Well Done Mercedes Southampton :)
Discussion
Chaps - as always, you rarely hear about dealers who deserve a pat on the back, but I have a positive story concerning the Merc main dealer in Southampton.
My Mum's 2006 CLK 220CDI suddenly stopped running a few weeks back. The 25 year Mobilo Life thingy kicked in and she got recovered and given a new 'E' class while hers was in, at no charge. So that was excellent for a start.
They took it in, and played around for days trying to get it to work, having gained nothing useful from the diagnostics. I was speaking to the Master Tech (Chris) because I was worried that my Mum was being charged by the hour for them to do trial-and-error replacements of components. However, I was very pleasantly surprised when he told me that they'd only charge for parts and labour when they fitted something which actually fixed a problem. So he's fitted at least 2 new injectors, a new fuel rail, a new fuel pump and a few other things. Only the first injector made some difference, so we got charged for that part plus 2 hours labour. All the other stuff was removed again and the originals put back with no charge to us. Then when he was running short of ideas, his next thought was the ECU. Again, he got one in and fitted it...and said if it didn't fix it they'd take it off again. Thankfully, that did fix it. The total bill at the end was just shy of 1500 notes. Frankly, for the effort they made and the parts (I know the injector was 380+vat and I bet the ECU was north of 750+vat), we were very pleased with that.
When I commented on all this to the tech Chris, he said that it would have done them no favours to have presented my Mum with a 3000 quid plus bill, particularly because it's always been serviced in the dealer network, and they hoped to see her again for the next service. Very impressed. Maybe I shouldn't be, and this level of fairness and service is what we should all expect...but I'm sure there are dealers out there that would have just doggedly charged every hour they spent. They have won me and my Mum as fans.
Cheers,
J.
I was astonished at this...maybe it's standard practise these days, but I bet there's lot of dealers who would have just charged for all his time.
My Mum's 2006 CLK 220CDI suddenly stopped running a few weeks back. The 25 year Mobilo Life thingy kicked in and she got recovered and given a new 'E' class while hers was in, at no charge. So that was excellent for a start.
They took it in, and played around for days trying to get it to work, having gained nothing useful from the diagnostics. I was speaking to the Master Tech (Chris) because I was worried that my Mum was being charged by the hour for them to do trial-and-error replacements of components. However, I was very pleasantly surprised when he told me that they'd only charge for parts and labour when they fitted something which actually fixed a problem. So he's fitted at least 2 new injectors, a new fuel rail, a new fuel pump and a few other things. Only the first injector made some difference, so we got charged for that part plus 2 hours labour. All the other stuff was removed again and the originals put back with no charge to us. Then when he was running short of ideas, his next thought was the ECU. Again, he got one in and fitted it...and said if it didn't fix it they'd take it off again. Thankfully, that did fix it. The total bill at the end was just shy of 1500 notes. Frankly, for the effort they made and the parts (I know the injector was 380+vat and I bet the ECU was north of 750+vat), we were very pleased with that.
When I commented on all this to the tech Chris, he said that it would have done them no favours to have presented my Mum with a 3000 quid plus bill, particularly because it's always been serviced in the dealer network, and they hoped to see her again for the next service. Very impressed. Maybe I shouldn't be, and this level of fairness and service is what we should all expect...but I'm sure there are dealers out there that would have just doggedly charged every hour they spent. They have won me and my Mum as fans.
Cheers,
J.
I was astonished at this...maybe it's standard practise these days, but I bet there's lot of dealers who would have just charged for all his time.
Unbelievable - there is a test how much the injected amount varies from the specified amount of each injector- in Germany that is called "Laufruhetest" the range is indicated +5 and -1. No component has to be taken out. This test would have indicated the problem injector.
Injectors do not brake - probably there was a carbon deposit - which could have been cleaned using a carbon solvent.
(to prevent that deposits a bit of 2 stroke synthetic oil can be mixed into diesel tank 250ml/ full tank...).
Finally the ECU failed in a 5 year car? Considering that Toyota gives you 5 years and Kia 7 years warranty, Mercedes should cover that as goodwill. Most other car companies do that for cars up to 5 years old!
Please go back and ask for Goodwill from Mercedes and tell them to show you the old injector...
