1. I actually live in the same city as you, do you actually have a shop that I can come bring my Mercedes to to get worked on?

   Reply

2. I joined a Mercedes forum, Closest shop recommended was 300 miles away, I said thats too far for service. His response, ask anyone who's had work done there. So far, no one in my area would even consider driving that far for service, go figure.

   Reply

3. I mean looking for the problems by yourself, they won't tell you the truth

   Reply

4. In my country it's not like that..they will tell everything is fine…you have to look for

   Reply

5. Around where I live you would get laughed at for asking for a pre-purchase inspection on a car. Let's get one on a dodge neon.

   Reply

6. I just picked up a '02 E320. It's clean and mostly just needed rear brakes (one pad got stuck and prematurely wore out) and the AC doesnt work. I did the brake work, then took it to a shop to get an estimate of what was wrong with the AC. They were unsure and even refused to charge me the diagnostic time because they didnt know how to deal with Mercedes. So, I took it to the dealership; AC compressor worn out, only engages at high RPMS, and a leak at the expander valve (really a seal on the line going into the expander valve); Dealer Quote: $3500 + 3 days.

   After doing some reasearch, I got all the parts for $280; brand new AC compressor, expander valve, and drier + all new o-rings and seals. It's all possible to do, but I'll admit that expander valve is a bit tedious to get to. So, Dealership vs DIY cost difference here was extreme: $3500 vs $280+ cost of refrigerant $60.

   Disclaimer: AC work can be easy as long as you can follow directions. Also do not vent refrigerant; get a shop to evacuate the AC system for you, should be about $35-$60 for them to do that depending on the shop. The AC manifold can allow you to fill it without problem, or you can just have a shop charge the AC system for you usually around $150 to do that.

   Reply

7. Another cool thing that would have brought fun and content was putting cheap crappy ebay parts and beating the car in a cartrek style but even tougher and just have plain fun
   Don't get me wrong, i love 202s, i own a w202 wagon, but this thing is far from being worth even a cheap, flipper-type restoration: 180k miles, 10 owners, a lot of rust, even questionable rust repair wouldn't have been worth
   It's a car to have fun with and then scrap it when you are done with it, it's sad, but no matter if it is a one-off car, it's worthless in this condition

   Reply

8. Man just replace the engine&transmission

   Reply

9. Rip off America

   Reply

10. It’s amazing that they don’t even try to reduce their prices at all. I get an email once a year with a $25 coupon…lol $25. Rotors and brakes at my local mb are $1200-$1400 EACH WHEEL! So multiply that by 4, and then subtract $25.

    Reply

11. Highly informative and enjoyable!

    Reply

12. Wanna sell it ? Its your fault im obsessed with old benz now lol

    Reply

13. Excellent and very well done. I need to replace the brake booster hose for my 1998 MBZ E320, I took out the old hose end from the booster side, but I cannot take the old hose end from the intake side. Please help. Very much obligated.

    Reply

14. An $200 C43? I find that hard to believe, must have been a real clunker then. Or that's a typo. Also is that a Mercedes with a 722.6 transmission? Could you tell me anything about its potential issues?

    Reply

15. I have been working on my 2000 ML ever since it went out of dealer warranty. Really not that hard as long as you are mechanical/electrical inclined. I have seen and fixed all the problems as he mentioned DIY. Good thing with ML series is that you can simply crawl under and don't need a lift…

    Reply

16. But what is YOUR time worth? You didn’t factor in the time you had to spend DIY. There’s a “cost” associated with that too, right?

    Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.