Originally Posted by
onehundred80
You do not have to strip the trunk looking for water, just fold up a piece of newspaper so it is strong enough to push down the front edge of the foam block in the well. It will be obvious if there is water in the well. The front edge is the deepest part of the well.
I think the price is a bit too much a siren that beeps is $150 or so, with at most an hour to pull the cowl and replace it, so I would say it is about $80 too much at least
Remember you want a beeping siren and not the half-price silent one.
I keep seeing this 'paper test' reference BUT... IF there WAS water in there (from any source) and it DAMAGED the pump then the 'paper test' will ONLY tell you if there is water in there NOW. The lower part of this 'bay' is sealed (unless you did like I did and punched holes in those two rubber plugs). Any water that WAS in there could have wet the module, dried out, and slowly degraded the module. There is also another module (cannot remember what it is though) that could have also been wet at some time. Hence, removing all the trim mentioned above (or below according to the order you read the posts), to verify the modules are CLEAN of damage, and DRY. Doing only the 'paper' test removes a potential source of a recurring intermittent electrical/electronic problem source from those two modules.
To each his/her own, just be informed the 'paper test' might not be enough.
I guess not knowing where this MB mechanic is, how he/she prices their parts (retail vs wholesale) and how much that shop needs $ (unless you want to do it self help), my assessment with that price is reasonable. Now, doing it yourself will involve researching the needed part (pretty easy unless you don't want to) and then saving all the labor including a shops overhead, will just cost someone the price of the part and some time.
Again, to each his/her own!
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