WARNING: Mr. Lube on Main st.

[Leopold Stotch]

Originally Posted by tool001

most prob. due to the fact that Mercedez Benz owners never go to mr. lube, they didn't know what they were doing in the first place, and ur mom threw a curve ball going thr with her Benz

they get tons of bmws audis and mercs.

[LenovoTurbo]

Oil eats and attacks anything that is rubber. So everything thing in the brake system that has rubber must be replaced. Hence the price plus in the dealership causing it to cost more.

[Obsideon]

Originally Posted by ericthehalfbee

Doesn't make any sense to me. I'd like to see Mercedes explanation as to why you need that much work. I've repaired countless cars where people have mixed fluids up before - it's not that big a deal unless you do something really dumb like use coolant to fill your engine instead of oil.

I'd also like to know how they put oil into the brake fluid reservoir considering a) the location of the filler cap for each and b) the small size of the brake fluid reservoir (only holds about 1/4 litre). Not only that, but the brake reservoir should have been close to full anyway, meaning they would have only been able to add a very small amount of fluid. There's also no "drain" for them to empty the brake reservoir, limiting how much oil they could actually add.

Further, the brake fluid only goes down as the brakes wear out. It's not like engine oil where it's constantly "circulating". I doubt in that short of time that the fluid managed to work its way through the braking system (for example, the ABS pump). And I'd put money that no oil ever made it as far as your brake calipers.

I'm also wondering why they say it "messed up the electricals". I'd like to know what "electricals" on an ML320 would be affected by oil in the brake reservoir (I work on Mercedes quite often).

I'll check Mercedes data for your vehicle and how the ABS system works, but something doesn't add up to me.

Thanks a lot for the insightful information. I mentioned earlier I'm super vague on the details because well ... it's my mom re-telling the story to me once she got home from ICBC
So basically she's a C-Lai and probably half the things that the MB Tech told her came out as gibberish to her so she kind of understood half of it and made up the other half to pass on to me. She also mentioned that the MB Tech sucked out fluids from a reservoir and the tube was clear at first then it turned black, like some other liquid was layered on top, so it was definitely something wrong but not sure exactly what.
It's not helping that MB is taking forever to write-up the actual service report or else I could just put it up on here and show you guys exactly what happened.

I'm still pretty sure it was Mr. Lube that did something that screwed up the car because it was only 3 days after and she did nothing to it except drive to work (secure underground lot) and park at home in the garage.

Originally Posted by Lomac

My sentiments exactly, eric. Even for a brand new technician, it'd be almost impossible to mix up the engine oil cap and brake fluid reservoir, not to mention the fact that putting a couple ounces of motor oil is a far cry from a few liters that's required to an oil change. Honestly, ICBC is right to question the validity of your moms claim against Mr Lube.

*shrugs* I'm just as confused so I post it up here to hear some feedback, but I disagree that they should turn around and start interrogating her thinking she purposely planned this in hopes of ... I dunno... what, getting a write-off on the car? INSTEAD of trying to HELP her find a solution for this they just rail her with random stupid questions. I'd feel offended too.

[Qmx323]

i'd say ur lucky the brakes didnt fail when she was driving

[Klobbersaurus]

was the e-brake light on or abs light? different lights have different meaning, if it was abs light, ya, it could be 5g's but if its just the e-brake light, then maybe not, should get it checked out soemewhere else to get a second opntion

[Obsideon]

I heard Mr. Lube shoots out fluids all from a central hose?
(kinda like those coke machines?!) ..... LOL that's messed.. so a moron working there could have just pushed the wrong button to load the wrong fluid into the wrong tank?

[Kapo]

happened to me once before too at mr lube on 12th and arbutus. they accidently put engine oil into tranny. WTF...

[Leopold Stotch]

Originally Posted by Obsideon

I heard Mr. Lube shoots out fluids all from a central hose?
(kinda like those coke machines?!) ..... LOL that's messed.. so a moron working there could have just pushed the wrong button to load the wrong fluid into the wrong tank?

all guns are connected to tanks, so they don't switch

Originally Posted by Kapo

happened to me once before too at mr lube on 12th and arbutus. they accidently put engine oil into tranny. WTF...

some cars take engine oil in the transmission. either way stupid mistake

[underscore]

Originally Posted by Obsideon

Main point of this post is, STAY AWAY FROM THAT MR. LUBE, DAMN IDIOTS! Who know NOTHING! If I had evidence I would sue them for everything! Not that they have much..
(but I assume more people on RS already know not to visit any car-related shops around Main & Kingsway area)

Time for car shopping!

yes, clearly Mr Lube are idiots, when your mom can't even open the hood and both of you are dumb enough to go to the dealership for an oil change.

If the receipt says that Mr Lube didn't top anything up, I'm more likely to believe them, as companies generally like to show off every little thing they do for you. I took my car to an oil change place my friend works at (the free top ups make it worth the bit of extra coin) and they gave me a checklist when they were done of every little thing that they had done (oil change, check tranny, top up washer fluid, etc.)

