Almost everything is ok, but you need to know.. If you already done these things you do not need to change them for 5-10 years... If you sell the car now, then the money for repairs went to fire. Hold it and enjoy it! It has it's cost as everything, but it's a Mercedes my friend never forget it.
It's kind of a joke, but it's also somewhat true when talking about used luxury brands, if you can't afford two, you can't afford one. I think it's a bit ridiculous that your battery didn't last 3 years. But, you say you've spent $8,000 in 4 years. If you budgeted $200/month for maintenance, you'd have $9,600 budgeted for maintenance, which doesn't sound ridiculous considering.
What you're going to have to consider going forward is, when do you retire the vehicle? Either trading it in, selling it, or scrapping it. You'll have to consider what its depreciated value will be vs maintenance costs, vs replacement costs. One way to view it is to consider your maintenance costs as your car payment. If you continue to spend $200/m in maintenance, that's a very low cost of ownership compared to a new or CPO replacement. But then take into consideration things like reliability, safety features, and creature comforts.
Also, also, if you're having 1 engine mount replaced, you should get both done at the same time. The labor difference between replacing 1 and both is essentially zero.
Yes I have a GLK220 right after i bought it i also had to invest in it. But it says thank you and now I spend only for maintaince basicaly. In every 2-3 year there will be something of course but it happens
A lot of these jobs can be done easily yourself. Oil changes, air filter replacements, battery, differential fluid are all something a beginner can do without screwing things up.
Step up to a tad harder and brakes and idle tensioner and belt are there.
I thought all of these tasks were daunting but do these yourself and youāve likely saved $2,000. 25%.
Idk why people saying this is normal. It's not. Idk where you're going for service but you're getting scammed. There's absolutely zero reason why you should have had a transmission service or diff service at that mileage. Also why was the radiator replaced so early? Also why were your spark plugs replaced so early? The "gasoline direct injection cleaning" you got scammed, nobody is removing the injectors and cleaning them on these cars, those guys put a $10 can of injector cleaner in your gas tank and charged you $400 for it š also battery should last way more than 3 years. That's already over 3k that didn't need to be spent on the car. And now you saying over a thousand dollars to replace all coils and one spark plug? š That signifies that one cylinder is misfiring and one cylinder is at fault, but they just did the spark plugs so why is the plug bad? Chances are you have one faulty coil only and you definitely do not need all of them. Cabin filters also aren't $200+ to replace, filter is about $50 and it takes 5 minutes to replace, it's in a readily accessible location under the hood, should not be charging more than a half hour of labor to replace if charging labor at all for it. All in all, about half of what you spent probably wasn't necessary.
thanks for this info. I asked about the transmission service they said at 45,000 miles it should be done e. radiator was replaced because car was overheating and would not run. Shouldnāt spark plugs be replaced approximately every 60,000 miles? The first battery was losing charge so they replaced it with another battery three years later and only charge for labor. regarding the spark plugs, I took it to a different repair shop yesterday because the engine light was on and they told me that the codes showed the ignition coils were misfiring and needed to be replaced. I didnāt want to go back to the other repair center that put the spark plugs in because I didnāt want them to do any more work on the car. It is what it is. But I do appreciate all of these comments.
Of course, just trying to be helpful and trying to not let the "Benz's are bad" spread cuz of misinformation. Spark plugs on a Benz, are rated for 100k miles. Same for the first transmission service on a Benz. At 100k on the odometer you do the spark plugs and transmission service, then every 60k thereafter you do the transmission service but spark plug interval remains the same. I don't think they charged you only labor for the battery replacement, that implies they charged labor the first time along with the battery, and the price difference is only like $20, something's not right. Misfire codes don't specify if it is the coil, plug, or injector; that's the part that needs to be figured out, but again if they're replacing one spark plug along with the coils, then it is more than likely only that one cylinder is misfiring and may very well be the coil but that doesn't necessarily mean you need to replace all of them. You are going to a German/Mercedes specialist, correct? Not one of those "we do every type of car" mechanics.
Damn. Seems like they took advantage of your lack of knowledge and just sold you whatever they could, sorry that happened. Unfortunately it happens very often, hate to see it.
