My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

[brokemerc]

To sum up the mistake I made. I pulled my alpha1 gen11 drive due to an oil leak. Found I had forgot to install the passage seal between the upper and lower unit. Got an extremely stupid idea to pull the bottom seal out of my upper unit where the shaft slides through. After realizing it wasn't an ordinary o-ring I accepted that I would actually have to bring this to the professionals, mainly due to the manual saying it required a special tool (yes I also failed to read first).. Anyway here comes the "Welcome to Boating" experience. First they told me it would be $90, 30 minutes labor and parts. I thought that wasn't so bad. Got a call a couple of hours later,,oops sorry we didn't realize the drive had to be disassembled to replace the seal,, now it's 2.5 hours plus parts, around $300... So I choked that down and blaming myself for it seemed to help some. Then the actual Merc mechanic called me and told me,, hey their charging you for more labor hours than it will actually take me,, so if you bring your lower drive in i'll assemble it and pressure check it for the $300.. That gave me a good feeling that the tech would do that. Well that was yesterday... This morning I get a call from the girl at the desk in the service dept saying it failed pressure check (wouldn't even hold 5 psi) and the seal somewhere around where the drive shaft goes in is leaking (not sure of the exact seal). I asked didn't you just have all that apart? Answer was yes but you didn't tell us to put new seals in it.. You would think common sense would take over,, or at least call and ask if I wanted them replaced then if they leaked it would be on me not them.. Sooooooo another 1.5 hours labor and the total is well over $500 to replace one seal. I suppose I could look at it in respect to I could have dropped the drive in, sucked some salt water and ruined the drive... No that doesn't make me feel better.. Well this last call the tech now says the u joint is corroded and that's what is making the seal leak. Which makes sense because I can think way back when I first pulled the drive and there was oil in the bellows (most likely from this seal).. Any way new drive shaft is over $500,, new grand total is over a grand now.. Told him to clean up the yoke and put it together,, worst senario is I watch the reservoir closely... Hey does boating get more enjoyable when the boat is actually in the water???

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

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[brokemerc]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

Oh so true.. To think if I were to have paid for all the previous work my son and I have performed I could have bought two new boats,, and a truck...

 

[John_S]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

I think it would have been a much different outcome if you had taken the boat to them and asked to have the drive evaluated. Sometimes DIYing can be painful in the pocketbook. I haven't messed up on any work on my boats...yet! I do have a recent nightmare of replacing an alternator on my daughters DOHC Taurus! I learned a very good lesson on that one. Similiar to you, I should have read more of the detail in the repair manual, before deciding to DIY it.

 

[tommays]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

You also need to see WHY the input yoke (drive shaft ) got rust and check the gimble bearing for dammage

In general it means that the bellows OR other part was allowing in water and it needs to be repiared to stop a repeat failure



Tommays

 

[Chris1956]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

BrokeMerc, If you have driveoil in the bellows, the yoke seal is bad. Likely there is a groove worn in the yoke as well, which means you need to replace the yoke. Last time I checked the yoke was $75 to buy, and the seal was nominal. You need to pull the bearing and gear to replace it, and install the new seal.

I would not think the u-joints would be corroded without water in the bellows. This begs the question whether the bellows are good.

 

[brokemerc]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

Thanks,, yes the bellows was dry when I initally pulled it apart but it did have oil in it (yoke seal has been replaced).. I'm thinking that some time prior the bellows went bad and rusted the yoke.. Researching bellows replacement just in case it's bad now. Thanks..

 

[JustJason]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

yeah when the drive gets low, its not just the seal that wears, but the yoke itself.
Last time I checked they were like 70-80 bucks. So what is this 500$$ shaft he's talking about??
Was it you that I mentioned to about just buying an SEI drive instead????

 

[brokemerc]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

Yea that SEI drive is starting to look like an option.. The last $500 was for the Yoke assy on the drive shaft,, even the technician that talked to me said that price sounded way high.. I truly think they're really trying to stick it to me due to 2 reasons,,, #1-I didn't bring the whole boat in, instead I disassembled the drive myself and #2-the boat is a 1995.. They said it would be done yesterday by 1,, didn't hear anything,, that's usually a bad sign.. I told the tech to clean up the yoke put it together, pressure check it and hope for the best,, if it has a small leak I've got the reservoir to cover that,, I'll run the snot out of it this year and pick up a new drive next fall.. We'll see.. Waiting for a call now..

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

You know, sometimes you just get ahold of something that the more you work on it, the worse it gets... happens to pros sometimes too. But it should be the extremely rare case, and they shouldn't use it as an excuse to stick it to you. I think there's definately some kinda funny business going on here.

I would go ahead and contact the BBB to file a complaint. See what the GM has to say in his or her response. They might cut you a break.

