yeah get it fixed first...fj for the win. Hope it all works out with the insurance.

 

On my 2000 E320 74K. During my last service the SA stated that the Rear Flex disc was cracking and the front lower control arm bushings was cracking. How long did the repairs take and what was the estimated cost?

 

ive had my car for four months roughly and both my fuel pumps went bad, my pcv valve had to be changed, MAF had to be replaced and so many more things its been a nightmare so far.... im going to have to reconsider my next option for a vehicle

 

Had better luck with my 1995 BMW 325is w/c i bought it in 1999 & had it until 2006. 116,000 miles or so.
Water pump blew in 2001(w/c would have been prevented if I had followed my mechanic's advice to replace it..w/c also led to a new radiator)

Window motor replaced in 2005.
Rear speaker blown.

That's about it as far as I can remember.

Bought my 2003 C240 in Sept .2006 after I sold my BMW.
Crank sensor replaced
H20 leak plastic seal replaced
Door actuator problem
Hood not aligned

I guess there will be problems that will come up sooner or later.
SOme sooner than others I guess.

 

alright, im really in the market now
finaly sold my ride

 

get a c32!!!

 

i don't know whats the better deal....

2005, C230 I4 sport Sedan white $18,000 23kmiles

Or

2005 C230 I4 Sport Sedan Blk, $15,500 48kmils

Both are 6mt

?? whats a better deal ???

 

There are a LOT of other factors to consider. Does one have bixenons or navi? Rear sunshade or heated seats?

 

The Blk one has bixenons white i don't think it does
BOth have heated seats,
NONE have Navi. I have not seen any c230 I4 with navi, out of all the cars i have looked at, and that number is 151131316 lol to many, did not even know they come with Navi

 

don't worry about it, the navi is a total piece of isht. now i wish i didn't make that a priority when i was looking for cars

 

My list of repairs is impressive:

thrust arms (ball joints)
control arms (bad bushing design)
endlinks (bad bushing design)
bearings (repacked)

fuel pump
MAF (due to leaky cam sensor misdiagnosis)
O2s (due to leaky cam sensor misdiagnosis)
cam sensors
engine harness oil issue (due to cam sensors)

rear diff seals (leak at high mileage, check them!)

rust, all 4 fenders and both doors/sills (pre Q2 2003 were not rust treated properly)

ac condenser (cheap quality, MB fixed for 2004 and on)


These cars are cheap POSs.

 

Excellent point. MB took a big hit 99-03 on the market share. They were putting out cars that sucked, wouldn't crank, sun roof won't close, etc. They paid dearly for cutting quality.

They had to step it up, and need to continue to do even better. One post said MBUSA sucks donkey *****, customers must rise up and complain to get better results. A MB dealer here in Atlanta sucks, so guess what? They lost over 60% of their customers. BAM.

I love my MB's and have to say my E320 has 182K on it and going. No major issues, just a left cat. The rest routine stuff. My CLS, a fresh air pump. The R500, an airmatic pump. That's all.

BTW- I don't believe the claims on all those 7-8 cars having 0 problems given the brand. I have NEVER owned a car that long with 0 problems. Pontiac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Buick, Oldsmobile, all had some type of problems. WTH are you trying to pull here?

 

What year is your troublesome heap? What mileage? M111 or M271? Where was it built?

 

I have an 05 C230 SS and it came with Navi from the factory. True, I think I remember hearing that less than 5% of C230's come with Navi. I have a spreadsheet I'm building with all VINs for the W203 including options, colors, etc, and I can vouch that very very few of them have it. Personally, I do like the Nav, although it wasn't on my list of must have options. That it came with it was just a nice bonus.

What's the 151131316 number? The VIN's (at least in the US) end with a 6-digit number, preceded by an F or an A letter (to denote whether it was built in Bremen or Sindelfigen, respectively).

Cintoman

 

Nevermind....I get the number now. That's how many you've looked at.
me=

Cintoman

 

Out of interest - My C240 at 47,000Kms.

1 X leaking drain plug washer on the autobox
2 X castor arm bushes under the maintenance plan - Not because they failed but because they are known to give trouble & are supposed to have been redesigned

Zero else apart from ditching the crap Conti SC2 tyres due to noise at low mileage - Fit & finish excellent - zero squeaks or rattles - delighted - may it stay that way - the rest has been standard servicing. Oil, filters, wiper blades - RSA build

Oh! & the Tech that changed the castor bushes forgot to reconnect the front swaybar BiX sensor

 

Interesting....I went to Bridgestones after the original Conti's and am going back to the Conti's H95 because of noise. I think the noise is caused by bad thrust bushings causing the tires to cup and the Bridgestones are more prone to cupping because of the tread pattern. At 148K miles I am on my third set of thrust bushings.

