C Class W204 Coolant Thermostat

[BigTimbo33]

Hi all,
I'm both a new Merc owner and new to the forums, so let me know if I've made any faux pas.

I've got a 2012 C180 BlueEfficiency Manual petrol 1.6L, and recently got a check engine light with code reading P0128. Which I gathered to be a faulty coolant thermostat in need of replacement, and took it down to my local Merc dealership and was quoted the exact repair for just over a grand. Now the parts alone are only about £150 of that, where the rest they quoted 5hrs of labour at quite a costly rate.

I was fully expecting the dealership to have premium rates, but I was wondering if you all think 5hrs for this job sounds reasonable on my car? As a few searches around online and seems it's not the most labour intensive job and is likely around 2hrs. But I'm far from a mechanic and am not familiar at all with the engine and effort required to have it replaced. Despite the expected premium rate of labour, do you think they're pulling the wool over my eyes with the quoted hours for the job? or does that sound about right?

Many thanks

 

[markjay]

Welcome.

It's the M274 engine. The failed thermostat is a common issue.

The thermostat is under the engine, on the left hand side, and it requires a lot of dismantling to get to it. And the cooling system needs to be drained and refilled.

The part itself has a built in heater and an electronic component, which is why it's expensive.

You should expect to pay £700-800 at a dealer, or half that at an independent specialist, parts and labour.

Labour should be about 3 hours, BTW.

 

[SpikyMikey]

markjay is spot on - mine took about 3 hours for my Indy to sort out.
Oh for the days when a thermostat was less than a fiver and took about 10 minutes to change.
So much for progress.
Welcome BTW

 

[ShireMan]

Def take to am Indy, I find them just as good if not better

 

[BigTimbo33]

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated. 5hrs does seem a bit unreasonable then. Though I've got a 3rd party warranty that will cover some of the buck so in this case averages out about the same! Definately will be going independant in future, but atleast Merc picked up on some subframe corrosion they're going to repair for free too, plus a recall for passanger airbags. Thanks again