I worked with Ben Crilly on my 2007 2500 NC3V 65,000 mile point. At my home.
A mixed bag to be honest, but with a good outcome!
Once we started, it went real well. Although he prefers T1N Sprinters, and has much more experience with them, he was pretty well versed with mine. Worked steady and carefully! Hit all the little subtleties as discussed here in SS. Had good touch with tools. No ego around me making suggestions or wrenching along with him. He's great with that! And most of all he knows how to do job correctly and cares enough to actually execute it that way!
Took most of day! He charges 95.00 hr but cut me come slack on final bill.
Probably best if you work with him. And have some tools. And get your own parts. And have stuff like spent fluid containers, rags, drop cloths, jacks, chocks, etc. & Dispose of waste fluids.
We changed out Fuel Filter [ appearing suspiciously unchanged, but on invoice, from last Dealer Service......not sure how a big dealership could actually pull that off .....]
We found turbo air inlet pipe disconnected - who knows how long it's been off...- that likely would have been missed by dealer service, especially if they weren't changing Fuel Filter as requested!
Did transmission service which was tricky and slow, and easy to see why dealers might cut corner and not drain torque converter!
I did engine oil & filter change while he buttoned up tranny
I used all MB parts that cost little more than non OEM. Smothers European parts guy in Santa Rosa was very helpful, had all parts and got shipped same day!
Great to see an experienced tech do it first ! I would feel real comfortable doing it all on my own next time!
Didn't save much $ over dealer quotes, but felt confident it was all actually done, and done correctly. Great to be able to be part of process which of course is mostly impossible with dealer.
The problem I had with Ben was mostly logistical.
May call / text you back right away, may not.
We had a firm appointment and he cancelled when I called to confirm an hour before he was due.
He did call when running late for our re-scheduled appt. and showed up @ revised time.
I understand a techs life is no piece of cake, especially a mobile tech. Ben is in big demand for Sprinter Service and his Thermo-King Servicing. It can be hard to estimate exactly how long services can take. I appreciate that.
But when 12:00 appt. turns to “sometime between 5-7:00 pm” then a no show, with no call, it's really infuriating.
Or a reschedule to different day @ last minute. I'm not exactly sitting around watching Real Housewive re-runs....
All that said, if you can be real flexible & work around his erratic timing I would highly recommend Ben.
el J
