Thanks, Tom. Well, I've got about $7K in the car right now, probably need another $2k to get it 'perfect', including paint. Yes, I believe the car is worth it, since I'll probably drive it much longer than something I'd buy for $30 - 40K at a dealership.
You're right about the 'caveat emptor' clause, but my complaint is more along the lines of dishonesty within the classic Benz owners' community. Brian Smyla -----Original Message----- From: Tom Hargrave [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 10:57 PM To: Mercedes mailing list Subject: Re: [MBZ] Vacuum pump question answered, plus rant Brian, This all falls under the "let the buyer beware" clause. You should have done your homework on the car before purchasing it. I've owned 15 old Mercedes to date and I've put serious money into every good deal that I have bough to date. These days, I just figure that I'll have to put $2,000 into anything I buy. And that's after I check out the car and decide that it's in good shape. But you need to understand that I'll purchase an older Mercedes then I'll put 50,000 + miles a year on it. My latest Mercedes, a 1987 300SDL, cost me $1600.00 the first month I owned it. About this time last year, the transmission cost me $1760.00 but at least it got me home. I'm nursing a cracked head or bad head gasket and have been doing so for over 50,000 miles. Even with all of these costs, it's still cheaper than the rate that my Wife's new Grand Cherokee is depreciating and I won't complain. Thanks, Tom Hargrave 256-656-1924 www.kegkits.com -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Brian Smyla Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 9:38 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [MBZ] Vacuum pump question answered, plus rant Thanks to all those that replied to my question about the vacuum pump port. I had the engine replaced with a used one, and the shop that did the work warranted the engine for 30 days. The day after I picked the car up, the engine wouldn't stop. I took it back to have the problem resolved, and was told the problem was in the vacuum transducers near the turbo. I took the car back, then discovered that there wasn't any vacuum on the small port on the pump. Also, the climate control had air coming from the defrost ports only, and the shifting was very hard, as was mentioned in some of your replies. I had a very bad experience with this engine replacement. The shop owner claims to have many years experience working on MBZ products, but when I picked the car up, the heat didn't work (mechanic said it was a problem with my climate control), the starter engaged intermittently, the idler pulley was chafing the back side of the belt, a turbo support bracket was missing, and various bolts were missing here and there. I spent three hours checking the climate control, only to finally figure out that the mechanic had left a plug in the return water pipe where it connects to the heater hose that comes off the monovalve. I returned the car for repair of the other problems. They fixed the starter issue, installed the turbo bracket ( after arguing with me on the phone for 5 minutes that the bracket didn't exist ), told me the idler pulley wasn't part of what was warranted ( the idler pulley was from the replacement engine, and I told him that since it wasn't under warranty, I wanted my old one back ), and said the shutoff problem was in the emission control transducers, which I know is BS, because there's no vacuum on the port to start with. If anyone's interested, the shop is Chaney's Auto Service in Ringgold, VA. I'm not going back. Oh, and he charged me $2000 for the replacement engine, labor to remove the replacement engine from the donor vehicle, promised me a 10% cash discount from the original quoted price, then added enough miscellaneous parts (motor mounts, used starter, hoses, etc..) to make up the difference. Go figure. And no, it's not worth going to court over. And to make matters worse, I bought the car from Stefan Schultze, who assured me that the only thing wrong with it was bad hood hinges. Flew to Indiana to pick it up, where he told me that the heater had been intermittently working. Drove it back, then discovered it had a cracked head. All 6 cylinders. Refused to reply to follow up emails asking for a $1k concession. I know, my fault, caveat emptor and all that. Thanks for letting me vent. Brian Smyla _______________________________________ For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net
