Repair shop owner breaks engine says not his problem.

I think it depends on the shop. A decent shop wouldn’t have broken the thing to begin with but would probably make it right.
A parts changer shop, you’d Probly have to take em to small claims court which wouldn’t be cost effective.

 

They do the same thing with the 5.4 Fords
sparkplugs

They will tell
You ahead of time if a spark plug breaks or strips The threads it’s gonna cost extra because it’s a very common problem

and I’ve done plumbing work and told the customer , look, this thing breaks off frequently, if it breaks when I work on it , it’s gonna cost extra .

 

A lot of the glow plugs swell up
And will
Not come back through the hole

it’s
A common problem on any engine with glow plugs

 

If a shop breaks a rusted bolt or part because it hasn't been touched in 20 years, I can't really fault them for that. It was probably going to break regardless of who touched it. If a shop puts a floor jack through your oil pan, that's a bit of a different story. Put yourself in their shoes, then ask yourself if that would be fair.

 

The point being they offered no solution to fix it. A good shop wouldve called somebody that knew how to fix it and paid the town bill and repair bill no questions asked. Not just givs you back a broken truck and say have a nice day. That guy oughta be shot between the eyes

 

I used to do handyman work and there’s lots of jobs I’d do and I’d make it very clear to the homeowner, you want me to replace the sink faucet , but , if any of the other pipes I have to work with , break or crack or are rusted etc , that’s gonna cost you extra . A lot extra .

 

Not familiar with small Mercedes engines, but glow plugs swelling and breaking during removal isn't unheard of. I've only worked in a dealership setting and if it breaks during removal at no real fault of ours it is definitely a customer pay issue. It isn't our fault that the part is swollen or rusty or whatever it may be, we can only do so much to try to prevent it but some things are just inevitable.

 

I think the original shop's biggest fault in this, is that they didn't tell you ahead of time about the risk associated with getting the glow plugs out. Any of us that turn wrenches for a living can tell you that 90% of the time we know when the glow plug, bolt, nut or anything else is about break, snap or strip.

Personally at this point when I can tell there's potential for problems I stop and call the customer, explain that if something breaks upon removal that its unfortunate but unavoidable and it will increase the bill, some times by a large amount. I then ask them if they want me to proceed.

If its the 10 percent of the time when it happens and I didn't get the chance to address it ahead of time, then I'm apologetic and I explain the situation. I tell them what the potential solutions are and if its something I can take care of then I will do the work at a slight discount. If it has to go somewhere else like a machine shop etc. then I will offer to pay the tow bill. In all my years this has only happened once and I think the cost of bad reviews and a pissed off customer would have far outweighed the cost of that tow bill.

Communication is key and I think in this case that's where they failed, unfortunately at this point after so much time has passed I think its time to just take it to the dealer or a reputable shop that can handle the job and foot the bill. Just make sure you explain everything and they understand ahead of time what they need to do.

 

They should have called you immediately with your options, but that glow plug was going to break no matter what. So they didn't make it "worse". That head was destined to come off.

 

Sorry about your situation. You will probly recover nothing by chasing after the money. As noted glow plugs are a tricky job at times. A good mechanic would probly not have broken it off. Installing another glow plug and letting it dangle would not sound like a good idea. I would go with the push button relay method. You will have codes but it will work IF you can find a mechanic who can do electrical mods correctly. Most dealers will not do mods on a vehicle. Dealers around here only hire people who went to school to be a diesel mechanic. Sadly lots of them are not even good parts changers.