leeer73

Thanks to everyone who's help me in the desicion making in getting my new used C230. I was considering getting an '02 but after hearing some of the issues involed with that year I decided to go a little newer.

I bought an '05 c230 sport. She has 87k miles and is a 1.8 auto.

I ended up paying $8,900 for her, plus taxes and fees came out to right around $9,400. There is a smal dent on the hood, but I can get that fixed later and it helped in at the bargaining table!

Here are some pics straight off the lot, so she's kinda dirty:















Now, I started her up and she ran nice and smooth, looked for smoke and there was no sign of any, popped the hood and didnt notice any leaks, belts and hoses looked good. I test drove her for about4-5 miles to make sure she didn't run hot and took her up to 90 mph (safely on an empty hwy) and she was smooth as silk. I pulled a car fax and there were 2 owners and ZERO accidents.

Now, I get home and shut her down. About an hour later I start her up and at ilde, when it gets pretty low, I hear this ticking/clicking noise, it's pretty loud. Not a constant tick, tick, tick but more of a random loud tick/click almost like a piece of plastic or something is ramdomly hiting the fan. Above 1.5k, the ticking is completly gone, but in idle, espicially when the a/c is on I can hear it.

Any one know what this loud ticking could be? It doesn't seem like it's from inside the motor like valves or anything, it sounds like it is related to something that is soinning though. I never heard it the whole 45 mins to an hour I spent checking her out!

Any input would be great, thanks!

Carsy

It may be your serpentine belt. Lightly wet it with water to see whether there is any change in noise levels.

pcy

Any one of the following could be the contributing to that noise - Idler pulley, belt, or belt tensioner.

Remove belt and spin idler pulley and the tensioner pulley and see if those pullies make any noise when you spin by hand.

fookoo303

Although this one is more of a constant ticking, it is something you might be hearing. Look for a small mechanism on top the driver side fenderwell inside of the engine bay. If that is ticking, than it is completely normal. The name of the device has run my mind for the moment but I'm sure someone else here will soon tell you.

pcy

fookoo303 is referring to the 'Purge Valve'.

Here is the picture of the purge valve posted by Glyn.

phister

Thats a dirty engine bay lol... but like what the others said it might be your purge valve or the pulley system.

MW_ATL

Very nice! Factory Bi-X's also.

leeer73

Thanks for all the comments so far! I'll look into the purge valve and see if it's that. I guess I'll also change the belt and pullies as well so I don;t run into any problems down the road!

Glyn M Ruck

Looks good. I'm amazed they did not fix that little hood dent before putting it on the lot. Anyway - easy fix & got you some discount.

Your click could well be the purge valve. Sorry about that awful pic - I grabbed it off the board somewhere. That's where it's mounted for V6 - not sure about I4.

Enjoy!

Norwichdelta06

before you even start looking for something...taking things apart what state did you buy your vehicle from? And was it from a dealer or a private sale? And if it was a dealer sale then check your local lemon laws. In NYS any vehicle you buy from a dealer has to come with a 60 day 3,000 mile warranty not paid for by the buyer

Xhale707

How did you get it for so cheap damn.. im bugged now..

Looking at the 5th photo your fender and bumper are not connected or aligned its poped out. Maybe had some work done??

hcalvarez

thats a pretty cheap 05. you got an awesome deal. congrats! i think the ticking is minor

pcy

Just curious how do you know they are not after market (Depo) projector lights?

Glyn M Ruck

Because it has the headlamp washers (see bumper flaps) & button on the light switch. Plus there are minor internal differences - difficult to pick up in a small photo.

samaritrey

wow nice choice imo. i would be everything that the tick is the purge valve has others have said very common matts c230 has it in the same place as the v6.

cjennjr

My question is the same as most other replies on this thread -how did you get that car soo cheap??? You must have caught the seller on a good day, because that's a steal! Congrats!!!!

MW_ATL

The little things that no one would bother to change if they were only doing Depo's and even doing factory Bi-X that *almost* no one would change.

Onericali

I thought this was a definite stepper motor or linkage that is stickied.

What am I missing?

Awesome deal btw man.

samaritrey

Well i guess we need to find out if it is heard from dash or engine bay?

Onericali

Can the stepper motor make that click without the fan being turned on though?

LILBENZ230

That's a screaming deal. Nice pick.

leeer73

Thanks again guys! I thought it was a pretty good deal too! To start with he wanted only about $11,300 out the door. He told me he'd fix the dent on the hood for me too. I thought that was a great deal but then I asked if he had any wiggle room, and the negotioations began!

It helped that I had a stack of cash that I strategically placed in front of him in a small paper bag. Lol, he kept looking at it and I casually opened it up as if to make sure all the money was there and "accidentally" let him see the cash!

Anyways, long story short, I can fix the hood on my dime at a later time. I work in a european parts store here in Hawaii and have some prett good connections with the people we do business with. Not to mention I get genuine german parts at cost plus 5%!!!



Now on to my clicking/ticking noise issue!!! I called up my friend at Mercedes and asked him to come by my store to check the car out. I actually wanted him to listen to the noise for me and right off the fricken bat he knew what it was!

The DAMN alternator! Apperantly there is a clutch in there (i worked on BMW's mostly before this) and he said that this is making the noise. So I bought a new Bosche Alternator today and plan on installing it soon!

So if anyone has that ticking/clicking noise coming front the front of the engine that sounds just like an arcing spark from a spark plug wire only LOUDER, then have your alternator looked at!!!

pcy

leer73, please come back and update this thread after the alternator replacement (and let us know if the ticking noise is gone).

leeer73

As pormised, an update on my car's first issue!

Well That clicking noise turned out to be the alternator after all! the shetty thing is that I bought a brand new oem Bosch alternator from my store and had it installed @ Mercedes and even though the clicking noise is gone, the new alternator has a slight "whine" to it!!!

Geese, I can't catch a break! Lol. So it isn't really loud, but it is a little noticeacle. My options are to warranty the alternator and just swap it out myself or just live with it. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet as the alternator is functioning great it just has that damn whine! Maybe I can say the noise is from my supercharger!

mskembo

That's what I was going to suggest! Nice ride, and great deal! Enjoy it!