HELP Trany trouble;(

[ScorpionSys]

they made a deal with chrysler

 

[NYPDFrogman]

they made a deal with chrysler

actually Chrysler did well under Daimler
they did a great job with the 45 RFE transmission
I owned a new charger and I called it the poor mans Mercedes zero problems with the vehicle I traded for a Jeep Grand Cherokee much more practical up here in the snow

 

[Awibrandy]

What is this world coming to? Mercedes in business with Chryler, Volvo is in with Ford! What's next?LOL

That's good to know Frank!

Well, I got my baby back, and all is well with the world in my little corner of it.
Heck, even the heater/ac vents are working as they should.
But now I'm to poor to visit any lfs, or members for that matter.
Oh well, at least I have Angel back.:hug::groupflip

 

[tomtoothdoc]

So what is wrong with Mercedes with the exception of the high cost of parts & labor?
I grew up respecting Mercedes for a extremely well built vehicle.

high costs of parts and labor is not the only thing....the service manger at my dealer must get "performance review base bonus" or something. simply put they act like they get kickbacks from the "repairs".
the labor they charge would make many family practice doctors reconsider their profession choice....lol. yes i understand they have overheads but man....400 for an oil change is kinda steep.
when a friend did the oil change for me (i think it was like $70 or so in parts and hooters wings and beer for labor...lol), the dealer would not reset the service indicator since i didn't get it done at the dealership and lied when i asked if i can reset it myself. they said it needed to be done by some fancy obd diagnostic doodads. after a 10 min. search online, i found a link from mercedes itself with instruction on how to reset it.
every time i bring the car in for a service it's $400-1500. and as far as a lay person not a mechanic can tell, there was nothing wrong with the car. it just has a dummy message of service a,b,c,d,etc due in # of miles.
the one that tops the cake was this:
my wife's dashboard indicated that brake pads needed service. the car had about 38 to 40k miles so it seems reasonable the it needs brake pads. i brought the car in and told the service manager to let me know what is needed and what is the estimate before anything is done. got a phone call 3 hrs. later that all 4 rotors and brake pads needed replacement in the tune of $3600 (which later came down to something like $3,400 then $3,200 when i wanted a second opinion and wouldn't budge)....was charged something like $90...half of the $190 hourly rate (how is 90 half of 190 is beyond me ...must be the new math) because i was a good customer said the service manager. right after i p/u the car, i brought it to a local garage well known in the neighborhood for specializing in german cars-- mercedes, bmw, audi, and porsche. the mechanic was wondering how the dealer can tell i needed all 4 brakes and rotors without removing the wheels...my wheels were perfectly dirty and had no clean smudges...sign of someone touching them. perhaps that super fancy obd diagnostic doodads can tell without their removals.....lol. i got the front rotors and 4 wheels pads done for about $800. yes they are not "mercedes parts" but hell it stops just as well as it did and the lease is up soon so it works for me.
going back to bmw's.....had an x5 for 4 years and spent $120 or so on wheel alignment 'cause that's not a covered service and $1,000 or so on tires....there were no other expense at all....the brake pads and heck even the wiper blades were covered. they even topped off the washer fluid and wash the car every time it went in. the '07 r350 on the other hand so far have cost me in the neighborhood of $3,200 in maintenance and tires.(would have been over 5 g's if i had the brakes done at the dealer)

still wanna buy a mercedes? :smash:
i won't even get into the porsche cost of maintenance.

 

[ScorpionSys]

high costs of parts and labor is not the only thing....the service manger at my dealer must get "performance review base bonus" or something. simply put they act like they get kickbacks from the "repairs".
the labor they charge would make many family practice doctors reconsider their profession choice....lol. yes i understand they have overheads but man....400 for an oil change is kinda steep.
when a friend did the oil change for me (i think it was like $70 or so in parts and hooters wings and beer for labor...lol), the dealer would not reset the service indicator since i didn't get it done at the dealership and lied when i asked if i can reset it myself. they said it needed to be done by some fancy obd diagnostic doodads. after a 10 min. search online, i found a link from mercedes itself with instruction on how to reset it.
every time i bring the car in for a service it's $400-1500. and as far as a lay person not a mechanic can tell, there was nothing wrong with the car. it just has a dummy message of service a,b,c,d,etc due in # of miles.
the one that tops the cake was this:
my wife's dashboard indicated that brake pads needed service. the car had about 38 to 40k miles so it seems reasonable the it needs brake pads. i brought the car in and told the service manager to let me know what is needed and what is the estimate before anything is done. got a phone call 3 hrs. later that all 4 rotors and brake pads needed replacement in the tune of $3600 (which later came down to something like $3,400 then $3,200 when i wanted a second opinion and wouldn't budge)....was charged something like $90...half of the $190 hourly rate (how is 90 half of 190 is beyond me ...must be the new math) because i was a good customer said the service manager. right after i p/u the car, i brought it to a local garage well known in the neighborhood for specializing in german cars-- mercedes, bmw, audi, and porsche. the mechanic was wondering how the dealer can tell i needed all 4 brakes and rotors without removing the wheels...my wheels were perfectly dirty and had no clean smudges...sign of someone touching them. perhaps that super fancy obd diagnostic doodads can tell without their removals.....lol. i got the front rotors and 4 wheels pads done for about $800. yes they are not "mercedes parts" but hell it stops just as well as it did and the lease is up soon so it works for me.
going back to bmw's.....had an x5 for 4 years and spent $120 or so on wheel alignment 'cause that's not a covered service and $1,000 or so on tires....there were no other expense at all....the brake pads and heck even the wiper blades were covered. they even topped off the washer fluid and wash the car every time it went in. the '07 r350 on the other hand so far have cost me in the neighborhood of $3,200 in maintenance and tires.(would have been over 5 g's if i had the brakes done at the dealer)

still wanna buy a mercedes? :smash:
i won't even get into the porsche cost of maintenance.

I love my BMW and its maintenance package.

 

[Awibrandy]

Tom, once ScorpionSys stated that they are now in bed with Chrysler it made me rethink my idea.

Hey, remember this would only be an option if I won the lotto. Then I could probably just change cars everytime something went wrong with it.LOL