LILBENZ230

So year two with my C230 has came to an end. Here are some maintenace facts/figures about this second year of ownership, second 30,000 mile year, and a total mileage of 55,000 - 85,000.

7/19/09
55,177 miles
Oil change for $75.27 ($55 parts and $20.27 labor)

12/10/09
68,051 miles
Oil change for $75.27 ($55 parts and $20.27 labor)
Oil Analysis performed for $22.50 on this sample. See my thread M271 Oil Analysis.

12/21/09
69,500 miles
Set of 4 Continental DWS XTRM CON-S tires
2 @ $140.16 REAR
2 @ $127.99 FRONT
Total after installation/taxes/fees $590.68

2/17/10
75,515 miles
Rotate tires left/right
FREE

3/8/10
76,401 miles
Replaced rear pads, adjusted parking brake, bled brakes
$69.86 for labor
$28.88 for pads (yes, you can get away with this on the rear! No noises or performance issues!)
Total installation/taxes $98.84

5/19/10
81,400 miles
Rotate tires left/right
FREE

5/19/10
81,410 miles
Oil change for $64.75 ($55 for parts, $9.75 for labor) labor rates went down.
Inspection performed - car given clean bill of health
Oil sample taken but not sent yet for second analysis.

So there you have it. In my first year of ownership I spent over $1300 in maintenance but only about $900 this year due to the front brake job not being required. The front brakes have now been on the car since June 09 and 53,000 miles so they'll definitely need to be done again before another year is out. I'm looking for 115,000 this time next year.

Year 3 objectives:

1. Change the transmission fluid.
2. New steering rack bushings and a check on other front suspension components.
3. Change the spark plugs.
4. A professional detail job to remove tar from skirts and bumpers from road work by my house.

johnand

Nice numbers Matt! I can't quite keep up to you mileage wise. I am ~23-25K/year.

LILBENZ230

Still you're up there for a 2007. Maybe you should drive more.

I can't believe two years ago I sat in an entire row of 2005 C230K SS cars and ended up buying the only one with no obvious flaws and the lowest mileage (25,125) thinking that I was doing this just because I had fallen in love with the way it looked. I expected to be raped on maintenance and to miss my Japanese reliability within the first year. I couldn't have been more wrong (thankfully).

Norwichdelta06

well you also have to keep in mind that 1300 for that first year. The 2nd year you can minus the 600 for tires. but yuo will probably have to add for the brakes next year

LILBENZ230

This car will need tires and front brakes about once a year, give or take a month or two. But it is to be expected with the sporty handling and massive brakes.

LILBENZ230

Since the two year point has just passed it is a good time to show the C230 some love with some maintenance. Here's what I'm having done in the next 10 days or so:

1. Transmission fluid/filter change (including new gaskets) @ new TCU plug - replaced once under warranty, replacing it again since it is cheap as insurance.
2. New wipers
3. Rear differential fluid change. Bought the pinion seal in case a leak is detected.
4. New air filter and cabin filter

I debated very seriously the fluid flush rather than change on the transmission. I decided to go with a simple change this time for a couple of reasons: 1. The car's transmission has no odd behavior and 2. I'll be changing it again in about 30,000 miles.

The transmission service is well documented on the forum and thanks Glyn for your help via PM. I didn't find much info on the rear diff fluid change, though. C230 Sport Coup recommended Castrol GL-5 Hypoid oil in his thread, but the approved fluids list says Valvoline HP GearOil GL-5. Glyn mentioned that fluids meeting 235.6 or 235.7 approval should be used - I'm assuming that the Valvoline oil meets that since it was on the list that C230 Sport Coup provided. Capacity he said is 1.2 quarts.. is this something you can overfill by accident? Is a pinion seal change a labor intensive process?

Any advice/input is appreciated.

bdgdl08

Good luck with everything, it sounds like your car's getting some love! It's funny, my CLK did over 200,000 miles without the rear diff fluid being changed... It was originally supposed to be a sealed system, so it was never changed. It did help, though.

LILBENZ230

Photo time!



Front left DWS tire with 15,712 miles of service. The tires are designed so that the letters DWS wear off in order and tell you what the tire is safe for. When S wears off and it says "DW" you can no longer drive it in snow. When just "D" remains it is only safe for dry conditions. When nothing remains it is time to replace it. DWS remains visible on all four tires. Rears were in the shadows and the photos didn't turn out.



Front right DWS tire. Both fronts are running 41PSI. Max is 51PSI.