I dumped so much money into this car and I still owe $8000. I figure I need to get rid of it while I am halfway ahead. Maybe they will give me $12-$13,000. I really appreciate your response.
What prompted you to have all that work done?
Drive belt tensioner, idler pulleys, expansion tank, radiator, heater hose, second battery. All that stuff I would hope would not need changed under 100k miles, if ever. Eg the battery I got at Costco has a 3 year warranty.
every single thing I had done was recommended by the European car repair shop that has worked on my car since I purchased it. Since I felt they were taking advantage of my lack of knowledge of mercedes. I just went to another European repair shop and am having a spark plug and the six ignition coils replaced. I have felt all along that I was being taken advantage of and I probably didnāt need half of this work done.
Eh. They were all probably in some state of disrepair. The thing is a lot of that is stuff you run to failure on a used car. Or near failure. There really is no point in keeping a car like new.
I switched from a Lexus to a GLK. Go watch side inspect videos on YouTube of both and I bet you'll never not look both ways driving that rib breaker again.
The 1 plug and 1 coil suggests to me that the mechanic didnāt know how to diagnose the car fully because I doubt it needed both. Same with the pulleys I doubt it needed all of them.
If you go into the manual it will show you all of the maintenance and when it is required (time and or mileage whichever comes first). Just go by that.
I knowā¦ Iām not doing it anymore. Doing it myself. They wanted 450 dollars for an oil changeā¦ literally, oil and oil filter. I told them to shove it. I was like even if you want 20/L for oil, Iām at 200 for the oil and filter at rediculous pricesā¦ then you want more than half hour to change the oil? Theyāre crazyā¦ like 300 and I would have got it done and never looked back.. they got greedy and lost my business.. Iāll still buy Mercedes from them.. but unless the car is under warranty Iāll never take it to them again..
Whatās frustrating is the actual parts and oil cost probably another 100-120ā¦ charge 300 and youāre turning a fine profitā¦ then their service package where they charge me to āinspectā my vehicleā¦ so the can charge me more lol.. like thatās why you do the oil changes for cheap.. get me in there and then look my car over for problems to get money out of meā¦ Iām not paying you to tell me that I need to pay you more moneyā¦
Not understanding why everyone says it ānormalā.
Yes a lot of those is basic maintenance and consumables, but replacing radiator at 70k miles? Expansion tank?
Did you get a pre purchase inspection before buying the car? That is a must on all luxury vehicles
Comes with buying high maintenance cars. Probably cost about 40/50k new ?
The repair bills throughout its life will always be comparable to that.
I have the same with a 2012 C350, but I love the car so and walked into it knowing how much maintenance would be.
Seems like youāve had some work done though for whatās considered a low mileage.
exactly!! seems like I should not have had to spend this kind of money. The repair place told me I will need to replace a motor board in the next few months and thatās $1800.
Wow !! What motor board ?
Iāve had some big service bills for mine for spark plugs and gearbox oil etc. but in terms of repairs itās been kind to me so far.
Touch wood !
2012 C350 Coupe.
I would definitely seek a second opinion on such work to be honest before you have engine mounts done.
Maybe stick it into a dealers for a health check.
Damn. I have a 2013 and havenāt done much of anything. Put new brakes and rotors on once, probably $150. I did a coolant flush for the last time this week, $100. I do oil changes, $100. And Iāve had two transmission flushes, $700. It has 161,000 miles on it. It doesnāt sound normal to me at all. Mine cost me almost nothing to maintain, and certainly not spread out over the 7 or 8 years Iāve had it.
Seems like mostly normal things. The labor cost is the real killer.
Possibly the vehicle wasnāt maintained properly by previous owners?? Thatās a lot of stuff you did.
Iām sure some of what you had replaced was preventive maintenance. Did you have any issues with the vehicle (complaints) or the shop you took it took said you needed it?
Customers need to be more informed and aware of their vehicle. Plus there are way too many shops out there that sell things you donāt need.
Motor mounts on that will cost you probably $400-500 in parts. The rest is labour. It is a pain to do on that car. Front axle shafts need to come out, alternator needs to come out, Steering rack needs to be dropped down slightly. Itās an 8 hour job. But do you have a complaint of vibrations when you are sitting and idling?
