the story of my throttle actuater and how I saved nearly a grand

[timberman]

A few months ago my car started acting up,

While sat at some traffic lights the dashboard flashed up an error code about ESP failing and the car went into limp mode,
so I pulled over switched of and restarted and all was well.
then after several weeks of trouble free motoring (rare for me) it happened again only this time when I got it going it left a warning light on the dash so I decided to get it checked out at the stealers.
They couldn't find anything wrong and said it could be down to any number of causes then told me to keep an eye on it and come back if I had anymore trouble

well after about another week it did happen again and this time despite switching of and restarting the engine several times it didn't clear and I was forced to drive home in limp mode,.... which incidently i find to be a complete disaster as the car refused to go any more than 10 mph and despite having my hazard warning lights on I nearly got rear ended more than once (well done Mercedes ), just lucky I wasn't far from home.

anyhow after this I rang the dealer and told them it needed sorting so they asked me to bring it in the next day and leave it with them to have a good look and find the fault.
Luckily after leaving it sat overnight the next time I started up everything was running ok once again and I managed to get to the dealers without the aid of a low loader. I left it with them and the following day the SA dealing with it rang me to say they had found the fault and told me that the car needed a new throttle actuater and the cost fitted would be just shy of £1200.00 fitted, and then asked if I would like them to go ahead and order the part.

I said no thanks and that I would collect the car then let them know.

after collecting the car I checked the quote and noticed the part was listed at £605.00 + vat then 4 hours labour on top of that, so using the part # the dealer listed I rang dronfields to see if I could save some money, they had one on the shelf and charged me £175.00 + vat and it was with me a couple of days later

I then had the dilemma of getting it fitted to the car, at first I rang my local independant but they wanted to re check the fault codes and charge me for yet another diagnostic, so I decided to have a look myself , I had the replacement part so knew what to look for and try and gauge what kind of a job it would be

to my suprise I spotted it as soon as I lifted the bonnet and It didnt look that difficult either so I set about removing the few parts required to gain access (I just removed the front engine cover and the filter box covers to make it easier) then just 4 screws a plug in connector and some clips later I had the offending part in my hand and the new one ready to go on.

the whole job took me a little over 30 minutes to complete which included giving the filter boxes a good vacuum while I had the covers of, I've given the car a quick blast and it seems to be running fine, infact better than before and more responsive too :bannana:

I find it incredible that Mercedes would quite happily charge me nearly £500.00 labour for something that took me so little time and effort to do and would no doubt be even easier for any trained mechanic.

makes me wonder about all the other parts I've had fitted and how hard it really was to fit them

 

[nigel cross]

**** Turpin springs to mind. Well done by taking the fix it your self route, lets hope the dealers will learn that they cant keep charging the way they are doing and drop their charges.

 

[Gucci]

Wow, a pretty enlightening story, but not too surprising I guess. They must only break even! Well worth using the forum to ask about obscure problems etc....I imagine 9/10 the members are likely to know how to fix it and save a lot of cash!

Thanks again :bannana:

 

[television]

Thanks for your post timberman, very sad that dealers have to resort to these practices, some of us have the time schedules for these jobs, There is one thing to be said of this forum, you may not earn as much as some, but you can certainly save.

 

[knowlep]

I love this kind of thing. It's typical of a stealer to try this kind of dirty trick on you. The real issue is some moron on the service desk who reads from a book of vastly overpriced job estimates instead of having a thorough knowledge of the acual job.
Well done my friend.
Good work.

 

[timberman]

Thanks for your post timberman, very sad that dealers have to resort to these practices, some of us have the time schedules for these jobs, There is one thing to be said of this forum, you may not earn as much as some, but you can certainly save.

this is certainly true

while I don't post on here as often as I probably should do,
I must admit to spending many hours using the search feature for help with my car related problems and sometimes just for research

I have found this forum and a few others to be an invaluable source of information which have helped me not only save some money but also make it much easier to converse with the stealers etc when trying to convey my concerns over certain issues with my car.

on the whole people like yourself and many others on this forum take a lot of the stress out of owning and maintaining these cars,
it's always good to know help and support is always at hand when it's needed and great to be part of this online community.

thank you

 

[television]

I have answered many threads in detail, only to find that the owner has gone and had the work done, aparently going to the garage armed with the exact info, you are far likely to get cheated, as they know that you know the fix.