Here's a different angle on the front tire. Wear is very even. I've experimented with PSI on these tires over their life on the car, starting with the recommended 28F 32R setup. This seems best.



These are the castor/control arm bushings that are problematic. It does have stains that might mean it leaked, but it is bone dry right now. I'm posting photos of these for Glyn. I debated doing suspension work because of the popping noises but the car doesn't exhibit any other oddities. It tracks straight, no play in wheel, no odd vibrations even over 100mph, handles good, and as other photos show the tire wear is just fine.




Another shot of a castor bushing.



And another. Hope Glyn has input here.



I'm not sure what this is but the bushing here looks fine, too. I'm only posting a couple of these random shots in case someone sees something obviously wrong (regarding my popping noises) and points it out.



Another shot of what makes no sense to me. Rubber bushings look okay here, too - to me.



I never get tired of this face.



I tell people that I have Mercedes stickers on my MacBook, too... They believe me.



And the mileage shot.

johnand

Matt, I am going to change my differential fluid today if all goes well. I am using the approved LubroMoly GL5 Hypoid from RM European. You can't overfill it. Just fill it up until it starts flowing out of the fill plug.

Curious why you suspect the pinion seal may need to be replaced? Typically, that in not a fun job.

On the transmission, I would check to see if you have a drain plug for the torque converter. I just finished the 7G service and dropping the pan and draining the converter got all but about a liter of fluid out. I put a little over 8L back in and it is 9L capacity. The transmission is even more silky smooth performing that before.

Interesting note, is the updated WIS document added draining the torque converter as part of the fluid and filter change.

johnand

Those Conti's look pretty damn good for 15K.

Pic 3 really shows that 41 PSI. The inner shoulder is not even touching the ground. You must really get after it in the twistys to require that much pressure to keep the shoulder wear down.

Pic 4 is the bushing side of the torque strut. It looks like it is seeping, so it is starting to go.

Pic 5 is the bushing side of the cross strut. It looks fine.

Pic 6 is the cross strut bushing not caster/torque strut bushing.

Pic 7 is the ball joint of the torque strut.

PS: I have the rear Conti's set at 34PSI. The tire shop set them at 31PSI and they felt way too soft. 34 feels nice and firm, but based on my temp readings may cause center wear. May drop them to 33. Not sure how they are not squirmy for you at 30PSI

Glyn M Ruck

This is the advice I gave Matt in PM:

I'm getting ready to do the transmission fluid change on my C230K. I know there is a ton of info on the board but for some reason I can only find it when I'm NOT looking for it. I have a few questions I was hoping you could answer briefly..

1. The independent guy I use for all my other work says that I don't need to buy the dipstick from Mercedes because he will just put in the same amount he takes out. Is this an acceptable way of doing this?

This is taking a chance. If your present level is wrong it will remain wrong

2. Is a fluid change (rather than a flush) good enough? My car has never really had any transmission concerns. It shifts okay but the quality has degraded some.. not much.. but some.

I strongly recommend a 9.5 quart plus flush. Old oxidised fluid left behind catalyses oxidation in the new fluid - like putting **** in ice cream!!

3. I'll have to buy the fluid from RMEuropean and take it to him. Anything else I should pick up? Is 5 quarts about what is required for a fluid change?

5 quarts will do the half change - you will need a filter & plug washer - Good luck

Thanks Glyn!


Matt - your camber bushes look OK - they usually last well. I can't see the condition of the castor bushes in those pics. At your mileage I'm pretty sure they are shot. You need to jack up the body of the car & let the suspension unload. With wheels hanging free check the sides of the bushes for cracks. If cracked replace. Also check sway links. Pinion seal is a bigish job.

Mine at 28,000 miles - with the suspension unloaded these cracks open up.




Good luck

LILBENZ230

It's not squirmy for me at all. Maybe the difference is in how different our stiffness is from 05 to 07. The center wear was a lot quicker than the outer wear so I've recently dropped it to 30PSI.

Maybe the inner shoulders wear, too but I've only noticed the outer shoulder wear on my tires. The roads to my house are exclusively twisty back roads and I do like to push the Benz sometimes. It handles damn good. It's comfortable at 60mph and the 135i is fantastic up to 75..

As I said, though, at nearly 16,000 miles the rears are still showing all three letters "DWS" indicating they are still safe for snow, which will be the first letter to wear off. I hope they serve you as well as they have me. I think I'm going to hold off on all suspension work until some sort of real problem exhibits - wouldn't you do the same?