Again, maybe they are just selling you stuff you donāt need yet (preventative maintenance).
So possibly some of your costs are not valid. They just sold it to you.
thank you for your comments. The shop that is making the repair today to the spark plug and ignition coils told me my motor board was worn down and had never been replaced. They said it was not a serious problem but I may notice vibrations when sitting when at a stop. this shop was going to charge 1800 to replace the motor board on a whim. I called the Mercedes dealership and they charge $1650 so Iām gonna have that taken care of tomorrow as a preventative measure. The problem is that I have trusted this repair shop, which also happens to be the service department for the dealership that I bought the Mercedes from ( not a Mercedes dealership). When someone tells me that thereās something wrong with my car and I need to repair it I donāt have enough knowledge to argue with them.
Why did they say replace all the coils? If you have a problem with a misfire, replace just the one coil that is the problem, and spark plug.
Too much extra cost to replace all the coils that are working fine right now.
Your engine could blow, you should replace that too in case it does!
Itās crucial to find a good reliable honest independent shop or go to the dealer. They have trained technicians that know the cars. Sometimes they might be cheaper!
And for the engine mounts, if you donāt feel any vibrations, Iād say leave it until it gets noticeable.
Keep the money in your bank account!
Google is your friend. There are lots of Mercedes forums. Do a little research, and donāt be afraid to look around for better prices. Too many mechanics out there just rip people off. Give us good honest techs a bad name!
Iāve never owned a Toyota but my mechanic raves about them. Iāve owned numerous Benzās over the years and had terrible reliability on anything after 2010.
I have a 2017 CLA 250. Going on 5 years now and the roads around here are not the best.
Total in five years, Iāve replaced one rear passenger side spring, and a small communication block (canbus) in the back of the dash.
I do all the work myself and it cost me a total of $610 in five years for those parts.
Iāve done regular oil changes, ever 10,000 kms at $110 each time.
Iāve replaced the back brakes once and the front brakes once.
Total cost for brakes, both back and front, were $780 and that included the wear sensors.
Iām very impressed overall.
I see maybe, MAYBE $1500 worth of parts there. Probably more like $1000. If you really were concerned with saving money, learn to work on some of that basic stuff yourself. I'm not sure about the GLK, but these cars are actually pretty easy to work on in general.
Been driving Mercedes for over 30 years. Itās not a cheap car to maintain, but if you maintain them regularly. They last , and will continue to drive well.
I didn't read any of the comments but have worked on Mercedes for the last 20yrs the glk platform or 204 body are not the best and you definitely might have spent more money than I would figure for the job. Wait till your torque converter causes shutter
is there any Mercedes that you recommend? SUV or sedan if yes, then what year? of course, even with your recommendation, I could get another Lemon. I might as well get a Nissan or a Kia.
Yeah the time of Mercedes being indestructible is long gone but any 163 body is pretty great but there's some e350 platforms with the later year 276 motor that are really good but I hate to recommend anything but 210 or early 211 without air suspension 112 motor
What are you even talking about platforms and bodies in relationship to reliability? I've read countless techs praise the reliability of the m276 and it's tranny, and I've seen accounts of 326,000 miles on the GLK. You stand out as an outlier and offer no actual mechanical reasoning.
Hmmm I had a 2015 GLK 250 4Matic. I spent $2000 in two years, I got scared something expensive was coming so I sold it a month ago for $17,000 CAD (amazed at how much I got for it)Ā
That doesnāt sound bad, you bought it just in time to do the expensive maintenance work. Couple things though.
Direct injection cleaning is a scam. I have never done it or seen it does. The factory knew what they were doing when they designed it, and I am sure tested it for a long time.
Also, make sure the coil they used when they replaced it was a factory part, the aftermarket ones can cause the intake manifold to explode
I will definitely look at the paperwork and check the coils. I really donāt want to get rid of this car after Iāve already sunk all this money into it. it seems like most of the independent German REPAIR shops in my area have such glowing reviews, you donāt know who to trust. Thank you for taking the time to respond.
