Car would not startafter 20 mile journey
Fired up but would not pick up from 500 rpm and died after 10 secs.
ABS light flickers during process but after 1 hour and AA inspection still would not start.
AA man knew of problem via lap top but his fixes did not work indeed he has asked me to let him know what diagnosis is
When recovery truck arrived of course it started perfectly and has done so again this morning.
Taken to Mercedes dealer in ***** and of course there is now a £100 diagnostic charge.No refund if they cannot find it so if it breaks down again that will be another £100 charge probably.
Nice little earner
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Why is it a scam? There is obviously a fault with your car.
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The £100 charge i would assume
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Why is it a scam? There is obviously a fault with your car.
I think you've answered your own question !
Why should the guy have to pay a diagnostic fee if there is obviously a problem with the car ! If they can't find the fault, there is still no reason to charge a diagnostic fee (assuming the car is under warranty), Mercedes or any other manufacturer should "take it on the chin".
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Do you work for free then Roly?
{Multiple entries of the same post deleted. DD}
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Do you work for free then Roly?
No I don't, but I dont expect my customers to pay for goods/services that are faulty or inadequate.
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What is faulty or inadequate about a garage charging to plug a vehicle into a diagnostics machine to investigate a fault?
They've got huge overheads to pay,rates,wages,updating equipment etc.....On this occassion they haven't charged.....
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Not an E class by any chance
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This is by no neans unique to Mercedes - there have been other recent threads on here about other manufacturers doing the same thing. One vehicle (Ford?) was under warranty, but the dealer still wanted to make the charge in case of 'no fault found' (so presumeably no pay out from the manufacturer).
If course the Merc charge will be higher than everyone else's. Is the car not covered by MobiloLife?
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Heads they win, tails you lose!
The ABS light flickering is likely due to low system voltage due to low rpm. Don't know what the cure is though - what model is it? Does it have electronic throttle?
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Since we do not know how old the car is, new ? secondhand, it is impossible to advise whether it's a scam or a justifiable charge.
So imo any comment is invalid until we know..
madf
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Update
Car is 1998 C 240 purcased ex Merc dealer 3 years ago.
Despite dealer trying several times car fired up normally and no fault codes found.
On trying to move out to parking it at last exhibited fault and service tech advised reception of fault.
When they come to test again of course it fires up normally.
Dealer has waived charge but as I work night shifts you can guess when it will give up next 9.30 pm or 7.30 am.
Worked OK lastnight so let us hope a two off (once for me and once for dealer.
Dealer advises wait till it goes again.
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I have some sympathy for the dealer. If no fault codes reported and it started OK for them, unless they're psychic how can they fix it.
If they try the other way of replacing a part known to have done something similar in the past, then you moan because they cahrge you for something that didn't fix it.
They lose either way.
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I have some sympathy for the dealer....
I don't! Their incompetence and that of the system which MB have used for fault detection/reporting on these cars costs innocent people money and causes massive frustration.
At the end of the day a lot of the fault code reading systems german car manufacturers use are no more informative than the ECU light on the dashboard for an intermittent fault like this. Which means the fault finding process usually ends up as an expensive (for the customer) subsitution of parts excersise.
Aformentioned "subsitution of parts excersise", can usually be made much more efficient with the aid of information on the internet. Because german car dealers seem blatantly unaware of the information about their cars on the internet, you may as well attempt an educated guess at the parts substition yourself. At least you get some spare parts into the bargain if you're wrong...
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Aformentioned "subsitution of parts excersise", can usually be made much more efficient with the aid of information on the internet. Because german car dealers seem blatantly unaware of the information about their cars on the internet, you may as well attempt an educated guess at the parts substition yourself. At least you get some spare parts into the bargain if you're wrong...
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I always drive German cars because I like the quality feel of them, however I have sometimes thought over the years that the dealers abilities 'counterbalance' the quality and engineering brilliance of the product !!
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On these W202's the diagnostic connector is on the offside engine compartment. It is the work of just a few minutes to read the codes. I've heard of dealers charging up to £150 for this. The job (even allowing for the technician to pick up the code reader, job sheet, and walk to the car and back) should take no more than 15-20 minutes. So that's an hourly rate of £450-600. Now, even allowing for overheads and the cost of code reader etc I think most people would agree that's a pretty steep hourly rate (mind you, I recently visited a consultant at a local private hospital and she charged me £100 for about 5 minutes chat - which was pretty amazing I thought).
TBH, with a '98 car I'd not take it to the dealer. There is good knowledge of this management system (ME2.0) amongst the independents and they should be able to diagnose. Sounds like it could be the throttle actuator (TAC), fuel delivery fault (relay/pump etc.) or possibly just a bad connection somewhere in the system. If it were crank or cam sensors then I would expect a code to be indicated.
Anyway, if no fault is found I reckon they should drop any charge back to a nominal amount. Fortunately I'm friendly with a local tech who has a scan tool that does these. He normally doesn't charge me if no codes are present, and about £20 if something pops up. Mind you, I'm still looking around for a suitable scan tool to buy for myself.
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Thanks Aprilia
I hoped you would be along with your wisdom on this.
As you can see no fault codes available so we will have to suck and see but it aint half unnnerving to know if it will not start.
Thanks again that it looks like a duff connection at this stage
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Aprila,type the word diagnostic into ebay search you just might find something there.
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I always drive German cars because I like the quality feel of them, however I have sometimes thought over the years that the dealers abilities 'counterbalance' the quality and engineering brilliance of the product !!
Ah, but you have to remember that main dealers have access to the most powerful repair tool of all - the customer's credit card.
Given time it will fix any known fault.
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I wonder how many people on this thread are in the motor trade?
Do you moan when someone comes out to fix your boiler/tv/washingmachine etc and charges you a £100?
Everyones got to earn a living....
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r2:
If the car is under warranty, then the cost of the diagnostics should be borne by the manufacturer, even if nothing is found. The dealer has to earn a living, and should receive payment from the manufacturer when they carry out warranty work. The owner of the car, who paid a large sum of money to get the warranty, should receive the value of that warranty during the time it's current.
If the boiler/tv/washing machine are under warranty, then I moan at paying UKP100.
It sounds as if you consider a suitable synonym for customer is 'sucker' or 'mug'.
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8< SNIP 8<
Insult removed.
DD.
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r2: If the car is under warranty, then the cost of the diagnostics should be borne by the manufacturer, even if nothing is found. The dealer has to earn a living, and should receive payment from the manufacturer when they carry out warranty work. The owner of the car, who paid a large sum of money to get the warranty, should receive the value of that warranty during the time it's current. If the boiler/tv/washing machine are under warranty, then I moan at paying UKP100. It sounds as if you consider a suitable synonym for customer is 'sucker' or 'mug'.
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This was exactly my point in an earlier post...
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Vary rarely do I have to lock a thread in Technical Matters.
However, I think this thread has run it's course, and there only now appears to be a lot of accusations and insults flying about.
DD.
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