MOT, it failed

For the first time in my ML270 18 years on the road, it has failed it's MOT yesterday.
I rather thought it would fail on emissions and did quite a bit of work on the fuel system with cleaners etc, it flew through, recording 0.5, however.
Left hand rear spring is snapped. Bottom coil detached itself. The really annoying thing is I replaced both rear struts 3 years ago.
Due to weather and being a bit weak now due to illness ( not COVID ) I am going to have the garage do it, they are sure they can replace just the spring as have a decent spring compressor which is a floor mounted one. There is also some play in the front off side lower ball joint, and as I have one already going to get them to do that as well, parts and labour will be about £300.
It hurts a bit to let someone else do it and pay the bill, but as passed retirement age, do not want to do these type of jobs now.
If I did it myself, would have to buy a strut compleat, which is about £150, then spend a whole weekend grovelling about on the concrete.

 

Thats not bad for a years motoring , and certainly not worth the hassle, I'm sure you can survive on egg n chips for a few weeks

 

Well £300 over 18 years isn't bad and although it goes against the grain, a bit of comfort in these times is worth every penny.
Happy motoring in 2021

 

I have the same feelings.
By the way, what did you notice when you were using the car with the snapped ring ?

 

Neither of those fail points is a biggie. Snapped springs are quite common and are pretty much a routine repair these days. Even more so for ball joints.

 

Unfortunately I feel the same after many years of grovelling under filthy motor cars I just can't do those kind of jobs again, retirement & older bodies are a pain mate

 

Yep, agree with you all, I do not mind the easy jobs, when the sun's out and I can take my time, simple service or brakes, but really do not want to do the heavy ones now.

Oh, I did not notice any difference to the car for either the broken spring or the failed joint.
To be honest, the front lower ball joint was not a fail, but as it's one of the jobs I do not want to do, and I already have the replacement, it may as well be done.

The tester said car is good for its age, and engine is running quite clean, emissions is what normally finishes off old derv,s, so think I am quite lucky, but it has still only done 55,500 from new.

 

Heading same way. I am OK to do my own repairs still so long as on car lift and not in hurry. I am struggling a bit with, it's OK to leave it till tomorrow. As I have always been a keep going till its done type. Last yr I did timing chain, tensioner, belt and pulleys this yr water pump but frankly, when it's warm and in no hurry.
All my cars get a few days on the lift for covers off clean and brake, bearings check.

 

It makes a massive difference to many jobs if you have access to a lift. I put the winter wheel and tyre set on wife's Tiguan using a single trolley jack and hand tools - I was exhausted when I'd finished!

 

Yup and they start around 650 euro here I think my 2.8 tonne was 1200

 

This time last year i would have dived in there, removed the strut and either had a spring fitted, or bought a new strut with spring and put it all back, i would have also done the front lower ball joint, however, July last year saw me have a minor heart attack, which led to two weeks in hospital as a stroke was the result. I am lucky, fully mended, but have to be a bit careful now, these jobs always lead to cuts on hands, and with the blood thinning drugs, i bleed like mad.
Hence, trying to be sensible now. The garage i am using are not technicians, They regard themselves as mechanics, and do not replace if they can repair, hence why they are adamant they can fit a new spring on the strut, as half cost of a new strut.
As i said, it hurts now to pay someone to do something i always did in the past. I am now limited to things that need less effort, but i have bought myself a cordless rattle gun, which makes short work of getting wheel bolts out and back in, just nip them up with torque wrench after.

 

one coil spring and a track rod for 300 quid , they drive Ferraris to work then ?

 

Decent coil spring is £70.
To fit, wheel off, wheel arch liner out, three bolts on top, 1 bolt at bottom 1 hr's work
Fit spring, put back together another hour.
Lower ball joint, wheel off, calliper and disc off, all three ball joints out, hub nut off, remove hub, press out old joint, press in new joint, reassemble 2 hrs.
So 4 hours labour plus vat £230. I thought that was quite good this day and age.

 

It's difficult to make the transition to the customer from capable, my father gave up servicing his car in his late 80's he certainly didn't need to but he just wanted to.

Hopefully, I can swap into some self-driving, self-servicing electric thing for my old age.

Which is probably hopelessly optimistic.

 

300 seems like good value to me, replacing a coilover on the rear is not that easy.

 

oh well, it never rains ETC
Just popped down to see how they are getting on with the Mercedes, it is still up on the ramp.
Little story, when the left hand side lower ball joint was done, the joint in the upper control arm nut was so rusty, that it snapped off, the arm bolts were corroded and had to be cut out, new arm was over £100.
They have had the same problem today, but they worked on the nut and with freeze spray and a lot of work, which resulted in the end splitting the nut, got it off without damage to control arm.
the rear spring is fighting back a bit, but getting there, so i might have to pay a little bit more labour, but be cheaper than a new control arm. (i can replace that in the summer, when its a bit warmer).
will update when all done, possibly tomorrow.

 

i will have to remember that, its certainly true.

 

Picked car up, all done.
Parts were.....
1 coil spring including VAT £68
1 rubber boot for bottom of strut ( split) £5
2x nuts that had to be cut off £3
Sundries £5
so total parts £81
Labour was £259 4 hours labour
Total £340
and a new MOT issued as a pass (hooray) I really do not see that as excessive, as i know Mercedes would have been twice that.
Bit of a shame that the coil spring was broken, but my garage stated they are doing new springs nearly every day now, so it reflects on the state of our roads.
Now its back to my other thread on the water ingress issue, which they have given me a pointer on and a possible cheap fix, i will update other thread if and when its stopped leaking water into the drivers side floor.

 

Might be a bit of adjustment needed with this arithmetic!