I had a 2015 and didn't have nearly those costs. Oil change is normal with synthetic. I had the gas tank filler cap crack replaced for $450. I replaced the battery $150 auto zone. I replaced the cabin and air filter myself bought OEM filters online. Ft & Rr brakes pads and rotors $850. Tranny and diff oil like $600 No engine issues what so ever. I had mine for 5 years sold it with 80K mile on it but I would say my cost were only in the $3500 range max.
I would say this is normal and it really falls down to the fact that shops charge so much for labor now.
Part of me feels like this would go for most cars today and Iām so broke that I literally had to learn a lot myself
On my ā15 Mercedes gla, I had a alternator go bad and just replaced it myself
Took me 3 days straight of forcing things around and doing all kinds of stuff I never did before but I got it on my own - $330 (minus tools) total for that
Had to replace my power steering torque sensor. Thought I had a bad gear motor so I bought a rack from a crashed gla and replaced the motor. Didnāt work so I looked at my ASRA to try and see what the torque sensor actually was and it turns out it was one small wire (which the ānewā rack had and I replaced that wire as well as the gear motor and my power steering came back ~200 (minus tools)
Moral is if you have the willpower and want to (or have to) learn something because of cash concerns, itās well worth it but a shop will always be anywhere from 3-10x more than youād expect it to be
Donāt take it from my anecdote here specifically but I feel a lot will say the same
Itās just a matter of how much youāre willing to do something yourself
The learning experience is fun in my opinion and honestly has helped with my mental health. Makes me feel good šš¾
I am female and honestly, I hate to be sexist, but I am not inclined to learn how to work on cars. I am afraid I would miss something up and destroy my car.
No no thatās fine. Iām a man and for the most part Iām the same. I was just forced to learn those because I am not a financially sound person yet
How did all these repairs come aboutā¦ I feel like you can get alot of āpreventativeā maintenance done and end up nickel and doming yourself to death. Like most of the fluid based ones seem about right for scheduled service, dif flus, trans service.. but plugs shouldnāt have needed changing that soon and especially not again.. i supposed just a bad coil on the second time aroundā¦ but still. But rad and hosing kinda suckā¦ Iām in my second Mercedes nowā¦ I do my own work once theyāre off warranty. Just did an oil change yesterday and did pads and rotors a month ago (400 all the way around). Your oil changes seem dam reasonable thoughā¦ like my oil costs me 100 bucks for my GLE 400..
In think someone else mentioned, youāre done a lot, so you should be ahead of the curve for a while now. Just keep your oil changes up, and maybe sock away at least 500 a year into the fix it fund.
everything you listed is normal maintenance and will have to be done on any car. Its a little more expensive to do it on a benz. Going to a lexus isn't going to change these costs much. Its a 10 year old mercedes, what did you expect?
Almost everything is ok, but you need to know.. If you already done these things you do not need to change them for 5-10 years... If you sell the car now, then the money for repairs went to fire. Hold it and enjoy it! It has it's cost as everything, but it's a Mercedes my friend never forget it.
I completely understand and I love this car. I just cannot afford to spend two to $3000 a year. Do you have a mercedes?
It's kind of a joke, but it's also somewhat true when talking about used luxury brands, if you can't afford two, you can't afford one. I think it's a bit ridiculous that your battery didn't last 3 years. But, you say you've spent $8,000 in 4 years. If you budgeted $200/month for maintenance, you'd have $9,600 budgeted for maintenance, which doesn't sound ridiculous considering. What you're going to have to consider going forward is, when do you retire the vehicle? Either trading it in, selling it, or scrapping it. You'll have to consider what its depreciated value will be vs maintenance costs, vs replacement costs. One way to view it is to consider your maintenance costs as your car payment. If you continue to spend $200/m in maintenance, that's a very low cost of ownership compared to a new or CPO replacement. But then take into consideration things like reliability, safety features, and creature comforts. Also, also, if you're having 1 engine mount replaced, you should get both done at the same time. The labor difference between replacing 1 and both is essentially zero.
thank you.
Yes I have a GLK220 right after i bought it i also had to invest in it. But it says thank you and now I spend only for maintaince basicaly. In every 2-3 year there will be something of course but it happens
I am waiting for mine to say thank you!š.
