OT, along the gas tank thread, why it sucks to be

[Bill R.]

mercedes....96 e320 the gas tank is vertical up against the back seat in the trunk with only a piece of carpet between it and the trunk. Basic trip to home depot carrying something heavy and you stop hard.. The dealer diagnoses the fuel smell problem as a bad charcoal cannister and charges 480 for parts and labor. Problem turns out to be a crack in the tank that i found instead. 850 from mercedes for a new tank, so the old one is getting patched

[genphreak]

mercedes....96 e320 the gas tank is vertical up against the back seat in the trunk with only a piece of carpet between it and the trunk. Basic trip to home depot carrying something heavy and you stop hard.. The dealer diagnoses the fuel smell problem as a bad charcoal cannister and charges 480 for parts and labor. Problem turns out to be a crack in the tank that i found instead. 850 from mercedes for a new tank, so the old one is getting patchedOuch Bill! What fun to find that...! I bet the owner was glad they didn't end up with a boot full of petrol fumes that blew the car and them to pieces when they stepped on the brakes or turned on an indicator... I can see the headline now;

'A suspected terrorist bomber driving a late-model Mercedes downtown today destroyed 3 shops and 7 vehilces, killing 20 people and injuring 30 others...'

Now who is it that said 'any publicity is good publicity'? :D

[Qube]

Remember that episode in Top Gear where Jeremy was destroying an S class... the tank is at the seat too. I thought it was pretty stupid in general... the tank location that is! :|

[winfred]

the tanks have been there on benzes since the late 70s


Remember that episode in Top Gear where Jeremy was destroying an S class... the tank is at the seat too. I thought it was pretty stupid in general... the tank location that is! :|

[DanDombrowski]

Fractured right in the double fillet.

[gale]

Reminds me of an ex-girlfriend who carried a spare gas can in the back of her Pinto

[E34 530]

mercedes....96 e320 the gas tank is vertical up against the back seat in the trunk with only a piece of carpet between it and the trunk. Basic trip to home depot carrying something heavy and you stop hard.. The dealer diagnoses the fuel smell problem as a bad charcoal cannister and charges 480 for parts and labor. Problem turns out to be a crack in the tank that i found instead. 850 from mercedes for a new tank, so the old one is getting patched

that crack looks familiar :p .

[CharlesAFerg]

Remember that episode in Top Gear where Jeremy was destroying an S class... the tank is at the seat too. I thought it was pretty stupid in general... the tank location that is! :|

Speaking of the S-class
Anyone familiar with the W140 S-class, around 95ish? I've been looking into them for a while now, particularly the S500, or if I could find a deal and would be able to maintain it.. an S600...
http://www.benzworld.org/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/511

[Zeuk in Oz]

Well done Bill.

Makes you want to buy an estate, doesn't it ?

[Jr ///M5]

What Bill is referring to (I think) is the way the mechanics of the day are not really trained to look for the problem then solution. They are caught up in the solution before they actually FIND the problem.

Thus, they force the customer to fork out money paying for their mis-diagnosis. This isn't right. And it goes on every day in every shop in the world. There are mechanics and then there's the part swappers. It's the really good mechanics like Bill R. that people should really appreciate and often don't realize what they have. For the mechanically challenged folks, finding a mechanic (or should I say Dr.?) like Bill R. is like finding gold.

Good work Bill, you should open a school and teach your own course. The name of it would be, "How to think like a mechanic"....the rest is nuts 'n bolts.

[rob101]

What Bill is referring to (I think) is the way the mechanics of the day are not really trained to look for the problem then solution. They are caught up in the solution before they actually FIND the problem.

Thus, they force the customer to fork out money paying for their mis-diagnosis. This isn't right. And it goes on every day in every shop in the world. There are mechanics and then there's the part swappers. It's the really good mechanics like Bill R. that people should really appreciate and often don't realize what they have. For the mechanically challenged folks, finding a mechanic (or should I say Dr.?) like Bill R. is like finding gold.

Good work Bill, you should open a school and teach your own course. The name of it would be, "How to think like a mechanic"....the rest is nuts 'n bolts.
a very valid point, i think these real mechanics you speak of are very intelligent people. intelligent that they don't necessarily have to have the solution to the problem spoon fed to them, they can learn from things without having being "taught" by someone or something (ie book etc.)

[genphreak]

a very valid point, i think these real mechanics you speak of are very intelligent people. intelligent that they don't necessarily have to have the solution to the problem spoon fed to them, they can learn from things without having being "taught" by someone or something (ie book etc.)Yes it is something that academia fails to teach. In life, only a few learn the golden method- and can think laterally enough to find the real cause.

I am still searching for the clues... part swapping is not just lazy, it is too damn expensive to practice (unless your cusotomers are paying all the bills...)