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

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[ziggy]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

interesting story... guess my suggestion would be to get service manual #14 and read it over. it'll tell ya exactly what has to happen to repair anything. i'd also read all i could here on iboats reguarding your perticular situation... armed with that info i'd go see my dealer... then tell them your story, but let them decide what to do about it. ask them lots of questions about things ya don't understand as you've already got an idea what needs to be done, but let them make the determination as to what needs to be replaced. i think my dealer would have told me that he'd charge x $'s to go look. gotta have a look to make a determination as to what to repair.... then, ya can make yer decision as to what ya want to do about it... bet my dealer would not have just replace a seal either... it'll come back to haunt them... the dealers seem to lean towards fixing it right, generaly.... it's in their benifit to do so..... since that dealer ya went to see did what ya said. i think i'd look for a different dealer if the option is available. lastly, do get a good repartet' with yer dealer. i've had much help myself here from iboats, much help from an oem service manual and much help from my dealer... after a few years now, my dealer knows my name, knows i'm gonna spend my bread at 'his' shop. in return i seem to have access to the techs that explain my situation how they see it. lettin me to make the decision as to what to do about it... last problem i had, my dealer even let me borrow merc. oem shop tools. + the tech let me borrow his personal merc. tools..... i expect that i've generated a good will between me and my dealer and that good will will help ya out in the end..... when i'm at the dealer for something i can't do though. i expect to pay his price though... it's his benfit for the things that he's done for me... and yes, boatin gets much more fun when yer out on the water.....

nobody can fix - call Asia and get another new one fired over.... it's the NEW American way for everything with gears or an engine unfortunately

do i dectect a lotta sarcasim in that statement...

 

[brokemerc]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

True-true-true.. I have no problem paying the bill,, and I was floored to have the Tech call me personally and not the service manager.. I asked my son last night how many times he has called a customer to discuss a vehicle problem and his response was ZERO-NONE-NADA.. The Boat Tech seems to have one thing on his mind and that is to fix it right. Other than not asking me about replacing seals when they first disassembled it I really don't have any complaints... After all I brought all of this on myself, i'm still pulling the boot out of my butt.. Thanks..

 

[Don S]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

Well, we got half the story, wonder what his dealer would tell us happened from his perspective.
It always happens, someone complains here about the price and everyone jumps on his band wagon and want to string up the dealer without ever hearing the other side.

Suppose I had had to fix This Engine, then the guy comes on the forum says he took it in for a tuneup and they charged me 5 grand, what a ripoff.
So right off everyone jumps on his side and it's another "Kill The Dealer" thread without knowing the other side.

 

[MikDee]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

Well I have a similar story with an OMC Cobra drive, I noticed a leaky seal in one of my outdrives, so being as I avoid letting anyone work on my vehicles, except myself, especially a dealer. I knew going in that once I got the seal in, I was gonna need a dealer with special tools, & procedures, to put it back together. So, off I went to the dealer with the drive, and with me as the mechanics helper, it still came to a total of over $300 parts, & labor, just because he was the only OMC/Bombardier dealer for 100 miles around! I'm not blaming the dealer, he was nice enough to work with me on this, but it still hurt!

 

[brokemerc]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

Yea I'm hoping the salt spray in the face makes all that pain go away.. Just got a call to come pick up my drive,, must have passed the pressure checks.. I was too terrified to ask how much,, I think I just mumbled a faint "thank you"........... Woohoo..

 

[rodbolt]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

I am with DonS.
haveing done this stuff almost 30 years I am never surprised anymore, amazed occasionally but never surprised.
most customers that attempt a DIY repair with no manual,tools or even a clue get very mad and tend to blame the guy that is tasked with correcting previous mistakes. then you also have some shops that will only do whats specifically on the work order. that is a customer,service writer and tech problem industry wide.
I was replacing the yoke and seal assy on a bravo drive some years back.
the shop owner< a merc master tech, walked by and pitched a beyatch about me having the rear cover off and the shift shaft out.
he asked why.
I said cause ya gotta align the timing marks.
he asked"What timing marks?
and that was from a master mechanic.
best advice I can give a customer is fully explain the problem,especially to most service writers,and ask for the component to be evaluated for repairs.
if ya brought me just an upper case and the work order says replace the driven gear seal only some techs wont dissasemble the inpout yoke. they will simply do whats on the work order and turn it back in.
me, I will completely dissasemble the case first then tell ya whats damaged.
its your money but my reputation.
when your paddling back your not thinking what a good guy I was trying to save you 25 dollars your thinking I spent 50 bucks and I am paddling and I got ripped off.

 

[brokemerc]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

Picked up drive. Held 14psi with rotating shaft.. Total $470.. Thats two hundred less than what they quoted me on the phone,, Only words out of my mouth were Thank You..

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

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[SgtMaj]

Re: My first experience with a Merc dealership. Ouch.

Well, we got half the story, wonder what his dealer would tell us happened from his perspective.
It always happens, someone complains here about the price and everyone jumps on his band wagon and want to string up the dealer without ever hearing the other side.

Suppose I had had to fix This Engine, then the guy comes on the forum says he took it in for a tuneup and they charged me 5 grand, what a ripoff.
So right off everyone jumps on his side and it's another "Kill The Dealer" thread without knowing the other side.

I've been on the other side of the repair counter... used to repair cell phones. Thing is, when you get something that just falls apart on you, you just gotta suck it up and replace it. Granted, a $450 cellphone isn't the same as an outboard, but still, I ended up replacing about 1 out of every 500 or so that passed through my hands (or about 1 every 10 days, since on average I repaired 50/day), and yeah, most of those phones had been abused. But I assumed that liability when I started working on the phone, from that point on, I was responsible for any additional problems.

Thing is, they shouldn't have told him one thing, then changed it... before you tell the customer it'll be done by a certain time, and will cost a certain amount, you check it out first, and make sure you can keep your word. If you're not 100% sure, you say it'll take twice as long as the longest estimate in your mind, and will cost twice as much as the highest cost estimate in your mind. Then you get it done faster, for less, and everybody's happy. If in the rare occasion you do screw up on the estimates, you can always keep your word on the cost, even if it does take a little longer than you expected. Not only is it poor customer service, it's just not right to not be a man of your word.

Yeah it's great that he called him directly instead of pawning that off on someone else, but it could be better, a lot better.