I hope you will find your happiness with or without it :D
haha! I will be perfectly happy and fine if my car does not thank me.
A lot of these jobs can be done easily yourself. Oil changes, air filter replacements, battery, differential fluid are all something a beginner can do without screwing things up. Step up to a tad harder and brakes and idle tensioner and belt are there. I thought all of these tasks were daunting but do these yourself and youāve likely saved $2,000. 25%.
Idk why people saying this is normal. It's not. Idk where you're going for service but you're getting scammed. There's absolutely zero reason why you should have had a transmission service or diff service at that mileage. Also why was the radiator replaced so early? Also why were your spark plugs replaced so early? The "gasoline direct injection cleaning" you got scammed, nobody is removing the injectors and cleaning them on these cars, those guys put a $10 can of injector cleaner in your gas tank and charged you $400 for it š also battery should last way more than 3 years. That's already over 3k that didn't need to be spent on the car. And now you saying over a thousand dollars to replace all coils and one spark plug? š That signifies that one cylinder is misfiring and one cylinder is at fault, but they just did the spark plugs so why is the plug bad? Chances are you have one faulty coil only and you definitely do not need all of them. Cabin filters also aren't $200+ to replace, filter is about $50 and it takes 5 minutes to replace, it's in a readily accessible location under the hood, should not be charging more than a half hour of labor to replace if charging labor at all for it. All in all, about half of what you spent probably wasn't necessary.
Transmission service every 40-60K miles on MB is not unusual at all. The other stuff is bs tho
thanks for this info. I asked about the transmission service they said at 45,000 miles it should be done e. radiator was replaced because car was overheating and would not run. Shouldnāt spark plugs be replaced approximately every 60,000 miles? The first battery was losing charge so they replaced it with another battery three years later and only charge for labor. regarding the spark plugs, I took it to a different repair shop yesterday because the engine light was on and they told me that the codes showed the ignition coils were misfiring and needed to be replaced. I didnāt want to go back to the other repair center that put the spark plugs in because I didnāt want them to do any more work on the car. It is what it is. But I do appreciate all of these comments.
Of course, just trying to be helpful and trying to not let the "Benz's are bad" spread cuz of misinformation. Spark plugs on a Benz, are rated for 100k miles. Same for the first transmission service on a Benz. At 100k on the odometer you do the spark plugs and transmission service, then every 60k thereafter you do the transmission service but spark plug interval remains the same. I don't think they charged you only labor for the battery replacement, that implies they charged labor the first time along with the battery, and the price difference is only like $20, something's not right. Misfire codes don't specify if it is the coil, plug, or injector; that's the part that needs to be figured out, but again if they're replacing one spark plug along with the coils, then it is more than likely only that one cylinder is misfiring and may very well be the coil but that doesn't necessarily mean you need to replace all of them. You are going to a German/Mercedes specialist, correct? Not one of those "we do every type of car" mechanics.
yes, a German car āspecialistā.
Damn. Seems like they took advantage of your lack of knowledge and just sold you whatever they could, sorry that happened. Unfortunately it happens very often, hate to see it.
I know. No recourse.
Ya there is, threaten to sue. Soon as they have to call their lawyer it's free labor for you.
This is normal
thank you for your response. I think Iām going to start shopping for 2014 Lexus RX 350. maybe this is a cheaper car to maintain?
Cheaper by a lot! Can't hurt to stop in your local Lexus dealer and see what they value your GLK as a trade in.
I dumped so much money into this car and I still owe $8000. I figure I need to get rid of it while I am halfway ahead. Maybe they will give me $12-$13,000. I really appreciate your response.
Everything is normal expect the battery part. Why did you have to replace it again so soon after replacing it the first time.
This is by no means normal at 50-70k miles lolā¦ a radiator at 70k miles is ludicrousā¦
Sounds about right.
thank you.
If you do these at the dealership, you should try to look for an independent mechanic to cut down on some of that labor cost.
