SL500 - Servicing Nightmare

[deansy]

I recently had my SL500 serviced at a local indy garage. I also had an oil leak fixed and some minor crash damage (thanks to the wife's parking!) on the bumper sorted.

The car was running fine prior to the service. When I picked the car up it wouldn't go above 50mph. The power would cut out and the throttle pedal bacame stiff. I took the car back immediately and complained and they garage said it would sort it out. 4 weeks later (!!!!) and I've finally got it back from them and the guy is trying to charge me £700 for parts plus labour! He claims that because the car may have been stood for a while, when the car was serviced and the oil leak on the on rocker covers was fixed dirt/crap etc has got into parts of the engine which has caused the hydraulic lifters (?) to stick and consequently they had to strip the top of the engine to sort this out.

Can anyone tell me if this seems likely?

This is after they had wasted time and money on fixing a minute misfire (apparently) by fitting new ignition leads and a new distributor cap.

Can anyone tell me where I stand in terms of problems caused by servicing? The car was fine till they did the service and fixed the oil leak. They just say it is not their fault that it happened as a consequence of servincing as "sometimes these things happen when clean things or service things"!!!!!

It doesn't seem right to me that I should have to pay possibly a grand for this!!!!!!!!!!!

To top it all when he was fixing the problem he caused he managed to smack my newly painted bumper and crack the paint!! So have to take it back so he can repair that again!

 

[C240Sport97]

which Indy is this?

 

[Brian WH]

Definitely possible for dirt to get into the lifters, but this is poor maintenance not normal. An oil leak will NOT cause this fault. The repairer is at fault if this is the case then you need independant inspection by AA or RAC and claim off them.

If they insist on you paying tell them you want a written report as to the work done, right from the car coming in. Tell them you are not happy and will be following the matter up by getting an independant report. This may cause them to reconsider the bill.

 

[deansy]

I won't name them here but they are very close to where I live in Harrow.

Thanks for the reply Brian.

When you say that it is poor maintainence that can cause the dirt to get into the lifters do you mean by the mechanic? They are claiming that when the did the service and cleaned injectors etc that the dirt got in. Should they have been more careful? Is this there fault?

It just seems to me that by having it serviced it shouldn't develop problems related to things done in the service.

Luckily I haven't paid him for this work. He is very slack at having the bill prepared! I have the car back at the moment. He needs to fix the crack in my bumper paintwork that he caused too. But I think I should hang on to the car until this issues is resolved - getting a bit of paint fixed elsewhere is far cheaper than paying his bill! What does anyone think?

 

[prprandall51]

The car was running fine prior to the service. When I picked the car up it wouldn't go above 50mph. The power would cut out and the throttle pedal bacame stiff. I took the car back immediately and complained and they garage said it would sort it out. 4 weeks later (!!!!) and I've finally got it back from them and the guy is trying to charge me £700 for parts plus labour! He claims that because the car may have been stood for a while, when the car was serviced and the oil leak on the on rocker covers was fixed dirt/crap etc has got into parts of the engine which has caused the hydraulic lifters (?) to stick and consequently they had to strip the top of the engine to sort this out.

Sounds like, as suggested, you need an independent report. A few thoughts:

I cannot see any way in which jammed hydraulic lifters will affect the movement of feel of the accelerator pedal. That sounds like a snagged or incorrectly routed throttle cable or throttle body.

My experience with blocked lifters (across a selection of engines over the years) is that, upon startup from cold there is a distinct, regular "cracking" sound from the engine as the lifter is struck by the rocker arm / camshaft lobe. Usually, the lifter "pumps up" after a few seconds and the noise goes away (and so does any under-fueling associated with a jammed lifter, and thus any loss of engine performance).

If the lifter(s) did not pump up - especially if there is more than one - then the rattle will continue as you drive along and the noise would be dreadful.

On a V8, it would take several lifters being jammed to affect the ability of the car to accelerate or maintain a high speed. I should expect you to be able to exceed 50mph on about 5 of the eight cylinders!

This is after they had wasted time and money on fixing a minute misfire (apparently) by fitting new ignition leads and a new distributor cap.

Can anyone tell me where I stand in terms of problems caused by servicing? The car was fine till they did the service and fixed the oil leak. They just say it is not their fault that it happened as a consequence of servincing as "sometimes these things happen when clean things or service things"!!!!!

It doesn't seem right to me that I should have to pay possibly a grand for this!!!!!!!!!!!

The replacement of leads and distributor cap to cure a misfire on a 1991 car is very reasonable, if they haven't been replaced before.

Things break and go wrong during servicing and (in my opinion) it is reasonable to expect the owner to cover the additional costs if the problems are genuine. Furthermore, oil changes - and especially those where the engine is flushed during the change - can displodge old sludge. This is often blamed as a common cause of blocked lifters. Indeed, my old Golf lifters started rattling the day after I flushed the engine....

However, I (personally) am deeply suspicious of the diagnosis of the problem and the resolution as reported by the garage, it just doesn't stack up.
Good luck

Philip

 

[deansy]

Yeah am not overly convinced myself.

Basically at about 50mph you could floor it and nothing would happen. It would have to be one hell of a misfire to cause that - as you say 50mph is nothing to a V8 - even one with an apparently small misfire. It was an intermittent problem too - but more of a problem than not. I didn't experiencing any cracking noise either. It ran fine from cold with the engine idling properly and running as normal as long as you didn't accelerate hard and try to exceed 50mph. It pulled away from standing strongly and no noticeable impairment from the supposed slight misfire.

However, the problem seems to have been resolved but am not convinced by the dirt theory. He basically says that the ECU realises that there is dirt causing a problem and stops you exceeding 50 mph.

While I agree leads and distributor caps need replacing these were not done as part of the service. They were done in relation to the 50mph and throttle problem. I don't think that either of these items realistically was the cause of the problem. I didn't authorise him to just change worn parts. I simply told him that there was a problem that wasn't there before and that it needed to be fixed. Surely he should diagnose the problem and then attend to that rather than rather expensively eliminating possibilities and carrying out maintainence work I hadn't asked for. I don't really mind about the leads and cap because as you say they do need attending to every now and again and I do want the car to run well. It is the other work and explanations that are of concern as well as the size of the bill.

 

[prprandall51]

Perhaps you could ask him for the old parts removed during the work on the top of the engine - before he has the chance to say he's thrown them out.

Did he claim to replace the lifters or clean them out? They aren't expensive and some designs are difficult to clean, so he may have replaced them. These are a specialist item, so he should have a receipt for any parts (including gaskets) from an MB parts department.

Of course, he may of actually done all this work, in which case the question is whether it was necessary, rather than whether it was done at all.

 

[deansy]

Thanks for the advice - I'll ask him for the parts.

He hasn't given me a report/bill for the work and never really answers the questions I ask - just says I'll sort the bill out - no problem etc.

From what he has said i think he has cleaned them.

How much would some leads, a new distributor and lifters cost? He is saying he has spent £700+VAT on parts?!? Seems very high to me. He hasn't even given me an indication of labour cost!

What's the best way to determine if the work was necessary - how much would an independent report cost.

I have already spent to date over £2k on the full service, oil leak, bumper repairs (which he ruined) and 2 new tyres.