Help!! £5K repair cost - Mercedes B class - power loss

[TriciaB]

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help me. I have a Mercedes B class 200 CDI sports tourer and was driving (motorway) it over the weekend, when it just lost power. It started reducing speed and I pulled over to the hard shoulder and it totally packed up.

MB have had a look at it and informed me that the fault is a the mixing chamber that has gone wrong. In order to solve this the part costs £3,800, added with labour, it will be @£5K. Its a 2011 car and apart from the fact that I can't afford that, surely MB can't expect that I would pay that much (@70%) of the car's value on this?

The car isn't that old and has been regularly serviced by MB. I wouldn't expect a 5 year old car to face this problem, which indicates one kind of fault that I had no control over.

what can I do?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I'm at my wit end and need my car.

Thanks

 

[whitenemesis]

If it has full MB service history you could try for a goodwill contribution from MB, worth an enquiry?

 

[l5foye]

I haven't come across a 'mixing chamber' .Maybe someone can enlighten me please.

 

[timwood2000]

My advice would be to go straight to MB Customer Services, not waste time with the local dealer. Say that this is unacceptable for a car of this age and with a full MB service history and ask them what they intend to do about it.

Having said that, at best they will only pay a proportion of the cost, and unlikely to cover all of it.

Good luck, let us know how you get on

 

[TriciaB]

Thanks for your reply. I've been told they will discount 10% as a goodwill gesture, but with that high cost it still very high. The MB dealers are going to ask MB (UK? Head Office?) what further discount they can give.

I'm simply devastated. I thought I misheard what he said honestly. The technician/mechanic said one option might be claiming from my car insurance, but I never knew insurance could cover mechanical issues. At the price quoted, the car is beyond economic repair.

I'd much rather MB applied a higher goodwill on this occassion.

 

[Eric Alex]

Best advice @timwood


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[TriciaB]

My advice would be to go straight to MB Customer Services, not waste time with the local dealer. Say that this is unacceptable for a car of this age and with a full MB service history and ask them what they intend to do about it.

Having said that, at best they will only pay a proportion of the cost, and unlikely to cover all of it.

Good luck, let us know how you get on

Thank you very much Tim. I'll do this if they don't come back with a sensible price. I ferry my elderly father to and fro hospital appointments and once the hire car cover is over, I've no idea what I'll do.

I'll get onto Customer Services in the morning.

Thanks again

 

[pembssurf]

As above straight to MB. A letter direct from a customer throws much more weight behind the punch than a letter from the dealer on customers behalf!

 

[Monkeylegend]

Is it worth getting a second opinion from a reputable indy?

 

[KennyN]

Just had a quick google and it seems to be part of the EGR system.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-O...-Class&hash=item23770078ca:g:-mgAAOSwsTxXkT5N

Kenny

 

[grober]

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION
Mercedes B-class

The air compressed by the turbocharger flows through a high-capacity intercooler, from where it enters a mixing chamber and meets the recirculated exhaust gases. The exhaust gases are fed directly from the exhaust manifold and flow through a water-cooled heat exchanger. They mix with the compressed fresh air, with an automatic intake air throttling system ensuring the most favourable ratio of charge air to recirculated exhaust gases. The mixing chamber is part of a complex air distribution module. From here each cylinder is supplied with the air/exhaust gas mixture via two ducts. One of the two intake ducts can be switched off depending on the engine speed and engine load, thereby increasing the swirl rate of the mixture. At low engine speeds a system of variable swirl flaps is also in action. These further increase the air speed in the four spiral ducts of the cylinder head, thereby improving the output and torque under partial load.

Basically its a complex inlet manifold where exhaust and turbocharged inlet air mix via an EGR valve. It would appear that there's quite a few internal moving parts/flaps also. Due to exhaust gas recirculation they can carbon up and presumably things stop working as they should. Repair /cleaning of these complex assemblies doesn't seem to be a design feature meaning replacement with new and maybe new associated ancilliaries such a new EGR may also be deemed advisable. Hence the high cost- you are virtually replacing an entire inlet manifold system.
A Mercedes B class specialist may be able to suggest a cheaper repair using good second hand parts or a cleaning of the existing assembly I don't know.
Certainly worth shopping around a bit. You might have to bite the bullet get it repaired and then sell/trade it for a less complex car. When modern diesels go wrong it can be expensive.

Would help if you could tell us your chassis number 2011 was a model change year W245 old MODEL W246 new MODEL

 

[TriciaB]

Thanks Graeme,
You're absolutely spot on with this. It seems quite complex and there are a number of parts to actually fix the problem including:

• pressure gauge
• mixing chamber
• intake air throttle
• throttle valve actuator
• exhaust line

I'd be worried a non MB specialist wouldn't know what to do with it. I though it was just a case of buying one part, but it's a load of different parts.

I've not had any problems with it apart from this (I bought it as 3 years old), but it's always had full MB service history. Mine is the older B class, not the new shape.

I'd be worried a non MB specialist wouldn't get the job right, as it seems complicated and the labour cost alone is almost £1K.

I'll see what better price, if any they can come up with tomorrow.


Thanks very much. I really appreciate it.

 

[flowrider]

If you tell us where you are then i'm sure someone will be able to recommend a good independent MB specialist. Often you can have repairs for half what an MB garage quotes. MB dealers have a strange philosophy of just keep replacing parts until the problem is fixed then charge the customer.

 

[Erfan]

For potentially parting with 5k a 2nd opinion would be wise. Is the car still at MB or could you get rac/ aa to look at as a guide. If you post your location it could assist in someone recommending another garage.

 

[John]

I would also suggest considering a good indy - there are a few on here.

You may find the real cost of sorting this out is way less from an inde than it is from MB with even a greater piffling "discount" than the 10% you've already been offered.

 

[a111r]

Thanks Graeme,
You're absolutely spot on with this. It seems quite complex and there are a number of parts to actually fix the problem including:

• pressure gauge
• mixing chamber
• intake air throttle
• throttle valve actuator
• exhaust line

I'd be worried a non MB specialist wouldn't know what to do with it. I though it was just a case of buying one part, but it's a load of different parts.

I've not had any problems with it apart from this (I bought it as 3 years old), but it's always had full MB service history. Mine is the older B class, not the new shape.

I'd be worried a non MB specialist wouldn't get the job right, as it seems complicated and the labour cost alone is almost £1K.

I'll see what better price, if any they can come up with tomorrow.


Thanks very much. I really appreciate it.

Ask a reputed Indy, like Olly at PCS.

For all the detailed, MB description of the system, it might be that removing the intake, cleaning EGR, deleting swirl flaps or motor etc. might work and it won't cost anything like that figure.

 

[TriciaB]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is an Indy?

 

[TriciaB]

I'm in the Ealing area of London.

 

[neilrr]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is an Indy?

An independent Mercedes specialist, like this one - Mercedes vehicle specialists in Reading by Star Motor Service Ltd

Ask for Ian.

 

[DSM10000]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is an Indy?

Independent Mercedes Specialist.