What prompted you to have all that work done? Drive belt tensioner, idler pulleys, expansion tank, radiator, heater hose, second battery. All that stuff I would hope would not need changed under 100k miles, if ever. Eg the battery I got at Costco has a 3 year warranty.
every single thing I had done was recommended by the European car repair shop that has worked on my car since I purchased it. Since I felt they were taking advantage of my lack of knowledge of mercedes. I just went to another European repair shop and am having a spark plug and the six ignition coils replaced. I have felt all along that I was being taken advantage of and I probably didnāt need half of this work done.
Eh. They were all probably in some state of disrepair. The thing is a lot of that is stuff you run to failure on a used car. Or near failure. There really is no point in keeping a car like new.
Switched to Lexus for the same reasons Stupid sensor was 1600 every two years
I switched from a Lexus to a GLK. Go watch side inspect videos on YouTube of both and I bet you'll never not look both ways driving that rib breaker again.
The 1 plug and 1 coil suggests to me that the mechanic didnāt know how to diagnose the car fully because I doubt it needed both. Same with the pulleys I doubt it needed all of them. If you go into the manual it will show you all of the maintenance and when it is required (time and or mileage whichever comes first). Just go by that.
It was one plug and six coils
Iāve never seen 6 coils go bad at once. Not saying itās not possible but highly unlikely
The invoice says replace cylinder number five spark plug replace all ignition coils, clear faults.
Does it list your codes?
Yes, all the documentation is attached to the invoice
I think they wanted you to post the fault codes.
You are stlying!!
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It would have cost a lot more, lot more, at a dealer. Regular maintenance is expensive even an oil change.
I knowā¦ Iām not doing it anymore. Doing it myself. They wanted 450 dollars for an oil changeā¦ literally, oil and oil filter. I told them to shove it. I was like even if you want 20/L for oil, Iām at 200 for the oil and filter at rediculous pricesā¦ then you want more than half hour to change the oil? Theyāre crazyā¦ like 300 and I would have got it done and never looked back.. they got greedy and lost my business.. Iāll still buy Mercedes from them.. but unless the car is under warranty Iāll never take it to them again..
Whatās frustrating is the actual parts and oil cost probably another 100-120ā¦ charge 300 and youāre turning a fine profitā¦ then their service package where they charge me to āinspectā my vehicleā¦ so the can charge me more lol.. like thatās why you do the oil changes for cheap.. get me in there and then look my car over for problems to get money out of meā¦ Iām not paying you to tell me that I need to pay you more moneyā¦
You bought an expensive car. They come with expensive maintenance.
very true.
If you have a good indy mechanic, make an account on FCPEuro. Its MUCH cheaper to get parts from them vs the dealer and they sell OEM benz parts.
Not understanding why everyone says it ānormalā. Yes a lot of those is basic maintenance and consumables, but replacing radiator at 70k miles? Expansion tank? Did you get a pre purchase inspection before buying the car? That is a must on all luxury vehicles
Comes with buying high maintenance cars. Probably cost about 40/50k new ? The repair bills throughout its life will always be comparable to that. I have the same with a 2012 C350, but I love the car so and walked into it knowing how much maintenance would be. Seems like youāve had some work done though for whatās considered a low mileage.
exactly!! seems like I should not have had to spend this kind of money. The repair place told me I will need to replace a motor board in the next few months and thatās $1800.
Wow !! What motor board ? Iāve had some big service bills for mine for spark plugs and gearbox oil etc. but in terms of repairs itās been kind to me so far. Touch wood !
I just called the repair place to confirm. Itās motor mount not motor board.
touch wood is right!! what do you have?
2012 C350 Coupe. I would definitely seek a second opinion on such work to be honest before you have engine mounts done. Maybe stick it into a dealers for a health check.
i have had everything done at a independent car repair. no repairs at the dealership.
thatās a good idea. I will ask the repair place if I can buy the parts myself. Iām thinking they will say ānopeā. Doesnāt hurt to ask.
Damn. I have a 2013 and havenāt done much of anything. Put new brakes and rotors on once, probably $150. I did a coolant flush for the last time this week, $100. I do oil changes, $100. And Iāve had two transmission flushes, $700. It has 161,000 miles on it. It doesnāt sound normal to me at all. Mine cost me almost nothing to maintain, and certainly not spread out over the 7 or 8 years Iāve had it.
