Help! Good, honest auto repair close to Broadlands?

Has anyone found a good, HONEST mechanic in the area that does foreign cars? My car is having problems and I will have to limp it to wherever I take it so it must be pretty close. Thanks in advance!

 

I trust completely Fallon Automotive. 703-478-9550

They are located off Rt. 606 in a industrial park near where Trowbridge Steel is located (between 28 and the Greenway)

 

Fallon is the place to go.
606 to Cedar Green to Executive Dr to Lane Ct.
I've been using them for years.

 

Can you post the year, make, and model of the car? Not all garages know about all types of cars. I've taken my truck to Fallon but I'm not sure if any of their mechanics know about turbos or rotary engines. There are shops that specialize in certain types of car/engines. VW/Audi requires special tools.

BTW what are you having problems with?

-Teak

 

Thanks Teak and everyone. It is a '98 Mercedes C280. Not sure what the problem is but the car doesn't seem to shift out of first gear so I can't get it going any faster than 10mph or so. I had a shop that supposdly put a new tranny in a year or so ago, I'm now wondering what they did. There is also a puddle of something on the garage floor where I park the car. Transmission fluid?

 

Mike Fallon's specialty is foreign autos.

 

whoa, that is for sure transmission fluid and sounds like you could be screwed. Be very careful if you drive this to the shop and check the transmission fluid level and put some in before driving to the shop.

If you had a shop put a new transmission in a year ago, I would be contacting them as well. I would be suprised that a "new" transmission is only supposed to last a year and you certainly should not expect this kind of problem if the transmission job was done right. COMPLAIN LOUDLY. My guess is that a re-furbished tranny was used, and not a good one at that. You have seals, or o-ring types of problems and the transmission is not able to keep pressure or fluid levels properly. Of course you could be having a broken gear issue as well but hard to tell.

 

Thanks Dave!

Problem is, the Transmission fluid on this car is supposed to be "lifetime". Eveidently it is pretty difficult to just add some fluid, so I guess I will have to have it towed and pray that they can fix this.

Other problem is when the car broke down a year ago I was outside NYC in Northern Jersey. Frankly, I don't know that the guys who "fixed" it are ones I want to mess with too much. They supposedly bought a new tranny from MBenz and installed it but I never got anything from them documenting that and I had to get out of there after spending almost two days up there waiting on the car and didn't have time to argue.

 

I would check with your insurance company... my policy includes towing for breakdowns within a certain radius... might be worth asking. Yea, I think lifetime is pretty standard for most cars nowadays for tranny fluid, I am just not sure if there is a place that some could be added just in case.

Might be worth calling those Fallon guys and asking them these questions too, like - here is what is wrong, can I drive it to the shop? Can I add fluid? Can you recommend anything else... etc.

 

It depends on what was done when you had the problem. If it was fixed by an MB dealer, it should have a one year warranty so pick a dealer; American Service Center isn't too bad. Note that the one year warranty applies to any parts used if they were purchased from an MB dealer, regardless of who put them in.

If that doesn't work, I know it's not close but one of the best independent guys in the area is Rick at RC Imports in Rockville, www.rc-imports.com, (301) 762-4205.

He races Mercedes and is honest and reasonably priced. I've had mixed results with most of the MB mechanics in the area, includiing the dealers. I'm sure he will tell you if the car can be driven or how to add fluid.

Note: the dealers will want to restore your car to factory new condition. Rick will get your car fixed and safe economically.

Good luck,
Richard

 

Not sure if this helps your diagnosis any better, but one of the symptoms of your problem seems similar to one I had quite recently, except for the fluid puddle which i did not have. I have a VW passat '99 that would not shift out of first gear (automatic), nor could I use the tiptronic to upshift. The problem turned out to be an electronic part called -if i recall - "Multi function transmission switch" or some such thing. Cost me a package to replace.

- sri

 

sri n,

Thanks, It looks like my problem was also electronic. The leak was something else. When you say "package" what do you mean? I assume a lot of cash?!

The mechanic at Fallon reset the computer and the car now drives fine but he suspects this will happen again, lucky me. I'll have to have the electronics fixed which will be big bucks and the car isn't even worth it at this point I don't think. Hopefully I'll be able to find a place that can fix the electronics cheaper than the dealer.

 

So do you get any Check Engine Lights when the symptoms occur?

 

George SC,

Yes, the check engine light comes on. In fact the whole cluster lights up and stays on.

 

It cost me close to $1K to have the part replaced - which, given what my car is worth these days, is relatively high!

In my case, the problem was a bit intermittent at first - sometimes I'd start the car and start driving, it would not shift from the first gear. Then I had to pull over, give it a couple of minutes, shut the engine down, restart and then the transmission would shift. I had no check engine light. However, the warning I would get is that I have an electronic display that shows what gear I am at (P, R, N, D, etc) and all of a sudden the "D" that would be highlighted would no longer be highlighted - that's when I'd know that the gear would not shift. In fact, it happened to me once at high speed too. Took it to the dealer for diagnosis, nothing showed up the first time around, and I was unable to recreate the problem at the dealership as it occurred intermittently. I continued driving the car, hoping to recreate the problem, for a few weeks, and then one fine day, it completely gave way, nothing I did would make it go away. took it to my mechanic - and that's when we were able to determine what part it was.

BTW, I took it to Curry's on Moran road, just for your info - primarily cause I have been to them before, and they were the closest for me to get to.

- sri.

 

So what your saying is that when you have these symptoms, the check engine light will come one, and when you took it to the mechanic he reseted the ECU and or Cleared the CEL it was fixed temperary?

 

George,

Basically yes. The mechanic said that he thought the fix would be temporary. He feels that when some other repairs were done a year or so ago maybe a ground wire was pinched but that only a Mercedes mechanic could say exactly what the problem is. I am hoping that he is wrong and it continues to drive OK, but he doesn't think it will and says it is a matter of time, just as it happened this time.

 

I just wanted to add a shout out to FALLON AUTOMOTIVE!!! I read this post, saw taterman and cliff say good things, and i was immediately pleased. I had some issues getting my Jeep started, and when i called and told them i couldn't get it jumped to get it down there, and was too dumb to take the battery out, they drove out here in 15 minutes, replaced the battery (and brought a 2nd guy along to drive the jeep back to their shop to look it over). Turns out it was the battery and not something more serious, but i was completely impressed. They delivered and installed a new battery, and just told me to stop by the shop in the next couple days to pay for it...and drove off. I guess if they can trust me...i should trust them!

 

I'd like to add, DULLES Automotive, recently switch to them vice my old shop in Annandale,(too far). They were really good, and fixed my truck. I will be using them from now on.

 

I would never give out bad advice............
T8erman on the other hand................