2001 E320 Service items at 63000 miles

My folks got the same car.

We did change ours this year. Only the MAF... it is easy to tell if O2 is bad with OBD2 scanner.

This is probably because someone whacked the parking curb or sidewalk curb.

Nothing happened like this.. Try changing bulb first and inspect the socket... they had a problem with the socket that cause this problem.

Nothing like this happened.

Nothing like this happened either.

Bushing for what?

$4000?! No way, not unless that includes a new transmission. You know what? You can change most of this stuff yourself... What are they charging you to fix the transmission?

Thanks for the comments.

The MAF replacement is about $700. He said the are a lot of bas code (I think he means to include the O2 in that lot, but he thinks the O2 error will go away with the new MAF.

The replacement of the tail light assembly is around $350.

One fog lamp support assembly around $350.

Dropping the transmission pan replacing the electronic shifter seal and servicing aver $1000. The leaks did not hit the ground but were splattered on the under carriage.

Replacing the 2 bushings on the front steering arms??, realignment etc around $900.

All that plus the basic B service.

Also one problem they did not report on that I mentioned; that on the last interval for service, about 11,500 miles, the engine oil level dropped by 1 quart. He said that was not unusual for the 3.2 engine to use 1 qt in about 8000 miles.

Bob

Tiger wrote:

My suggestion: find a non-dealer service shop. After dealing with the local dealer off and on for several years, I have decided MB makes its money on service, not sales.

Mike '00 S430, 93k miles.

1. MAF is 4 at autohausaz.com... and you definitely can install this yourself. When MAF fails, it triggers O2 sensor error... very common. O2 sensors can be scanned... if it has readings, it is fine... if it is zero, it is dead. The check engine code need to be reset with OBD2 scanner... free to use at Autozone.

2 Fog lamp is $100 for driver side or $104 on passenger side... you can install yoruself too.

1. Tail light is expensive but can be had for less.. autohausaz does not have this item.

1. The two bushings on the steering system... MB had a recall on the steering rack... where the steering is making rubber squeeze rubbing noise... don't know if you can still get it. Otherwise, I really would go elsewhere to have this serviced or for second opinion.... 0 is really rediculously expensive.

2. B service is nothing really special... it is air filter and oil change, wiper change along with lots of inspections (these inspections are not really necessary until the car reaches 100,000 miles in my opinion. A service is oil change and inspection.

1. 00 to service your transmission is outrageous... for this much money it is definitely not just for seals... but I am assuming they will also replace your transmission filter and about 8 quarts of MB ATF fluiid which cost each... The rear seal is very important to change.

In your car, you should change the cabin filter by now... actually every

30,000 miles. Dealer often overlook this and then the blower motor fails. Charcoal filter is nice to change but expensive and I don't think should be changed unless used very often. This you can change yourself too... not too hard.

Lastly, 1 quart for over 8000 miles is excellent... don't worry about this. I think my folk's uses about 1/2 quart every 10,000 miles.

..... snip .....

Yes indeed!

...... just kidding :-) mine has run problem free for about 150k km and is pretty typical

cheers

Mike is definitely correct. Unless you bought the womb to tomb repair insurance from MB, I suggest you find an independent shop. MB dealerships are not called stealerships for nothing.

I quit the dealer when the service sales guy could not tell me what the routine service I was paying $200.00 for involved. Basically it was change oil and filter, check belts and fluids, write large bill. This would have cost about $25.00 on a Toyota.

For your lights/body parts you might consider a used parts dealer (AKA Junk Yard). The prices can be very attractive compared to MB factory parts.

Good luck, EJ > My suggestion: find a non-dealer service shop. After dealing with the local

All car companies (and most printer companies) have learnt from Gillette that you can virtually give away the razor (or printer) and make your money from the sale of the blades (or ink-jet cartridges).

Richard For caravanning tips and information visit

That is what I feel too. However, I need the marketing guru to educate me here.

If I am a customer and given an estimation of $4000 for symptoms that don't look/feel like serious, why would I spend an arm and leg there, or any place at all? Isn't that the service advisor scares away the chance to do the repair and make money? Or they expect me to negotiate for part of the repair and think myself save a big money for not spending the whole $4000? What is the marketing strategy here?

Richard Cole wrote:

I'm not a marketer, I'm just a programmer,

There are several reasons why you would spend the money (inability to fix it yourself, not being able to find a cheaper alternate repairer, needing to keep the car on the road, etc., etc.) when the only other alternative is to (possibly) scrap the car and go out and buy another, after all, who would buy a used car with a load of malfunction warnings coming up?

Richard For caravanning tips and information visit

Thanks for all you'all inputs.

The bushings are on the control arm and I am surprised that one is cracked. (However, I did not find any recalls for front suspension parts on 2001 E320.) And our road here in Northern Cal are not that bad. (Though my wife did drive into a pot hole once that she recalls.

I have become adept at changing headlamp bulbs. Now using H7 ST (a high output version). The original lamps lasted about 3 years and the replacements last about 18 month average, though this last pair is going on 2 years. Replacing a light bulb is extremely fiddly and complicated for such a simple task.....that is one of the reasons that I baulked at the idea of laying on the ground and trying to replace a lamp (I only knew that one bulb was out) and decided that we should get both replaced from my experience with the headlamps. That was when they found the broken mount on the other side that was not blown.

Now is there an engine code reader that I can buy, and generic one and not an MB proprietary one? So if in the future there is something like the MAF that needs replacing I can see if it is something I want to do.

Bob

Tiger wrote:

Generic OBD2 scanner is all anyone really need unless they want to do really technical work. Autoxray makes a good one with free update for the life of the machine... I had the 5000 model but I didn't need that much and my uncle needs it so I sold it to him... he runs a garage... and it is all he need for his work.

MAF going bad doesn't indicate in the diagnostic trouble code... instead, it tells you that there is a rich running condition... and O2 sensor error. So you then go to the live data section and see the 4 O2 sensors... if they are registering... two of them will be fast and crazy readings... and two will be super slow change as when you step on accelerator.... which indicates all

4 O2 sensors are fine... for technical point of view... the engine computer was telling you that they read way out of spec reading from the O2 sensor... so it triggers the O2 trouble. In actuality, it was the MAF that caused the problem.

You can do half of these yourself. An independent shop can get you by for a lot less. These are not serious problems.