R63 AMG The Unicorn of my Destruction

EastCoastMojo wrote: Please take it to the dealership that wanted $57K to replace the motor.

What? That's the FIRST thing he should do!

of course, I'm sure someone over there is following this thread...

Wunderbar

EastCoastMojo wrote: Please take it to the dealership that wanted $57K to replace the motor.

To be fair, $10k in labor isn't too bad considering dealer labor rates (guessing $200+/hour) and the amount of work required. No it's not "cheap" but it's not out of line, either.

And to be honest, I wouldn't trust a dealership parts-hanger to do any internal engine work, and neither do some manufacturers, which is why even seemingly simple repairs are treated as "replace as assembly".

I do understand that Mitsubishi is actually replacing clutches in the SST transmissions instead of replacing the whole thing under warranty now

In reply to Knurled:

Something like 60 pages ago I said I was 100% ok with the labor they wanted to charge. I still am. What started this whole avalanche was the parts markup. They're probably very happy running their parts counter the way they do, and judging by the fact that I had to drive all the way around back to find a parking spot when I picked up power steering fluid yesterday, the dealership is doing just fine. They don't need customers like me and they were doing me a favor to even quote me a fix on the engine. It could have gone bad for them in a lot more ways than it could have gone right and they were good people to even say they would take it on. I don't harbor any ill feelings toward the service department and I'm happy to bring it back in......to the same guys who said good luck and chuckled as I rode the tow truck home.

Job well done! There was no doubt that she would run again. Like i said early on in the thread if you are ever up in DFW and have a minute let me know, beers on me.

mazdeuce wrote: In reply to Knurled: Something like 60 pages ago I said I was 100% ok with the labor they wanted to charge. I still am. What started this whole avalanche was the parts markup.

The dealer is probably just running the prices they're told to.

That said. Big ticket items tend to have LESS markup than small ticket. This goes for all businesses, even at the bike shop where I worked many years ago, five dollar items might have had a 200% markup while 300 dollar items might have had a 60% markup.

Now. With that negative scale in mind. Let's say I am doing an engine job at 15 hours labor. The guy working next to me is doing ten brake jobs at 1.5 hours labor each. I actually get done faster, not (just) because I kick all kind of ass, but because I don't have five times the in-between cleanup/shop maintenance stuff. The guy next to me made more profit for us because we can't charge the same markup on big items. Well, we could try, but people would balk at the prices and decide to buy their own lifts and tools and do it themselves

Point is, the parts markup may have looked crazy to you, but to them, it may have looked like a losing proposition. Every hour your vehicle took up spot in a bay was an hour that could have been spent doing something more profitable. And, as you noted, they aren't hurting for business.

I remember an iATN (auto technician assist/reference forum) post about a Honda minivan power steering problem. One of the responses was more or less "It needs a rack, it calls for six hours labor, you're better off telling them to go somewhere else rather than tie up a bay that long"!!! I was dumbfounded. But then our shop benefits by taking on all of those "OMG difficult" jobs that other shops turn down, so I guess I can't complain too hard. Big "scary" jobs have paid for most of my toys after all

Agreed. They didn't want the job. They said they didn't want the job. They were extremely nice to even make an offer to take it on, and they gained my respect by doing that. I'm sure that me doing it in my garage doesn't make them feel bad at all.

MazD do you have a Tshirt with the "my other race care brake a head bolt' for when you go to the dealer?

Jeez, you go live your life for a couple of days and the whole forum horizon changes comnpletely. First of all: [Karloff] IT'S...ALIIIIVE! [/Karloff] Congratulations and don't sweat what's left to do. Just keep up the quality.

Having said that, I think it's time we all give poor Guido a break. He built an engine with the parts AMG gave him. They didn't have alternative good head bolts. They just had the E36 M3ty head bolts that no one knew were E36 M3ty.

DuctTape&Bondo wrote:

Jerry From LA wrote: Those guys don't want to part that out. They'll be selling that off as a salvage title to a body shop.

It's already in the yard. Regular entry $3 plus $2 to access the Primo yard (newer/premium/classics)

This has been my go-to lot (as well as the late, lamented U-Pick-Parts around the corner) since 1989. Frankly, I'm surprised Pick-A-Part decided to break up this AMG. I've seen that lot sell off stuff a lot worse than the AMG as a whole unit. Perhaps demand for it as a going concern was completely destroyed by the mazdeuce saga.

Jerry From LA wrote: Frankly, I'm surprised Pick-A-Part decided to break up this AMG. I've seen that lot sell off stuff a lot worse than the AMG as a whole unit. Perhaps demand for it as a going concern was completely destroyed by the mazdeuce saga.

