A need to think and research more

[Jimb]

Hello again from Jim (Jimb)
Feeling rather foolish about my purchase. Maybe I am no aware of what is a reasonable price to pay for Mercedes Parts is. I bought some injection hose kits from the States I expected them to come with all the necessary hoses from where they enter the engine bay . What I got was just the 3 kits to do three injectors each kit does 2 cylinders, each kit contained 2 short pieces of hose ,2 hose clips and 2 metal cups. The cups must be made out of pure gold! By the time I got the 3 kits with freight and the dollar exchange rate . I had parted with $273.00 . It is my fault.I should have enquired more about what I would receive.
I expected to get the rest of the hoses with it.
Not much point in just replacing the short bits on the injectors and leaving the rest to burst.


The car is away at the moment getting some body repairs and a new windscreen rubber unfortunatley the windscreen broke because someone had tried to stop it leaking with some sort of upoxy glue and it broke getting it out. Maybe I should just drive it with the sun roof open it might not be too much of a gale blowing in and no need for windscreen wipers. Kind Regards Jim.

 

[c107]

Hi Jim,

Sometimes the parts catalog can help with this because you can see what part numbers apply to what parts.

There is a russian EPC, which is russian language but free to use on the internet.

Bit hard to use, but better than nothing:
http://www.auto-parts.spb.ru/cat/cats/m.mycat?cat=mb&client=dr2000

You can also buy a DVD that has the electronic parts catalog. Can take a bit of setup, but once you have it you can search by part number and also browse by car and parts section. I've used this to make sure I get the right part for the car.

Unfortunately there are some parts that are now quite expensive, and others that are somewhat reasonable. Seems to be driven more by inventory left than anything else. (i.e if they don't have much left in stock they start jacking up the price).

Bryce

 

[Jimb]

Thanks Bryce.
I will have a look.
Regards Jim

 

[Oversize]

Worse it seems the EPC is missing part numbers for items NLA. It’s often no help at all.

I’d just get generic hose & quality hose clamps from Wurth. Only prob is you may find the hose is metric & finding an equivalent imperial size frustrating. Have we gone backwards???

 

[Jimb]

Hi Mark.
Thank you for your reply .
I should have asked more questions at the time it was quiet dopey of me, I expeceted to get the full kit and caboodle to replace all suspect old hoses . You would think for an outlay of $273.00. I would have got more than 6 short pieces of hose 6 clips and 6 metal cups.
it was my fault entirely .The service and communication along with the delivery was first class..in regards to your comment about metric and imperial.they may well be metric being a European car anyway . Of course some of this expense was exchange rate and freight
Kind regards Jim .

 

[Styria]

Unfortunately Jim, your experience is not totally unexpected. The cost of spares, as well as cost of hourly servicing not only by dealerships but also mechanics, explain the reasons for European cars being almost worthless when tossed into the second hand maelstrom - unless, of course, you have a car that is out of the "ordinary".

Unfortunately, not many qualify for that category. A 6.9 owner friend of mine has had satisfying dealings with Pelican Parts located in the States and normally you are able to ascertain price of spares before you commit yourself. I sincerely hope that you can stick it out. Regards. Styria

 

[Jimb]

Hi Styria.
It sure is a steep learning curve.
I do like the idea of converting it to EFI. It would get rid of a lot of nasty bits hidden in the bottom of the distributer . The rest of the car is pretty standard .
Being on club plates I am not going to waste a lot of money on rego and green slips if I have it in bits for a while . I would like to know if anyone has actually done this .I was thinking of adapting secondhand bits off a common local Australian type car. It certainly is activating my grey cells . I need to do a lot of homework and learn about both systems . Other components such as fuel pump delivery pressure etc would need to be considered also. Just as well I am retired.
Kind Regards.Jim.