Not everyone here is a frequent visitor as it is not everyone's cup of tea and many have other interest in life. If you have a problem or you want to know a little more about a subject there will always someone to help out.

Understanably cars are complex. Not everyone has the tools or know how, but as you have shown, you can do it in some cases, and it gives a good feeling to "I did that"

 

[ian4c]

A good thread. I have had a similar high price job.

My Parktronic had an intermittent fault. Sometimes the lights on the dash would come on. Showing a few lights, indicating a fault. Over a period when this happened I would tap the the bumpers front and back. Eventually I found on occasions the fault disappeared. I assumed that there must be a faulty connection on one of the front lest sensors.

I too the car to the Mercedes garage and explained the problem. The service receptionist said they would have to put the car on the Diagnostic Computer and that would tell them the problem.

They too the car. Sent me to the coffee area to wait. the car was returned 30 minutes later. The problem diagnosed. A new main unit would need to be fitted. they would have to order the part. Bear in mind I told them about the tapping of the front left sensors.

The parts were ordered, the car booked in. Total cost shy of £1300.00.

Took the car in when the parts arrived. Spent a day in town waiting. Collected the car. Yes, all done Sir and tested. Drove out or the car park. Within 500yds the same fault appeared. Went back to reception to explain to the service department.

I was really annoyed but for some reason did not ask for my money back. They booked in the car and said they would need it for a few days. A loan car was made available. Several days later the my ML was returned to my home. They re installed the faulty!! unit and replaced a few sensors. I had a small credit.

Sometime later, the Low gear / Fog light switch dropped out of the panel left of the Comand unit. Cost to fix. Removing part of the dash, possibly a new switch unit? Possibly £200 +.

Cost to fix myself. £00.00. 4 screws + 2 pop clips on the glove compartment,and it was out allowing plenty of room behind.

Found that the spring clip on top of the switch unit was broken missing. So fitted a strip of 3M VHB tape to the unit and re fitted.

I am learning. Just done an oil service. Cost new filter £11.00, 8 Ltrs Synthetic oil £36.00, and 1 oil filter removal dome from Halfords £5.95.


Ian

 

[SSBB]

One of the attractions of MB for me is the fact that they are designed to come apart.
I recently had a problem with my air circulation fan changing speeds randomly and temperature going from hot to cold and back when it felt like it. Diagnosis was a new heater control panel..£600 plus fitting.
I took the unit out, stripped it, cleaned all contacts and sprayed the whole thing (literaly) with contact cleaner, put it in the airing cupboard for an hour, reassembled it and re-fitted it in the car. Its worked prefectly ever since (been nine months now), cost..£2.95 for the contact cleaner, time taken..two hours. Very satisfying.

Fitted new rear discs yesterday (non original)...£35.00 all in.

 

[timberman]

One of the attractions of MB for me is the fact that they are designed to come apart.
I recently had a problem with my air circulation fan changing speeds randomly and temperature going from hot to cold and back when it felt like it. Diagnosis was a new heater control panel..£600 plus fitting.
I took the unit out, stripped it, cleaned all contacts and sprayed the whole thing (literaly) with contact cleaner, put it in the airing cupboard for an hour, reassembled it and re-fitted it in the car. Its worked prefectly ever since (been nine months now), cost..£2.95 for the contact cleaner, time taken..two hours. Very satisfying.

Fitted new rear discs yesterday (non original)...£35.00 all in.

I've tackled a few jobs on my car now and one thing that does impress me about Mercs is how well engineered and easy they are to work on.

I have to say that this has not been true of most of the other cars I have owned which have often been a real PITA to try and fix; even on something as straightforward as changing a bulb!.

This just makes it even more obvious to me that the dealers overcharge all the time and seem to view customers as a cash cow to be milked at every opportunity

I seldom visit my dealer nowadays prefering to use either an independant or other trusted proffesionals + when I feel confident enough having a go myself and have yet to regret my descision