Quote for work

Paul (MN)

I would appreciate it if some of the knowledgeable people here comment on the quotes I got for work on my W123 200T?

Symptoms on the car include:

Front:
clonking when starting to go "down" a speedbump
pulling left
severe wavering in crosswinds

Rear:
Shimmy/Shake felt through seat
Associated knocking noise from rear

The quotes were form a Merc specialist. What would the typical hourly rate be for this kind of work? I'm guess a Main Stealer would be €80/€90 per hour and this guy should be €50ish?

If you have any other ideas on causes of the above then great.


Passenger side Balljoint
Passenger side Top Arm
Passenger side Anti Roll Bushes
€270 parts & labour

Drivers side Top Arm
Driver side Anti Roll Bushes
€160

Adjust Steering Box
Set Camber, Castor and Alignment
€100

Replace Engine Mounts
€180

Replace Tailgate Struts
€160

unkel

That's a lot of money Paul. I doubt if you'd recover that upon reselling the car

Maybe now's the time to go CE

Paul (MN)

unkel,

The car has about 18months NCT left and is fine. I'm using it as a daily driver. It's going to need some kind of work to keep it going. Any car of 8years old is going to need some occasional repair work.

Anyway, I'm not planning on doing it all, or possibly try to some myself.

I was kindof thinking of just get the front suspension/steering work done first which would add up to about €500.

To change to a CE is going to cost me at least €3k for decent one!

Just wondering if the prices seemed high or not.

lomb

Paul (MN) wrote:

unkel,

The car has about 18months NCT left and is fine. I'm using it as a daily driver. It's going to need some kind of work to keep it going. Any car of 8years old is going to need some occasional repair work.

Anyway, I'm not planning on doing it all, or possibly try to some myself.

I was kindof thinking of just get the front suspension/steering work done first which would add up to about €500.

To change to a CE is going to cost me at least €3k for decent one!

Just wondering if the prices seemed high or not.

prices are ok i think, best to try do as much as possible yourself and have the rest done for u.

Silvera

Have you considered pricing the parts yourself from German & Swedish, Clondalikn (or OTTO in Ranelagh) ?

This would give you a better idea of what the specialist is charging for labour.
(I listed G&S's number in my 'suppliers' thread)

Silvera.

Paul (MN)

i have done so, see below. perhaps you can comment on the amount of labour per job? FYI I have been told that another specialist (who I might use) is charging €44per hour so I am guessing below at €40/hour.


Passenger side balljoint
Passenger side top arm
Passenger side anti-roll bushes
quote was €270. I priced parts as €130. therefore about 3.5hours labour

Drivers side top arm
Driver side anti-roll bushes
quote was €160. I priced parts as €110 so about 1 hours labour (I think he was going to change this to be higher but decided not to on a whim)

Tailgate Struts
quote was €160. I didn't price the parts but am guessing €60. So labour is 2.5 hours

Adjust Steering box, cambor, caster, alignment
€100 so 2.5 hours labour

Replace Engine Mounts
€180. Priced parts as €60 so labour is 3 hours.



Also, can anybody tell me the proceedure to replace the engine mounts? Do you have to disconnect anything? do you just jack up the engine and swop the mounts????

Paul (MN)

actually I can see now that to change the engine mounts you just jack up the car and use axel stands. Then jack and support the engine and swop the mounts. I would guess that's a 1 hour job not 3!

Silvera

You're fairly spot on re engine mounts.

Tailgate struts would not take two and a half hours to change though - more like 1 hr max.

Paul (MN)

thanks. I guess I should aim to find somebody who will knock 150-200 off the total quote then.

lomb

or do it yourself..... its easy especially the tailstruts and engine mounts.

Paul (MN)

Yes I intend to try the struts and engine mounts myself, at some point, when I find the time, and it's a sunny day, and I don't have to mind the kids, and my wife isn't annoyed with me for not digging the garden and working on a stupid gas guzzling "banger" instead......

Wouldn't go near suspension/steering seeing as I only did my first ever oil/filter change 2 weeks ago.....

