First I wish you all a happy new year, and I hope 2019 will make all your dreams come true. I presented myself on the specific section of the forum, and now I want to introduce myself in the W203 area.
My name is Alexander (Samyaza - is a mythologic male name even if nowadays sounds like a women name). I've been a fan of Mercedes Benz for a very long time. However I never afforded one. My last car was a Mitsubishi and with it I made the first crash ever in 15 years of driving without incidents. I totaled the car, but after 4 broken ribs (from the belt) it was all good. A month or so I finally made my money for a car. I live in Romania (East Europe) and as some of you maybe already know, the money are limited. However I got a nice Mercedes Benz C Klasse. Is from 2002, is old but was all good maintained. Was a car of a local politician from one of our cities. The car has 211.000 Km and is Elegance variant. I noticed reading through this pages that most of the users are from outside Europe and some of you may never heard about the 2 liters engine. Is a 4 cylinder, with compressor (Kompressor in German) and is putting out 164 HP. Is not a lot but is not bad either. The care has a perfect interior. The materials are good, my only complain is that I couldn't find the face-lifted model in the money I had. On the other hand I was happy the car wasn't a lemon, and I prefer an old car but well kept than a new one yellow from smoke, scratches on the panels and worn out steering wheel. Of course I have some problems that I knew from the beginning. A few points of rust here and there. The worst in on my front right fender, the paint already bumped but is not like well visible. The rear fenders have some points and also the back door. Yep. Is a Mercedes from that period when they all got rusted. However the structure is good, the most important things are well and solid, the engine doesn't eat a gram of oil and for me is enough. This summer I will get away those rusty points of course not into a Mercedes Benz dealership.
I have some other plans for the car too. First I want to change the oil and filter on the gearbox. Is an automatic 5 speeds and as far I know nobody did this before. Also I want to change the oil in the compressor (since is not using the engine oil and is a separate system) and why not the differential oil. To be fair I cannot sleep at night driving like this but on the other hand I simply don't have the money yet to do so.
I watched all kind of tutorials of how to do it yourself but is a problem (and I guess many on this forum confronted with it). When you take down the lid of the gearbox to change the filter, only about 3-4 liters of oil will come out. The car has in that gearbox 7.5 liters and most of it is in the torque converter. All the car services refused the intervention since I found one more courageous guy but I wonder if he did this before. I had a chat with him and even if is working on tons of foreign cars doesn't seem too up to date with the Mercedes stuff. I wonder what should I do. I want all the oil out, all the 7.5 liters and change it with filter and gasket. The same goes for the Kompressor, and hell no, I don't want to pull it out from the car. I really hope they will find access to keep it on the car (financial reasons).
The car drives well.
As equipment is not much, and I have the following:

- standard sound system (the head unit was changed with a Pioneer RGB to match the beautiful orange colors of the car dash)
- lights sensors
- rain sensors
- automatic gearbox
- standard heated seats with some electronic adjustments except from back and forth.
- climatronic dual zone
- automatic pilot (we call it like this in here but you got the idea) and speed limiter.
- some wood insertions here and there.

That's it.. is a standard Elegance model.

Other problems: I cannot open the back door (lid so to speak) when I open the doors. I need to use the key. The geometry must be made. To drive straight I have to keep the steering wheel a little bit on the left side. Some rust here and there already mentioned.

Can anybody tell me if is there a fuse for the lid opening electric engine? I know is not getting any current because when I open and close from the remote doesn't make any sounds.
Mercedes offered me 3 boxes of fuses but no details about what they do and from what system they are. I found some pictures online, but none of them are referring to the problem I have.
I really hate the idea to open there and see what's what. I'm good with electronics and mechanics, I'm a DIY guy but I really hope there is a fuse up there somewhere. I could not check on it because I simply didn't had time.

Well.. that was all.






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IDK if it's because I'm a newbie, but I don't see any pictures and this is suppose to be a picture thread

 

Mint-y fresh and fly.

 

 

Ha, just seeing this after all this time...
what did everything set you back? ie cost?

 

About $120.

 

oh oh I've done much more than what's in those photos now but up to that point it was Wheels carbon fiber trim flash emblem hatch in trunk carbon fiber spoiler tires and that's just cosmetic stuff the actual camshafts microchip exhaust system and now I've got coilovers and different headlights along with an eye line from Japan and I'm doing some other customisation front bumper side skirts rear bumper nothing but ABS custom stuff also got new wheels just need to get some money for the tires and I'm putting in a bunch more mechanical stuff performance stuff as well I think my first performance model was just air filters but I've done so much more than that now plus I'm adding a twin-turbo rear-mounted system cost I would say total maybe 11000

 

 

Here’s my C230 K Cpe that I picked up in April with 17000 one owner miles. Car is dead new. Updated with period correct CLK wheels and larger tires. Also installed Pioneer touch screen head unit with Bluetooth, SiriusXM, backup camera and apple car play.

 

Be interesting to see some of the interior pictures.. 👍

 

 

01 C320 74,000 miles 19” staggered rims on Michelin Pilot Sport 4S Eibach Pro Spring Kit Bilstein Struts and Shocks

 

Trying to decided if I should keep this and add to it or get rid of it for a E55.

What do you think?

 

Hello everyone! I finally made an account after using this forum a lot to help me with issues I have had with my Merc. Here is a pic of what I am working on...

 

Thinking of painting the wheels black...thoughts?

 

Nice ride. I wouldn't paint the wheels black. I like the look that you have. I think black wheels would be out of character for this model. I swapped out my original wheels for period correct aluminum wheels from a CLK of the same vintage. Went plus one with Michelin pilot sport AS 3's. Great ride and handling.

 

When you said you went plus one, do you mean you are running a 255/40 in the rear?

 

I'm running 225/50/ZR16 all around. This keeps the same outside diameter as the stock configuration. No change in speedometer reading. I have 15 mm spacers on the rear to push the wheel/tire out even with the bodywork. Hope this helps.

 

My recently acquired 2004 MB C320 Sport, this will be my sons car.
Car is just short of 60K miles.

Need to address a few things, i.e. the bad tint on the rear window.

Overall very happy with my purchase.

 

That damage to the tint is from the rear defroster.

 

It might be, but only because the tint was not applied correctly or is not high quality.
I have had numerous cars, always tinted by the same company with high quality materials, lifetime warranty on workmanship and materials, and it has never bubbled, never had an issue.

 

My son's 2004 C320 Sport, next to my 2007 W211 E350.
Love both Cars!

 

Its interesting that the c320 sport got single piston sliding calipers while the c230 got larger 4 piston fixed calipers.

 

Guess that is a question for the Engineers in Stuttgart. 😊

 

Or the marketing guy in Irvine.