I also don't get how the wrong fluid would even affect the ABS electrical system? the sensors have nothing to do with the fluid.

also Obsideon no shop could or would use a single hose like that, don't be silly.

finally, I'd be more inclined to think that MB is trying to screw you over saying all this, take the car to another shop instead and see what they say.

[ericthehalfbee]

Originally Posted by Teg4Life

Oil eats and attacks anything that is rubber. So everything thing in the brake system that has rubber must be replaced. Hence the price plus in the dealership causing it to cost more.

Originally Posted by Qmx323

i'd say ur lucky the brakes didnt fail when she was driving

Yes oil will attack rubber, but only rubber it has made contact with. Oil moves through your brake system in a 3 steps forward, 2 steps back method.

You step on the brakes, and brake fluid will travel from the master cylinder, through the ABS unit (in the case of this particular vehicle) and on through the brake lines to the brake calipers. The actual distance the fluid will travel is small - a matter of a few inches. This is because the brake system is closed (and already filled with fluid), and only a small amount of fluid is needed to be forced into the calipers before the brake pads make contact with the rotors.

When you release the brake pedal, the fluid will travel back up the brake lines towards the master. Now when I say 3 steps forward and 2 steps back, I really mean 3 steps forward and 2.999 steps back. If your brake pads never wore out, and there were no leaks in the brake system, then the brake fluid would simply travel back and forth and you'd never need to top up your brake fluid. But as the pads wear down, more fluid is required to be forced into the calipers in order to allow them to force the pads into contact with the rotors. So the brake fluid moves very slowly from the master cylinder though the lines and into the calipers in direct proportion to brake wear.

If you were to add 0.1 litres of brake fluid to your reservoir, then that means 0.1 litres of brake fluid have ended up in your brake calipers to account for pad wear.


This is why there's no way the entire brake system on this vehicle is compromised, since it was only driven a few days and the brakes wouldn't have worn enough to require a large amount of fluid to "fill" the calipers.

The fact that her brakes didn't fail also supports this theory. The seals in the master cylinder would go first, since it's directly below the brake reservoir and only a few inches from the fluid. It's likely these seals would go first, and you'd lose or have reduce brake capacity long before the fluid had been able to reach other components and cause them damage as well.

[BEEB]

Your mom's ML would only have a few reservior 1) windshield washer 2) brake fluid tank 3) coolant tank 4) power steering

So, filling engine oil into brake reservoir won't trigger CEL, filling engine oil in Coolant is almost impossible cause it reads "coolant" on the cap. Also, nothing's drained and nothing can be filled.
The other possible incident would be that Mr.Lube drained the transmission - where you can see a drain bolt underneath a metal pan. And filled excessive engine oil in the engine filler cap. So, your mom's ML might have 4L of transmission oil (full is 7L ) and 16L of engine oil (Full is 8L). That might trigger the CEL.

[Jun_Y]

ICBC doesn't have anything to do with helping you what so ever as its not a collision or anything you pay icbc to cover it as insurance. the only thing to do is to talk to the manager or owner of the place you took it to and then have them use their garage policy or business insurance to pay for their mistake.

[Anjew]

sounds like dealership BS to me... get a second opinion

[shenmecar]

Originally Posted by sf666@BNR32

Wow that sucks ever since tofu1413 left that one >_<

I was thinking did tofu do this....wait hes not there anymore!

[Shun Izaki]

Originally Posted by shenmecar

I was thinking did tofu do this....wait hes not there anymore!

He left mr lube shortly before this incident... or i'd have blamed him XD

[!Yaminashi]

Originally Posted by underscore

both of you are dumb enough to go to the dealership for an oil change.

So tell me whats so bad about going to the dealership to get an oil change?

[underscore]

there's a reason they're called stealerships... many are also known to tell you your car needs more work done than it actually does.

[!Yaminashi]

Originally Posted by underscore

there's a reason they're called stealerships... many are also known to tell you your car needs more work done than it actually does.

Hm, thats funny. I take my car to the dealership and not once have they told me I needed more than necessary

[underscore]

how would you know if you only take it to them? my dad insists on bringing his Jeep in and they constantly tell him he needs all this extra junk done, he refuses to listen to me.

[!Yaminashi]

Originally Posted by underscore

how would you know if you only take it to them? my dad insists on bringing his Jeep in and they constantly tell him he needs all this extra junk done, he refuses to listen to me.

I just meant the dealership that I go to is ok

[death_blossom]

Obsideon hasn't updated us with what was actually wrong with his mom's car. Maybe Mr. Lube didn't do anything to her car?

[anti_rice]

Doesn't sound like Mr. Lube did anything wrong. I bet you it's MB trying to milk her for money.

[tofu1413]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm..............


something tells me.. the guy must have put PS fluid or tranny fluid into brake resevoir... imma gonna ask one of my buddies there... wait for an update before we jump to conclusions..

[underscore]

Originally Posted by Draft

I just meant the dealership that I go to is ok

then you're lucky haha, thats a rare dealership.

[bcrdukes]

1st Gen ML320s were statistically nothing more than a heap of rotten sauerkraut.