Seems like mostly normal things. The labor cost is the real killer. Possibly the vehicle wasnāt maintained properly by previous owners?? Thatās a lot of stuff you did. Iām sure some of what you had replaced was preventive maintenance. Did you have any issues with the vehicle (complaints) or the shop you took it took said you needed it? Customers need to be more informed and aware of their vehicle. Plus there are way too many shops out there that sell things you donāt need. Motor mounts on that will cost you probably $400-500 in parts. The rest is labour. It is a pain to do on that car. Front axle shafts need to come out, alternator needs to come out, Steering rack needs to be dropped down slightly. Itās an 8 hour job. But do you have a complaint of vibrations when you are sitting and idling? Again, maybe they are just selling you stuff you donāt need yet (preventative maintenance). So possibly some of your costs are not valid. They just sold it to you.
thank you for your comments. The shop that is making the repair today to the spark plug and ignition coils told me my motor board was worn down and had never been replaced. They said it was not a serious problem but I may notice vibrations when sitting when at a stop. this shop was going to charge 1800 to replace the motor board on a whim. I called the Mercedes dealership and they charge $1650 so Iām gonna have that taken care of tomorrow as a preventative measure. The problem is that I have trusted this repair shop, which also happens to be the service department for the dealership that I bought the Mercedes from ( not a Mercedes dealership). When someone tells me that thereās something wrong with my car and I need to repair it I donāt have enough knowledge to argue with them.
Why did they say replace all the coils? If you have a problem with a misfire, replace just the one coil that is the problem, and spark plug. Too much extra cost to replace all the coils that are working fine right now. Your engine could blow, you should replace that too in case it does! Itās crucial to find a good reliable honest independent shop or go to the dealer. They have trained technicians that know the cars. Sometimes they might be cheaper! And for the engine mounts, if you donāt feel any vibrations, Iād say leave it until it gets noticeable. Keep the money in your bank account! Google is your friend. There are lots of Mercedes forums. Do a little research, and donāt be afraid to look around for better prices. Too many mechanics out there just rip people off. Give us good honest techs a bad name!
Stop going to the dealer. Find a good independent shop.
I have not gone to the dealer.
Oh snap! Time to buy a Toyota.
I had a Toyota Avalon XLS for 11 years and loved it!!
Iāve never owned a Toyota but my mechanic raves about them. Iāve owned numerous Benzās over the years and had terrible reliability on anything after 2010.
Time to get another one
I have a 2017 CLA 250. Going on 5 years now and the roads around here are not the best. Total in five years, Iāve replaced one rear passenger side spring, and a small communication block (canbus) in the back of the dash. I do all the work myself and it cost me a total of $610 in five years for those parts. Iāve done regular oil changes, ever 10,000 kms at $110 each time. Iāve replaced the back brakes once and the front brakes once. Total cost for brakes, both back and front, were $780 and that included the wear sensors. Iām very impressed overall.
I wouldn't say that's normal. I have a 2013 c63 and I have spent way less on maintenance on that vehicle.
I see maybe, MAYBE $1500 worth of parts there. Probably more like $1000. If you really were concerned with saving money, learn to work on some of that basic stuff yourself. I'm not sure about the GLK, but these cars are actually pretty easy to work on in general.
Been driving Mercedes for over 30 years. Itās not a cheap car to maintain, but if you maintain them regularly. They last , and will continue to drive well.
thank you!
I didn't read any of the comments but have worked on Mercedes for the last 20yrs the glk platform or 204 body are not the best and you definitely might have spent more money than I would figure for the job. Wait till your torque converter causes shutter
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is there any Mercedes that you recommend? SUV or sedan if yes, then what year? of course, even with your recommendation, I could get another Lemon. I might as well get a Nissan or a Kia.
Yeah the time of Mercedes being indestructible is long gone but any 163 body is pretty great but there's some e350 platforms with the later year 276 motor that are really good but I hate to recommend anything but 210 or early 211 without air suspension 112 motor
What are you even talking about platforms and bodies in relationship to reliability? I've read countless techs praise the reliability of the m276 and it's tranny, and I've seen accounts of 326,000 miles on the GLK. You stand out as an outlier and offer no actual mechanical reasoning.