Injectors do not brake - probably there was a carbon deposit - which could have been cleaned using a carbon solvent.
(to prevent that deposits a bit of 2 stroke synthetic oil can be mixed into diesel tank 250ml/ full tank...).
Finally the ECU failed in a 5 year car? Considering that Toyota gives you 5 years and Kia 7 years warranty, Mercedes should cover that as goodwill. Most other car companies do that for cars up to 5 years old!
Please go back and ask for Goodwill from Mercedes and tell them to show you the old injector...
Injectors do break.
A known fault with Siemens injectors for example as that the insulation around the supply for the piezo crystals (http://www.swedespeed.com/news/publish/Features/printer_272.html) or the crystals themselves, degrades and hence a short occurs.
They use very high voltage, and the ecu shuts of the electrical supply immediately to prevent further damage, therefore in this scenario, it could be that the ecu did indeed fry, which is why it needed replacing, and why diagnostics could not find a fault, as diags are done by the ecu.
I know the 2.0 VAG diesels have injectors wired in pairs, so a fully working diagnostic still cannot determine the actual faulty injector. Hence some garages change two, rather than test them out of the engine to verify the actual faulty injector.
A known fault with Siemens injectors for example as that the insulation around the supply for the piezo crystals (http://www.swedespeed.com/news/publish/Features/printer_272.html) or the crystals themselves, degrades and hence a short occurs.
They use very high voltage, and the ecu shuts of the electrical supply immediately to prevent further damage, therefore in this scenario, it could be that the ecu did indeed fry, which is why it needed replacing, and why diagnostics could not find a fault, as diags are done by the ecu.
I know the 2.0 VAG diesels have injectors wired in pairs, so a fully working diagnostic still cannot determine the actual faulty injector. Hence some garages change two, rather than test them out of the engine to verify the actual faulty injector.
podwin said:
Caulkhead said:
I've never seen anyone so chuffed to have spent £1500 having a hundred quid ecu and a fifty quid injector fitted. . . . . . 
Injectors cost a lot more than that.http://www.dieseljones.co.uk/common-rail-injectors...
podwin said:
Caulkhead said:
I've never seen anyone so chuffed to have spent £1500 having a hundred quid ecu and a fifty quid injector fitted. . . . . .
Injectors cost a lot more than that.
OP this is pretty much standard practice for Mercedes now, they have a poilcy in place where parts can be ordered and tried on a vheicle and if it doesn't fix the problem, it gets returned. The idea is that parts can be ordered when a car is booked in and hopefully fixed on its first visit, rather than it having to come in for diagnosis, then back in for a repair.
Caulkhead said:
podwin said:
Caulkhead said:
I've never seen anyone so chuffed to have spent £1500 having a hundred quid ecu and a fifty quid injector fitted. . . . . .
Injectors cost a lot more than that.http://www.dieseljones.co.uk/common-rail-injectors...
£375 each, and I have 6. I paid £1200 to have all 6 replaced in mine as a goodwill gesture.
One of the injectors went in Mrs Ramses 1-Series. Out of warranty by a few months, she took it to the dealer (Blue Bell Wilmslow) for a 'compassionate' repair from BMW.
2 weeks later another went. Took it back, they were not happy that one had failed, let alone two so they replaced the second, and the other three, and the whole of the fuel injection system, and some other anciliaries. BMW covered 90% of the cost as a compassionate repair, the dealer covered the rest.
Some dealers can be brilliant, especially from a service perspective. It is usually only the sales function that let them down.
2 weeks later another went. Took it back, they were not happy that one had failed, let alone two so they replaced the second, and the other three, and the whole of the fuel injection system, and some other anciliaries. BMW covered 90% of the cost as a compassionate repair, the dealer covered the rest.
Some dealers can be brilliant, especially from a service perspective. It is usually only the sales function that let them down.
Silverbullet767 said:
Caulkhead said:
podwin said:
Caulkhead said:
I've never seen anyone so chuffed to have spent £1500 having a hundred quid ecu and a fifty quid injector fitted. . . . . .
Injectors cost a lot more than that.http://www.dieseljones.co.uk/common-rail-injectors...
£375 each, and I have 6. I paid £1200 to have all 6 replaced in mine as a goodwill gesture.
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