W169 - place bets now...

[ptruman]

Hi all

It's all been quiet for a while, but on Thursday 1st, my wife's W169 A150 Manual A-Class made a "bang" (her words). She thought she'd maybe hit something in the road, pulled over, called me and I went out to her. No damage visible, but the car started - just wouldn't drive (no gear). Rhythmic knocking when the engine was idling, which stops when the clutch is pushed down - so we thought clutch/flywheel....

Car was recovered home (as Friday/Monday would be bank holiday weekend days) and then off to my independent. Current view is the gearbox is dead (exact cause TBC) and the engine needs to come out to get at the gearbox for a proper looksee.

I've had a figure for labour to extract and put back - and I'm assuming between £150-£300 for a replacement clutch/kit - but am pondering the amount for a manual gearbox rebuild.....any guesses?

 

[Scooby_Doo]

Recent post somewhere regarding the high cost of extract and put back. My wife's W169 , manual, has covered 95,000 miles and I'm surprised the clutch hasn't gone yet.
Would you mind letting us know what the quote was ?

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

What’s the age, and therefore value, of your car?

Unless it’s late model, the cost / risk seems to point to car replacement time.

(Remember that big fixes cost more than estimates, aren’t always 100% perfect, and leave lingering doubts.)

 

[Tezz]

I would check drive shafts first

 

[Tezz]

Bert Rowe, Lofty's homepage. A-class info, Drive shafts problems/fitting ,W168 W169

Lofty's Homepage, Mercedes-benz W169 'A' Class, index W169, Drive shaft defects

www.aclassinfo.co.uk

 

[ernie]

I would check drive shafts first

I was thinking drive shafts; there have been a few over the years on here.

Ernie

 

[Spider10]

+1for above

 

[Tezz]

Yes it was the bang comment in op post that seemed a reoccurring theme in drive shaft issue and loss of drive, and usually just few 100 to fix

 

[ptruman]

I do trust the indie, and am waiting (as it's with him now before these replies came in) - and they seem confident it's the gearbox, but we shall see.

Inc VAT I'm looking at around £700 for the labour in/out. Bits "in the middle" are TBC.

I did the immediate "Argh, new car" to Autotrader trundle, but it's a 70K A Class, in a nice spec (bluetooth, full park-assist, parking sensors, half leather, air-con, manual) that we went after, and similar car (but without *our* service history) would arguably be around the same as the repairs - which at least carry a warranty.....if I wasn't having a load of ££ building works done as well, we'd probably just go for a new one but building works + job changes = less than ideal timing (is there ever ideal timing?!) so....

 

[BachgenDrwg]

Hi there. Did you ever get the car sorted?

T

 

[ptruman]

Hi there. Did you ever get the car sorted?

T

The garage did (and my bad for not updating).
I'll have to dig up the invoice to check the details but something had indeed snapped