Also, based on C230 Sport Coup's "Everything AT" thread the 722.6 doesn't have a torque converter drain plug. I was going to buy the pinion seal (part is cheap) just in case it was determined to be leaking/seeping once the car was lifted. I don't have a reason to suspect it.

LILBENZ230

John this is the stuff you are using?

http://www.rmeuropean.com/Part-Numbe..._23251C1F.aspx

That bottle 33.8oz and we need 38oz?

johnand

Yes, that is the stuff I bought. You need 2 bottles. 1 is not quite enough.

LILBENZ230

Gotcha. I'm going to be doing this hopefully this week. I'll post up the final cost tally and what was done at that time. I will just be doing a transmission fluid change this time. I won't be running 85k more miles before the next one, though. I'll change it again in the next year. Did you get your diff fluid changed today?

Glyn M Ruck

Matt - the TC drain plug on the 722.6 transmission was deleted in late 1999 production onward.

LILBENZ230

Just got back yesterday from a 750-mile, spur of the moment trip to the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina with the C230. I've got some thoughts/stories and photos to share.



Enroute. Tennessee is serious about fireworks - or I'm just not used to this since they are illegal in Georgia.



The traffic grind in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge takes a hefty toll on fuel economy.



Foothills Parkway is one of the 10 most scenic roads in America (or that's what the brochure said). Unfortunately it was very, very foggy and not much could be seen.



I'm not much of a photographer, as you all already know. This was with flash on and I thought it looked cool.



After driving Tail of the Dragon (318 curves in 11 mountainous miles) I got this warning. Twice. The temperature of the car never rose beyond normal and this warning has not reappeared after that night. Ghost warning?



Deal's Gap is the area with Tail of the Dragon and nearby Cherohala Skyway. Population is listed as 8.



At 4AM, the population seemed 0.

There was a fuel economy anomaly on the return trip. When I filled up back in my hometown the car had traveled 423 miles and the trip computer said 28.5MPG. In my past experience the trip computer has always been 6% optimistic. The tank filled up with 14.6 gallons - or 29mpg as calculated by me. This is the only time the car has said the economy was worse than hand calculation. I think this might have been caused by a 6 mile stretch of gridlock on the return trip that took almost two hours to clear and pushed the car's calculation to less than 10mpg and it just didn't make it back up before the gas was out.

Also, I'm very pleased to be able to share these photos and type this message today. We decided to all go tubing down Little Pigeon river on Thursday, all of us first timers. It's a pretty popular activity there and no experience was needed. Things, however, went terribly wrong for me.

First, I made the mistake of jumping off the tube in deep water (thinking it was shallow). No problem, I'm a good swimmer so I swam for quite a ways to shallow water to get back on the tube. Then I realized one of the people I was there with had stalled out in stagnant water back upstream. So I swam back upstream and towed him to meet myself and the other person. Then I got back on the tube. Having swam a good distance, then swam it back upstream, then back with someone in tow I was a little tired. Then, we hit rapids and the two people I was with cleared them with just a few brushes with the rocks, but I got knocked off. Already a little tired, I had to fight the rapids to stop - then I got my leg stuck up to my thigh between rocks. I freed myself and climbed from rock to rock till I was clear of the rapids. Then swam to my friend who was saving my tube that had got away from me. I got back in the tube, now exhausted and thinking that the exit for us tubers was just ahead. Wrong. What was ahead were more rapids - the worst yet - and this time a jagged rock put a hole in my tube. I ended up standing for 30 seconds in the rapids, but it was too strong and I was too tired so I went through them with no protection - concerned only about protecting my head. It was rough, I twisted the knee I have had surgery on twice before and got some cuts and bruises but managed to stop myself on another rock to catch my breath before fighting the current and making it to shore. The two other people with me had elected to go barefoot when tubing, a common thing the majority of people do. I was wearing a pair of tennis shoes that were already pretty old and for some reason decided that the tubing trip would be their last run. I can't tell you how much that decision paid off and those old shoes helped me when I got into trouble. They literally fell apart once out of the water. More than an ability to swim, I really think I escaped mostly because I am never one to panic.

The Benz seats never felt better than after that ordeal. I've never been this sore before. My knee is a bit better today than yesterday and I hope it's even better tomorrow when I'm going to meet up with Drew (bdgdl08) to go to World of Coke in Atlanta.

