be asking... 'Hey guys, I am located in such and such, who have you guys had luck with?'

All the Boston locals use pretty much the same place for our work... And we've had nothing but positives dealing with them

e500slr

I'm pretty close to Boston actually, I'm in a nearby town called Australia Seriously though you guys are so lucky to live nearby each other, I mean there's the SoCal guys, the NorCal guys, the Texas guys, the Georgia guys, the Boston guys, the Florida guys and so you can give each other advice, meet up, do group buys etc. We just don't have the same scene here as in the states. I can count on my hands the guys on mbWorld from Oz so yh it sucks

55fanatic

LOL I have heard of that town... I have family from there, lol.

But now I understand your predicament

Critter

Not a transmission expert but just how much was the trans leaking, drops or pints, quarts. When u took it back how much oil did the mech put in when you brought it back the first time? How much oil was added before the test drive and after washing. The part that disturbs me the most is the way the "idiot" was driving your car, 4000rpm crap, is this the way you expected the car to be tested. If the trans was low on fluid and being abused as such then It is obvious this was a contributing factor on the trans demise. Jerky, whines and slips are symptoms of low fluid. Now if the trans puked the fluid out the above comments on the bushing are sound. My guess is you had a leak, the repair was made but not enough fluid was added to the trans in the first place. What is the mileage of the car?

e500slr

The car has done 60k miles which I'd imagine for this gearbox isn't alot. I mean it's not low mileage but it's not exactly high either. It doesn't matter though what's done is done. It's just so damn hard to find a good shop, too many to choose from and most are incompetent, cheaters or both. I've had WAY too many dealing with bad shops not just this car but all cars I've had. Makes you think if you had the skills and equipment to repair you vehicle it would be invaluable. Car repair cost is mostly labor