They are breaking it up because it is a 2006 R350, and not an AMG. The 6cyl R, especially the 2006, are at the bottom of the value scale at this point. Decent condition runners can be bought for less than $10,000 all day long.

mazdeuce wrote: First off, I can't possibly reply to or even properly thank everyone who has followed and contributed and said their kind words to me. This isn't my thread, it belongs to the whole community, and I love all of you for it. With that out of the way, I was allllllmost able to sleep in this morning, but once my brain turned on, back to the Grosh. I finally cleaned up my tools, threw away one thousand zip loc bags, and just organized. I put the headlights and bumper back on. And then I torqued the wheels and took it around the block. It works. It's quiet and smooth and smells like I'm burning oil off the exhaust, which I am. Back home and I washed off the accumulated dust from sitting. I need to finish installing the battery and put in at least the wheel well liners. Mrs. Deuce wants me to make an appointment to have the transmission fluid changed (which it's due for) and have them clear the codes and give it a once over. I think that's a good idea.

First off... sorry to pull in all of your post for the quote... but the pictures are just awesome....

My curiosity is getting me... is the reason you are bringing yours in for the transmission service the same reason I wouldn't do ours either... The whole pump fitting thing on the transmission where they drain and fill with a special fitting in the pan? I normally tackle trans fluid service on my own, but once I read up on the procedure on the seven speed, it was off to the dealer for that one. Thought it was going to be bad, but wasn't half bad at $450.00.

Another thing I am curious about.. was your carpet already split over the battery? Yours looked a ton easier than mine was. Mine wasn't split, and the seams were actually under the seat tracks...hence my comment about removing the seat. Glad you got to yours without removing the whole seat. Hint.... if you want to power the car without the battery in there, use the under hood jump points and hook up a power source like a jumper battery... works great.

Lastly. Didn't someone send you a spare caddie from the spare well from another R? The factory includes a wheel mounting pin in that caddie. Along with a tow hook and the emergency jack.

Again, it is so fantastic to see you succeed with this!

Jerry From LA wrote: Having said that, I think it's time we all give poor Guido a break. He built an engine with the parts AMG gave him. They didn't have alternative good head bolts. They just had the E36 M3ty head bolts that no one knew were E36 M3ty.

Principle IV

Main article: Superior Orders "The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him".

Why all the hate on Guido?* He was just installing what he was given. He didn't design the bolts.

*Yes I know it's mostly in jest.

In reply to JOsworth:

The carpet was split already, but the seams were under the tracks. There's enough flexibility in the system to pull the carpet out by just removing the rear seat bolts, but putting it all back together required removing the fronts so I could get the tracks further off the carpet. I still have a battery light that comes on when I start the car, but I'm 99% certain that's trying to tell me the aux battery died. I'll get to that later. I did put in a pigtail so I can plug in a trickle charger over the summer. Don't want this battery to go dead after wrestling the new one in the hole. Then I took it to the store to get chocolate chips. Everything worked. Mostly. Coolant burped a bit. AC doesn't work yet. I put in three cans which is about 1000g. The book says it takes 1220g. It needs more, but it seems like it should have enough for all of the switches to acknowledge that it's there. Troubleshooting to come I suppose.

vr4 wrote: Why all the hate on Guido?* He was just installing what he was given. He didn't design the bolts. *Yes I know it's mostly in jest.

Completely in jest. I think at least half of the silliness comes from saying the name Guido.
Also, the name sounds Italian and making fun of Italians for their mechanical weirdness is a long standing tradition. If I somehow run across Guido in real life, I'll buy him a beer to apologize.

Major kudos for the victorious restart and first drive!! I've learned alot from watching this unfold, and am beyond thrilled for you! Thanks for taking us along on this epic journey.

maz, After helping in your heart surgery on the benz, I am fixing a few pimples on my '96 4runner (294k mi). LED interior bulbs, auto gear shifter lever bushings and power antenna mast and tail. The antenna
motor had a plastic bag cover which was hard and cracked. Took a vinyl glove, cut off a finger tip and better than new. pic1 pic2

Between looks after your fluids pic, I went back and found what you told me about taking apart the intake using dental floss - clear now.

Have you checked out the Delorean factory at 59 and beltway 8? They even had an electric version when I stopped once.

Inspired by your house and grosh work, I replaced 17 passage door knobs. $7 each Schlage new at Habitat ReStore.

You have done an excellent job.....and I thank you sincerely for this opportunity to follow along. I hope all the hickies will be ironed out so you can next FOCUS on FERGUS!! oh does the R63 have an official name?

In reply to 759NRNG:

How about deucekid#5?

It's rare. Very rare. Special. I've still never seen another one in real life. People who know what it is geek out. In contrast to all of the amazing that is the R63, we call it "the van". It helps to keep it's ego in check.

In reply to ronniejay:

That second picture is absolutely the picture of the week! Brilliant! I used to drive past the Delorean shop when I worked. It was long enough ago that I think they're in a different building now, but it was the highlight of my commute.
I'm glad you're getting so much done, if you need extra hands, don't be afraid to call, and you've still got that lunch coming once the van is sorted, don't forget.

Well done good sir.

That's quite the accomplishment.

Good stuff. The satisfaction of doing something yourself and pulling it off. Hell yeah!