pcam215

My 2005 C230 Kompressor (52,000 miles) needs some serious work done, and I really can't believe it.

Long story short, Mercedes Benz of Fort Washington, PA, says it needs either a new transmission, or a clutch, but they need to drop the transmission in order to tell what's going on.

Numbers on this work look like this:
Drop Transmission: $880
New Clutch: $2,900 (might include dropping trans)
New Transmission: $4,900 +drop trans = $5,780

On top of that there's some seatbelt retracting issue that costs $600 to fix—which the claim to have fixed last year while we were under warranty! I'm loosing my trust with these people.

I'm not a mechanic, but I think one should be able to diagnose a transmission problem versus a clutch issue without incurring an $880 fee to find out which is going wrong.

Furthermore, why the hell would either of these parts wear out after 5 years!

I'm completely disgusted with this. When my wife and I bought this car, we thought we were buying a quality car that would run forever. We were even considering selling another car of ours and buying another Benz, but after this I would not even consider it.

If anyone has some advice, I'd love to hear it. I'm a little unsure if we should have these repairs done, and how to handle this problem.

Milkm4n

im assuming its manual, whats it doing? as in symptoms i have an 06 its not the same engine but its manual and im up to 60k miles my clutch feels like its 70% and i beat it everyday

Shake

The dealer will rip you off, especially on major repairs both with labor and parts. I would try to go to another independent shop to get estimates.

You can get a used C230 manual transmission for around $1100. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/USED-...Q5fAccessories

As milkman said, what's wrong with the car currently?

pcam215

It's a 6 speed. Incredibly difficult to engage 1, 2, and reverse. I can get into gear when I'm at a slow roll, otherwise it's not easy.

I'm so pissed at these guys because they want to charge $880 before they even do the work.

I'm probably more pissed that I'm even having this issue. Like Milkm4n said, I should really be able to beat on this thing not have this problem.

pcam215

I just got off the phone with German Auto Specialists in Plymouth Meeting PA. John there was super nice and gave me a quick quote on the phone—if it were the clutch. I just don't know if my wife authorized the work with Fort Washington yet.

mt8667

I had a similar problem in a 944 and the linkage was just twisted. I shifted really aggressively for a while and the kink worked itself out!

pcam215

@mt8667... I'd be nervous about doing that. But I hear what you're saying.

mt8667

I was 17 and stupid, in fact I was so pissed I was just ramming it into gear and low and behold, problem disappeared.

mt8667

Same problem too, it was only in like 2nd and 4th gear, you could not get into those gears unless you really rammed it in.

Milkm4n

im kinda at a loss now it sounds like the synchronizer's are out BUT I would be very surprised unless u bought the car used, it was your first manual car, you taught someone else to drive stick for the first time in the car, or you treat it worse than me. If it were me i would do a drain and fill maybe there is a leak or alot of shavings in the fluid its not terribly expensive around 60 bucks and not hard to do. I really don't think u need a new trans i redline mine everyday burn rubber abuse it build the revs dump the clutch downshift to 2 going 40mph just about everyday i do a good amount of canyon runs with it....im not trying to put myself out there but i want you to know i really beat my trans and there should be no reason for yours to be on its was out, I would be surprised if i didn't get 120k out of my stock clutch

Milkm4n

was thinking more about this if u want to test your synchronizer's there is a way If you are comfortable enough with doing so you can try to drive with no clutch

shift into first release clutch revto 2.8- 3k rpm and attempt to shift through all gears without using clutch it is possible, if you are able to shift all the way to 6 all your syncs are in working order


also where does your clutch engage the gears close to the floor mid way up top etc etc im thinking we can figure this out and it wont be as bad as you may think

ncmudbug

52000 miles on a manual transmission is almost nothing if it's treated well at all. I think you'd have to really flog it to break it that early. Something is clearly wrong but I don't think it's the clutch or you would probably have problems in all the gears. It could be your syncros.

I would get another opinion and if they want you to spend big bucks, I'd try some Red Line MTL 70W80 GL-4 first. It isn't MB approved, but your tranny sounds shot already. My Lotus Europa was rough shift from 1 to 2. I was ready to have someone go through it but the place I took it tp advised me to use Red Line oil in it and to my surprise, it cured it! I took the risk and put it in my '05 C230K and it is definitely smoother. I take the chance that I might screw up my tranny over the longer term, but if you have to spend big bucks anyway, you have nothing to lose.

Good luck and keep us posted.

anonymousmoose

Mercedes Dealers charge crazy money for everything. I wouldn't go to a dealer.

phil240

Im going to try and be nice while saying this.

First off you did buy a quality car if properly maintained and cared for,problems arise sometimes for no reason it happens.manufacturing process is not 100 percent perfect.

Second your symptoms can be caused by a number of things,it could be synchros going out but i bet not with the mileage you have.my thoughts are its probably going to be a clutch master cylinder or slave cylinder going bad.But that doesnt mean the clutch isnt already shot.I'm not saying you cant drive a manual car but it doesnt mean you can.

You said you are not a mechanic then i guess you dont know what is involved in the diagnoses of drivetrain problems,didnt think so.

If the clutch slave went bad you actually need to pull the trans out to inspect it properly.and if it was a bad clutch your gonna have to take the trans out anyway.

I do think you did a good step in contacting a european shop for quotes.

phister

Have 90k on my tranny and its still smooth as butter. But if its your clutch you can tell. It'll not have any pressure when you push the clutch pedal and you'll be able to shift gears without the clutch sometimes. Thats what it felt like when my Honda clutch bit the bullet.

LILBENZ230

You need second and third opinions. Never just let a part-swapper at a dealer throw things at the car. It gets prohibitively expensive. $6k is a significant amount of work on a $12k car.