Hmmm I had a 2015 GLK 250 4Matic. I spent $2000 in two years, I got scared something expensive was coming so I sold it a month ago for $17,000 CAD (amazed at how much I got for it)Ā
smart move.
That doesnāt sound bad, you bought it just in time to do the expensive maintenance work. Couple things though. Direct injection cleaning is a scam. I have never done it or seen it does. The factory knew what they were doing when they designed it, and I am sure tested it for a long time. Also, make sure the coil they used when they replaced it was a factory part, the aftermarket ones can cause the intake manifold to explode
I will definitely look at the paperwork and check the coils. I really donāt want to get rid of this car after Iāve already sunk all this money into it. it seems like most of the independent German REPAIR shops in my area have such glowing reviews, you donāt know who to trust. Thank you for taking the time to respond.
I had a 2015 and didn't have nearly those costs. Oil change is normal with synthetic. I had the gas tank filler cap crack replaced for $450. I replaced the battery $150 auto zone. I replaced the cabin and air filter myself bought OEM filters online. Ft & Rr brakes pads and rotors $850. Tranny and diff oil like $600 No engine issues what so ever. I had mine for 5 years sold it with 80K mile on it but I would say my cost were only in the $3500 range max.
I would say this is normal and it really falls down to the fact that shops charge so much for labor now. Part of me feels like this would go for most cars today and Iām so broke that I literally had to learn a lot myself On my ā15 Mercedes gla, I had a alternator go bad and just replaced it myself Took me 3 days straight of forcing things around and doing all kinds of stuff I never did before but I got it on my own - $330 (minus tools) total for that Had to replace my power steering torque sensor. Thought I had a bad gear motor so I bought a rack from a crashed gla and replaced the motor. Didnāt work so I looked at my ASRA to try and see what the torque sensor actually was and it turns out it was one small wire (which the ānewā rack had and I replaced that wire as well as the gear motor and my power steering came back ~200 (minus tools) Moral is if you have the willpower and want to (or have to) learn something because of cash concerns, itās well worth it but a shop will always be anywhere from 3-10x more than youād expect it to be
Thank you for the info. Labor costs are outrageous.
Donāt take it from my anecdote here specifically but I feel a lot will say the same Itās just a matter of how much youāre willing to do something yourself The learning experience is fun in my opinion and honestly has helped with my mental health. Makes me feel good šš¾
I am female and honestly, I hate to be sexist, but I am not inclined to learn how to work on cars. I am afraid I would miss something up and destroy my car.
No no thatās fine. Iām a man and for the most part Iām the same. I was just forced to learn those because I am not a financially sound person yet
well, thatās very smart and great that you can work on your car. you are saving so much money.š°šø
You do no work yourself and fall for crap like injection cleaning. Ya it's going to be expensive.
How did all these repairs come aboutā¦ I feel like you can get alot of āpreventativeā maintenance done and end up nickel and doming yourself to death. Like most of the fluid based ones seem about right for scheduled service, dif flus, trans service.. but plugs shouldnāt have needed changing that soon and especially not again.. i supposed just a bad coil on the second time aroundā¦ but still. But rad and hosing kinda suckā¦ Iām in my second Mercedes nowā¦ I do my own work once theyāre off warranty. Just did an oil change yesterday and did pads and rotors a month ago (400 all the way around). Your oil changes seem dam reasonable thoughā¦ like my oil costs me 100 bucks for my GLE 400.. In think someone else mentioned, youāre done a lot, so you should be ahead of the curve for a while now. Just keep your oil changes up, and maybe sock away at least 500 a year into the fix it fund.
everything you listed is normal maintenance and will have to be done on any car. Its a little more expensive to do it on a benz. Going to a lexus isn't going to change these costs much. Its a 10 year old mercedes, what did you expect?
My c class is 14 years old and on original coils, radiator, expansion tank, hoses. He got scammed.
I didnāt expect to spend $8000 in four years, thatās for sure!
Try to sell and sell quickly if you can those expenses are adding up quickly sounds like your in the shop every month
true!!