Dave (@davesautocenter) recorded himself working on an AMG Mercedes Benz with a Twin Turbo engine. If you know anything about car badging, then you know that car is synonymous with dollar signs. AMG models of popular Mercedes cars don’t come cheap. They’re supposed to come with a slew of performance upgrades.
However, as the Utah-based car shop shares in a TikTok that has over 276,000 views, they’re difficult to work on. That mostly has to do with the placement of parts under the hood.
‘Where’s the thermostat?’
Dave and another mechanic are in the video looking down into the hood of the AMG Benz. Dave says even though the car is beautiful and outfitted with a lot of nice tech, working on it isn’t going to be easy.
“Nice car dude, the problem with these things, oh my Gosh. There’s a super sweet engine inside all this crap,” he says. “But I mean to get in anything, I mean even to change the air filters is like, a pain in the butt.”
The TikTok-famous mechanic continues, “Twin turbo. 4 liter. And this thing will get busy.” Dave then turns to the other tech in the video and asks about the issue with the car. The source of the problem? A check engine light, which he believes is either on for the “thermostat” or that the engine isn’t “heating up fast enough.”
Dave then grabs a package from the car which contains a thermostat for the vehicle. Upon an initial glance, he calls the item “weird looking” and begins to comment on its function. Ultimately, he seems impressed with the part’s engineering. “Wow, technology,” he says.
Next, Dave wants to know where the piece goes inside the Benz, which prompts the other mechanic to shine a flashlight under the hood. “You can see it where it blots in right there,” the mechanic remarks.
A sarcastic reply
Dave, upon seeing where the thermostat goes, replies, “Oh, of course, it’s easy.” However, the tone in which he utters this seems to indicate quite the opposite.
“What you gotta do, you gotta take off both these air intakes and everything?” Dave asks, pointing out the parts that need to be removed just to swap out the small part.
“That’s what it looks like,” the mechanic states. “Oh my gosh, you gotta pull the intercoolers off of this thing?”
Dave then looks to the camera, imploring for assistance. “Help! You Mercedes techs out there. Give us a quick tip,” he pleads. “This is crazy, 2-bolts and an electrical connector. I gotta tear the whole front of the motor apart?”
He looks into the camera with his face aghast, shocked at the amount of work that needs to go into just swapping out such a small part.
@davesautocenter Mercedes AMG Twin Turbo. Thermostat replacement, is there a quick way to get at it? #autoshop #carrepair #enginerepair #enginebuild #mercedes ♬ original sound – Davesautocenter
German engineering?
There are countless examples of cars that were constructed in ways that make parts replacements a major pain. This doesn’t just ring true for newer cars, either. Take an old-school Porsche 944, a popular ’80s manual machine, for example. Replacing the clutch on this car involves a massive number of steps including removing the car’s driveshaft coupler and sliding the torque tube backwards. This one YouTuber said the clutch replacement on this vehicle was a 10-hour job.
Then there’s the 2006-2010 model year Volkswagen Passat, which famously annoyed people with one design flaw. Typically, if drivers wanted to replace their headlights, they’d need to remove the front bumper. One YouTuber demonstrated how entirely taking the bumper off wasn’t necessary. However, it still seems more involved than it should be.
There are several gearheads, like this Redditor, who have said working on German cars is a “never-ending pain in the a*s.” This same user explained why this is the case, writing that “everything is over-engineered.”
This entails that a slew of “specialized parts” down to various types of “torx screws” are put into cars. This also means that a variety of specific tools are used to extricate these tools, further complicating the repair process. This, coupled with “complex designs” designed with performance taking precedence over service ease, makes them difficult to work on.
As a result, this has led many folks to state that mechanics “hate” working on German cars. As more time is spent on servicing them, it culminates in higher repair bills.
Which cars are the cheapest to maintain?
According to Car Edge, however, there’s at least one German brand that’s considered inexpensive to maintain: Volkswagen. Barring any weird design quirks that would make DIY a pain, the website states the average 10-year maintenance cost for a VW is $6,496.
However, that’s a full $1,000 higher than a Toyota, which comes in at an average of $5,445 for a decade of work. Honda also made the list with $6,684.
TiKTokers weigh in
One person said Dave’s assessment of the part was off.
“Im a benz tech, that is NOT the thermostat,” they claim, “thats the temo sensor i think but please call a dealer and have them show you on the parts catlog. Btw..theres an extended warranty on those. Take2dealer.”
Whereas another person who said they are a Benz tech replied, “As a Mercedes technician, there’s no tricks.. one step at a time!”
Someone else said such a small part replacement will ultimately take even an experienced tech an entire day, if not more.
“That’s a job for the entire day and I’m not even joking,” they said. “Fellow master tech at my shop, been with the brand for almost 30 years. Took him a day and half to do that. It’s a pain.”
But one person may have found a solution: “Yup my c43 thermostat got stuck open, Mercedes quoted 1k, I bought it, little trick I learned is the thermostat is two pieces with the actually valve.”
“On the side that is easily accessible. I only replaced the one half that was bad of the thermostat and boom haven’t had a problem in over a year,” they wrote, before adding. “Took 15 minutes to do it.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Mercedes and Dave’s Auto Center via email for further comment.
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