General Question

[richkid316]

I'm not having much luck with my 96 E300... :-(

It's been having a few issues of late so i put it in the garage and they have came and told me the following needs done:

Cylinder head £626 +vat (+£100 if head needs skimmed)

Rear discs + pads
Broken spring
Both front ball joints
2 roll bar links
wiper blade
Brake light sensor
Exhaust tailpipe All - £500 +vat

They have said that the stuff above would be it and the car would pass mot and would be fine for the next year or two (as long as nothing new crops up)

Price include all labour(you'll be glad to hear).

I'm i being taken for a ride or is this resonable?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[jberks]

Assuming it all needs doing, then it doesn't sound an unreasonable price. I assume you're having the head gasket done?
You're unlucky to need all of that lot in one hit. Few of us would encounter a list like that over 5 years.

 

[richkid316]

Assuming it all needs doing, then it doesn't sound an unreasonable price. I assume you're having the head gasket done?
You're unlucky to need all of that lot in one hit. Few of us would encounter a list like that over 5 years.

To quote the guy in the garage "it all needs done to pass your MOT", my mot is due in november so there ain't gonna be much of a difference and i'll save in labour to a degree...

I'm humming and hawwing 'cause the cars done 106K, the body work needs looked at (nothing major but it could do with being sorted) and it cost me £2.5k at the start of the year... so not sure what to do... he quoted me £1100inc vat for the rear brakes & the cylinder head so if i'm going to do it i'd be as well doing it all in one go...

thanks for your v v quick response

 

[Ellsy Tanners]

Doesnt sound too bad to me, the parts allone may be as much as £350.

Why does the head gasket need changing?

 

[richkid316]

Doesnt sound too bad to me, the parts allone may be as much as £350.

Why does the head gasket need changing?

Erm... thats what the mechanic said needed done?? there is white smoke coming from the car when it's started and it's gone through more coolant in the past few weeks than i'd care to mention.. and always needs it at the most inappropriate moments.

I'm now very mechanically minded so i'm kinda in the hands of the garage...

 

[Ellsy Tanners]

oh, that could be right then, i heavy loss of coolant and white smoke could lead to this. just wondered why a head gasket would fail a mot but that would explain it

 

[richkid316]

oh, that could be right then, i heavy loss of coolant and white smoke could lead to this. just wondered why a head gasket would fail a mot but that would explain it

you think it's worth biting the bullet and getting it done?

 

[jberks]

If you want to keep the car, then you have little choice really.
I've been there many times. On the one hand, you're spending more on the car than it's worth financially, but on the other, you'd have to spend even more to get one that would be in the same condition as yours will be, once all the work is done. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. I generally did the work as "better the devil you know" and all that.
Whilst the head is off, though, I'd have it fully reconned, skimmed, valves recut, cams checked etc. The main cost is the labour involved in stripping it down so whilst it's in pieces, it's a false economy to skimp on rest of it. After all, the last thing you want to be doing is taking the head off again in years time to sort something else.
Also, before they send off the head, they should check the general conditon of the engine (bores, pistons etc). I imagine your mechanic will do this anyway.

 

[richkid316]

As an update...

Got the repairs done and all was well... now have a slightly diffent issue but will post that elsewhere...

Was repaired by TJ O'Neils in glasgow... would recommend them if your needing work done on your mb.

cheers,
chris

 

[stevesey]

Suprised to see rear discs at 106K - wouldn't have expected the rears to wear that much. Normal for an E?

 

[richkid316]

Suprised to see rear discs at 106K - wouldn't have expected the rears to wear that much. Normal for an E?

The were making one hell of a noise.... i have no idea if its normal or not but i'm fairly certain the grinding that was coming from them previously wasn;t good