Stay safe out there!

jcnash

Matt,
I have some experience with these bushings because I just had the front upper control arms replaced on mine because of work bushings and vibrations while turning.

Need to replace the lower controls arms soon as well.






The best way to check these bushings is to grab a towel and use it to hold the arm (at each end one by one) and give it a good shake in all 4 degrees of freedom (up, down, left, right).

The degree of play you feel is a direct reflection of the condition of that particular bushing.

Keep in mind that you need to use a lot of force to notice any play, but if you grab it with both hands (using a towel to reduce the harsh metal scraping) and shake the hell out of it, youll notice play if something is wrong.

Ideally you dont wanna have any play.

Another test, which IMHO is not as effective is to jack the car up and hold the wheel at the 3 and 9 o'clock positon and try to move it about a central axis. Then do the same holding it at 6 and 12 o'clock.

Essentially both these tests are checking the same thing, but holding the arms is more effective because youre physically closer to the source (bushings) than checking the wheel.

Hope that helps.

jcnash

Glad yr safe man!

LILBENZ230

After the intense mountain driving up at Deal's Gap I have noticed a faint, rotational, metallic scraping noise from the front of my car at low speeds when I'm next to a building. I can't hear it when driving so I'm not sure if it is present at all times. No brake pad warning for the fronts and the rears are just 10,000 miles old. Other than the noise there are no symptoms of any problems - no vibrations during braking or at any other time. Would a wheel bearing be much more noticeable than this?

LILBENZ230

Tomorrow sometime my C230 will roll over 90,000 miles so I thought I'd do a little update:

Tires:
The Continental DWS tires now have 20,500 miles and the fronts are showing the shoulder wear that I can't get away from. They've been rotated 3 times now, side to side. The roads here are so curvy and I've experimented with pressures but it seems inevitable. Maybe I just drive too quickly. The 135i's front tires suffered the same fate. They've been replaced with Nitto tires specifically designed to counteract those traits and I like them and maybe those will be next for the Benz. In any event the shoulder wear is minor but present and these tires will probably go another 20,000 miles. I have increased the pressure to the highest-ever 45PSI recently to see if that will counter the shoulder wear. The max PSI is 51 so this is fine. The ride quality went down some but I can live with that.

Brakes:
The rears have about 15,000 miles of use now - the originals lasted 75k. The front rotors and pads have 37,000 miles of some pretty hard use now and are noise and vibration free. Considering the originals lasted 25k miles and the second set 27k, I am pleased with this. Their performance and durability are simply amazing in contrast with my former Honda cars.

Suspension:
The popping noise is still present up front at very low speeds and tight turns. I have noticed that it pops more when the tires are set at lower pressures. I ran the fronts at 33PSI for a while and it made consistent, rapid pops backing out of my garage and parking spots at places. Now that the front tires are at 45PSI there is the occasional pop. I've posted dozens of times about this in the past 20k miles since it started and no other symptoms have ever appeared. I really, honestly doubt this will ever be fixed.

Dead Features:
The car has 2.5 dead features, none of which I intend to repair.
A) The passenger side mirror doesn't heat.
B) The park-assist mirror function can't remember to return to proper position long-term, even after re-synch procedures so I have shut it off and use it only if needed.
C) The climate control shuts off randomly in "auto" mode so I control it manually.


The car runs the original battery, has a fuel average of 27.4mpg over the past 1350 miles, and the interior has only minor wear. I am about to begin a new job with a 72-mile-a-day commute for work. I drive 30,000 miles a year with no work commute, so the mileage will likely begin an even more rapid increase (27 months, 65,000 miles so far with me). It has been extremely reliable and I have no reason to think that won't continue.

bdgdl08

It will be while before my car get's to 90,000, but I hope it gets there as gracefully as yours! I'm glad she's aging so well. Congrats.

W203E35

Extreme Fail!!!!!!!!

LILBENZ230

Oh Karo.. lol. It would be extreme fail if it were a "Powered by Windows" sticker. Fortunately for me, I stay away from the dark side. I like my cars and computers to have things in common:

1) Be designed to a higher standard.
2) Be engineered to a higher standard.
3) Work right, every single time
4) Not let me down

And my MacBook and C230 both meet all those. They're both gorgeous to look at, advanced for their time (C230 is 5.5 years old, Booker is 3.5), neither has ever failed me or let me down.

FrankW

my Toshiba laptop on XP is 3 years old...hasn't let me down. LOL

my iphone 2G is also 3 years old....and it died .5 years ago.