:) Nick

[Jr ///M5]

Here's an example of what happened to me just the other day. I just had a new set of Michelin Exhaltos put on Lori's E39 525. She said she could hear something that sounded like it was loose in the front end when she went over small bumps at low speed, like a klunk that reverbed. Just for grins, I sent an email to the BMW shop by where she works to see if they would cover such a Klunk on CPO warranty. In the meantime, I jacked up the car, checked the swaybar links with a set of channel locks and sure enough the side the sound was coming from was a worn sway bar link. I go online and order lemforder parts, they will be here in a couple of days.

Fast forward to the next day, I get a call from the BMW service manager and he tells me that he would have to see the car (of course) and then he would have to check with the warranty manager to see if the part is covered or not. Then we could set up an appointment to have it repaired.

That's awesome I said, suspension parts aren't covered by the CPO warranty, just so you'll know next time. I checked the front end and found a bad sway bar link and ordered the parts, they'll be here soon and I'll change it myself, but hey, thanks for callin' me back. I could've really needed ya...Bye.

The real mechanics are gone. Now if you were at the mercy of the dealer, they approach it as if you're going to get your hair done. What a bunch of nonsense...so I would guess that new sway bar links at the dealer would be $45 each plus 2 hours of labor @ $90 it could easily cost $250...the parts might cost me $60 and an hour of my time. I'm just glad I didn't have a hole in my gas tank.....

[Bill R.]

dummied along.. she had already taken it to mercedes and paid the 480 for a new canister and that didn't work so when she brought it to me the first thing i looked at was the canister to see if they actually changed it. They did.

480= 180 parts and 300 labor.. heres some pics of what i did to access it. Remove rear wheel, remove fender liner, unclip canister and replace.

Anyway i knew that that didn't work and i didn't see any fuel leaks anywhere else, I didn't want to fill the tank up which is when she said the smell was the worst. So i looked for any hoses or lines coming off the tank which could leak, didn't find any, then i decided to remove the tank covering and look at it. I actually had to look pretty closely before i found it . The average guy at the dealer doing what he's told to , could have passed it over pretty easy. The customer is a little pissed that they charged her 480 and didn't solve the problem. I gave her the digital photos to take to the dealer to show them where the leak was. We'll see if she gets any kind of reimbursement. I doubt it though... Here's the pics of the canister and how much trouble it is to remove..half hour tops.





Here's an example of what happened to me just the other day. I just had a new set of Michelin Exhaltos put on Lori's E39 525. She said she could hear something that sounded like it was loose in the front end when she went over small bumps at low speed, like a klunk that reverbed. Just for grins, I sent an email to the BMW shop by where she works to see if they would cover such a Klunk on CPO warranty. In the meantime, I jacked up the car, checked the swaybar links with a set of channel locks and sure enough the side the sound was coming from was a worn sway bar link. I go online and order lemforder parts, they will be here in a couple of days.

Fast forward to the next day, I get a call from the BMW service manager and he tells me that he would have to see the car (of course) and then he would have to check with the warranty manager to see if the part is covered or not. Then we could set up an appointment to have it repaired.

That's awesome I said, suspension parts aren't covered by the CPO warranty, just so you'll know next time. I checked the front end and found a bad sway bar link and ordered the parts, they'll be here soon and I'll change it myself, but hey, thanks for callin' me back. I could've really needed ya...Bye.

The real mechanics are gone. Now if you were at the mercy of the dealer, they approach it as if you're going to get your hair done. What a bunch of nonsense...so I would guess that new sway bar links at the dealer would be $45 each plus 2 hours of labor @ $90 it could easily cost $250...the parts might cost me $60 and an hour of my time. I'm just glad I didn't have a hole in my gas tank.....

[Zeuk in Oz]

Couldn't agree more Jr.

The really worrying thing is that this attitude is keeping into the health professions as well.

How often doesn't a Doctor in a hospital or private practice order a whole barrage of tests because they have no real idea of what the problem(s) might be.

Even in the veterinary industry (it used to be a profession but no longer), I saw a dog the other day that had presented at a veterinary teaching hospital 2 weeks earlier with a history of having difficulty eating and constant salivation.

This poor animal had every test and prodedure done on it known to veterinary science. It was X rayed, ultrasounded, endoscoped, blood tested, had an exploratory abdominal operation - you name it, it had it !

The owners spent a fortune with no diagnosis despite having been seen by half a dozen very eminent academics.

They came to me for a second opinion and I opened its mouth and saw the 8 cm tumour under its tongue. The dog was 15 years old and we euthanased it.

No-one had bothered to look at the dog with the original complaint in mind.

Keep up the good work Bill !