So I'm hoping to get a quote of €400 to have the near and offside fixed as well as have the steering/alignments corrected. Hopefully that will fix the problems.

Thanks.

mike65

Hi Paul

it sounds like you should get to know the various Mercedes mesage boards and sites heres a few for the W123

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/index.php?

http://forums.mbnz.org/forums/forums/forum-view.asp?fid=10

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/6633/w123.html

http://www.sportsonly.com/a/10548/

http://groups.msn.com/W123Club

Mike.

Silvera

or get to know a good mechanic working in a Merc dealership who could do the jobs as a 'nixer'

Paul (MN)

Hi all,

I didn't really trust the guy who did the estimate last time round so I brought it to another guy, and I do trust him. Had a good chat with him.

He told me the following and was completely up front about what would last 6-12 months more and what wouldn't. I have placed what I gather to be estimate labour on them. I know it's hard to estimate on an old car etc.

I was wondering if you could confirm this and perhaps place them in order of what you would fix, if you didn't want to spend a wad load of money in one go. I have placed them in the order I think I should do it.

- roll bar rubber inner front both sides gone & front lh top wishbone rubber gone: 4 hours max
- driveshaft centre bearing carrier and support gone (this could be causeing my knocking noise and vibration) 3 hours max
- steering alignment etc: 2 hours max
- front brake hoses have small cracks starting, can leave a while: 2 hours max
- Rear roll bar link both sides gone: 2 hours max
- rear C.V. boot kits going, keep an eye on: 2 hours max
- rocker cover gasket gone, small leak: 2 hours max
- 4 rear exhaust hangers gone: do myself
- check engine mounts, he thought they were OK. Could do it myself.

The guy was sound. The garage had a 911, Boxster, T5, and a couple of modern mercs outside. He was also very familiar with the W123 itself.

However, he wouldn't commit to numbers of hours to fix things. He said he has more than enough customer who just drop their (nice) cars in to get fixed, no matter what.

What I need to do ir prioritise and pick the top 2 jobs and see how they go and if they are cheaper than worst case then I have money for the next 2 jobs etc. I understand that with an old car you can start on a 1 hour job and find something seized/rusted and spend alot longer on it.

Any comments?

Silvera

Personally, I would get the brake hoses fixed asap, then the driveshaft and front roll bar bushes.

Rocker cover gasket should be easy to do yourself.
(Remove rocker cover and old gasket, clean surfaces well, smear gasket sealant on new gasket and rocker cover gasket-mating area, allow to dry for few mins, replace both - tightening bolts down evenly).

mike65

Do the stuff that'll keep you out the hedges first I always say!

Mike.

Paul (MN)

mike65, that's my reasoning too. The fact is that the car drives fine apart from the pull to the left. It's a bit rough on speedbump/back roads. And the driveshaft is a bit noisy, but I can drive around all day just fine.

Also, they confirmed that the cracks in the brake hoses were really small and the type of thing they would normally say to have looked at at the next service.

I need to take some time to get my hands on a proper Haynes manual for my car. It's a 4cyl 2.0 4 speed which wasn't popular in the U.S. and I'm not sure you can get a specific manual for it. There is alot of info out there on the web but there are alos quite alot of variations of models.

So when you are a novice, and need your car for work, you are inclined to not rush into taking things apart in case you mess up and can put them back together!!


I think I'll consider getting the front bushes and steering done first and depending on how much that cost then the driveshaft. I can look at the brake hoses and CV boots in about 6 months (keeping an eye on them of course).

MercMad

Hi Paul,
Yeah its seems Haynes and the like leave out the W123 200 from their manuals. You could buy one anyway as the suspension and steering will be the same.

Outside of that Mercedes still sell and supply the factory repair manuals, they can be expensive though. Anyway check out this site

http://www.cms.daimlerchrysler.com/Projects/c2c/channel/files/14625_Technische_Literatur_04_2004.pdf

mike65

I know this is'nt quite what you need Paul as they are for the United States model list but it sould be a help anyways click linky and clicky linky part 2

Mike.