The Benz Blues

"Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz." I think that most of us are familiar with this line from Janis Joplin.

I like the song. I now think that she was missing a very important point about Mercedes ownership.

Maintenance. You know, paying for those little items that need to be replaced every now and then.

I guess that I can see her point. If I were to get the car for free, then I would have some extra money floating around to deal with these pesky maintenance issues.

Although there is no such thing as a "free" car.

Andrea (over the phone) "Honey? My car is making a weird noise."
Me "What kind of noise? Is it the same noise it was making the other day?"
Andrea "No, this is different. Kind of a squealing noise."
Me "Wow, that is different."
Me "Is it making it now?"
Andrea "No."
Me "What happened?"
Andrea "I turned it off."
Me "Turn it back on, open the hood and see if you can tell where the squeal is coming from."
Andrea "OK. I have the hood open. Do you hear that? Oh, the noise stopped. The belt broke."
Me "Well now we know what the noise was."
Andrea "What do I do now?"
Me "Wait for the tow truck."

Anyway, that is the important part of the conversation. You really don't need to know the rest to know that the car ended up in the shop 2 days later...

Our 12 year old Mercedes went into the shop. Unfortunately for us, we don't get to pay for 12 year old parts or labor. We have to pay for today's parts and labor. The car still runs and drives, but a seized part (air pump) on the outside of the engine, caused the serpentine belt to prematurely part ways with itself. In other words, the pump seized, the engine still worked and the belt broke.


When the pump seized, the crank kept turning. It moved the belt a little. Enough to muck up the belt, transfer VERY hot "belt rubber" onto all the other pulleys on the engine and finally to break. Causing the belt tensioner to "explode". Of course once you are in here working on this part of the engine, you may as well check out everything else. So we are doing a few other maintenance items as well.

I understand what happened. I don't understand why it cost over half the value of the car to fix a broken fan belt. I guess that at the core of the issue is the car manufacture. I guess, if you can't afford the parts and maintenance for a Mercedes, you shouldn't own one.

I just think that Miss Joplin would have been more correct if her song was "Oh lord won't you fix my Mercedes Benz, I spent all my money and the repairs never end."

At least that is what I think. Maybe she never got her Benz, then again I think that if she did, she could easily afford the repairs.