 

Mleskovar - I've done a lot of research on this matter with Benz & Michelin - while driving with shot castor bushing might aggravate tyre cupping or feathering leading to air pumping & other noise on big block tyres -
Feathering is also inevitable with these sort of tyres with the suspension geometry - Noise transmission is also part of the firmer than usual for Benz suspension settings. If you run your hand counter rotation over the tread and can feel any sort of feathering you are heading for trouble. My car on Contis sounded as though the wheel bearings were failing.

The answer is to fit small block non rotation specific tyres (can be assymetric) with solid tread bands rather than blocks & rotate them every 10,000 Kms opposite corner to opposite corner or across the same axle to change the direction of rotation regularly.

There are a couple of tyres known to stop this problem with regular rotation & Conti don't crack it at all. Yokohama AVS db2 does a good job & the Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2s which I have had on my car for over 30,000 Kms now and not only transformed the car but are still perfectly quiet with no feathering - solid radial bands of tread - 225/50/16. The new Pilot Sport PS2 is no longer directional like the PS was & now has the Exalto tread minus a few sipes so that should also be excellent. My Exaltos are not even half worn yet but I'm going to 17" rims X 8.5 rear 8 front ET30 and I'm going to fit PS2s because they come in the sizes I need. The Exalto PE2 has been a fabulous tyre, - quiet, much better turn in, more comfortable than the Contis - as I say - transformed the car.

BTW My castor arm bushes were replaced FOC at the 45,000Km service because I'm running out of Service plan and my workshop manager said to me now is the time to replace anything you are not happy with & we went through the car with a fine tooth comb. At no time was my alignment out of spec. The castor arm bushes have to get really bad for the alignment to go out of spec. And one other little trick which I will translate to LHS cars. You must run one degree more castor on the passenger side of the car than the drivers side to stop pulling with road camber & also reduce tyre feathering - Typically 9.4 deg drivers side 10.4 deg passenger side

 

2003 C230 coupe, Q1 production, Brazil (I think).

My M271 is the second build month of 2003, so I'm suffering from having ALL the problems associated with this engine that have been fixed in subsequent years. I also suffer from dealers not having seen the problem, misdiagnosing, and causing further problems.

All that said, I am about $1K over in paid repairs than what the extended warranty would have cost - since most Benz owners get the extended warranty, I'm not much worse off than others - and everything has been fixed, so the car is running better than ever. I hope to get another 4-6 years out of it.

Lesson learned:
Do NOT buy the first couple years of a new engine
Do NOT buy the first couple years of a new model
Do NOT buy a car with limited aftermarket support (OEM parts are expensive to replace, and if not redesigned, will fail again)

 

I have looked at a few, was considering Auto, so the gf can drive it when im not able to see straight lol but i think im going to try a 6MT.

Just don't know whats better, the white one with less miles for $18,000 or blk with a little more miles, but a litel less on price. ??? both look great, both same year and MT

 

Yep! looks like you bought a bummer - not terrible, but not good - dealer hopeless - Brazil build comes in for a lot of flack & it seems they never sorted out problems. If the SA factory sees a problem they fix it locally if Benz have not internationally.

I bought my car right at the end of pre facelift production in South Africa on purpose - it was thoroughly sorted in local production. And I bought a C240 because the drivetrain was tried & proven in other models & bullet proof.

 

Get the one with BiX - Then you have the right kit with auto leveling & all. BiX retrofit is never 100% successful

 

Good information. The reason I'm going back to the Contis is the car came with CH95s and the wear, noise, and handling were all great. I complained of pulling to one side at 12K miles and they replaced the bolt(s) .... (now both of them are in the center of the bushings). The new bolts improved the handling in a straight line 100% making it feel very solid. Only rotated them front to rear.

 

Great - you must be the only one I know that has been satisfied with Conti noise although I think the SC2 was worse than the CH95s - I note that even in the Tire Rack surveys they don't rate very well on noise. If your car is now right in a straight line & no pulling they have obviously got the castor right - good stuff!!! So many alignment shops don't know about the Benz requirement.

 

Bought a 2003 C230 w/ 27K last year, car has low miles for the year.

Things that's broken within the year that I bought it, and given this is a luxury car, I feel like these things shouldn't break (i.e. non electronic or performance related) or the car should be designed better :

1. Drive door handle snapped off - this is the piece of plastic handle that you pull to close your door. One day, I was just closing my door and the plastic on the top portion of the handle snapped open. I had to use super glue. I think this is pretty poor quality for a MB.

2. Passenger seat back cover falls off - whenever the seat is tilted back to a certain degree, something's up w/ the design of the seat and causes the back shell/casing of the seat to come off exposing the springs and things. I have to take a screw driver and force the shell back. Again, poor design.

3. This one's picky, but the passenger floor mat isn't snapped into the car like the driver side, and always gets pushed up as people sit in there.

Not going to mention all the errors i've received in the dash. I just feel like for a luxury sedan, the quality of the craftsmanship should be better, and it doesn't own up to the brand. Like someone said, it's a dressed Chrysler, and sometimes, just sometimes, i feel that way.

Just my 2 cent.