The problems have started :/
Super Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 573
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W203
An independent shop should be able to replace a tie rod for ~1hr labour, parts + alignment. The total bill should be $250.
If you're going to replace a tie rod and get an alignment, it is worth it to replace both inners and outers on both sides so you don't have to pay for an alignment again when another tie rod goes bad. The parts are cheap ($150 for all parts if I remember correctly) and its minimal extra labour to replace both inner and outer if you're replacing one or the other.
Other than the alignment this is a really easy DIY with minimal tools required, especially if you can rent/borrow an inner tie rod tool.
If you're going to replace a tie rod and get an alignment, it is worth it to replace both inners and outers on both sides so you don't have to pay for an alignment again when another tie rod goes bad. The parts are cheap ($150 for all parts if I remember correctly) and its minimal extra labour to replace both inner and outer if you're replacing one or the other.
Other than the alignment this is a really easy DIY with minimal tools required, especially if you can rent/borrow an inner tie rod tool.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Dec 2011
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From: San Francisco Bay area
C63 AMG
I've never seen an EIS failure on a facelift car on the W203 section. Interestingly enough, though, the 2008s have had quite a few on the W204 section.
It should be noted that overall EIS failure is really fairly rare, even among pre-facelift W203s where pretty much everything aside from the drivetrain is problematic.
It should be noted that overall EIS failure is really fairly rare, even among pre-facelift W203s where pretty much everything aside from the drivetrain is problematic.
Good thing that its uncommon for it to happen to my 05 though.An independent shop should be able to replace a tie rod for ~1hr labour, parts + alignment. The total bill should be $250.
If you're going to replace a tie rod and get an alignment, it is worth it to replace both inners and outers on both sides so you don't have to pay for an alignment again when another tie rod goes bad. The parts are cheap ($150 for all parts if I remember correctly) and its minimal extra labour to replace both inner and outer if you're replacing one or the other.
Other than the alignment this is a really easy DIY with minimal tools required, especially if you can rent/borrow an inner tie rod tool.
If you're going to replace a tie rod and get an alignment, it is worth it to replace both inners and outers on both sides so you don't have to pay for an alignment again when another tie rod goes bad. The parts are cheap ($150 for all parts if I remember correctly) and its minimal extra labour to replace both inner and outer if you're replacing one or the other.
Other than the alignment this is a really easy DIY with minimal tools required, especially if you can rent/borrow an inner tie rod tool.
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Joined: Jun 2002
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From: So. Oregon Coast
C230 Sport Coup + 2006 W164 ML350 + 99 Ford Escort RIP
So, the problem went away at the 1st dealer?
You might have wanted to wait and see.
One day, driving home in a bad rainstorm, I had a wheel sensor go bad,
it has it's own unique way of telling you, like you can't accelerate and the ESP, ABS lights are lit up.
Then next day it DIED, like the whole dash went blank,
the headlight were on by default and it was stuck in limp mode.
But I was still able to drive it to the shop.
I took it to the local mercedes guy, they couldn't get a reading from the CANBUS,
it was a mess.
So, they left it alone for a couple days.
The problem just went away and never came back.
No idea what caused it, we had a bad rainstorm, maybe water go into something?
Crossing fingers.
You might have wanted to wait and see.
One day, driving home in a bad rainstorm, I had a wheel sensor go bad,
it has it's own unique way of telling you, like you can't accelerate and the ESP, ABS lights are lit up.
Then next day it DIED, like the whole dash went blank,
the headlight were on by default and it was stuck in limp mode.
But I was still able to drive it to the shop.
I took it to the local mercedes guy, they couldn't get a reading from the CANBUS,
it was a mess.
So, they left it alone for a couple days.
The problem just went away and never came back.
No idea what caused it, we had a bad rainstorm, maybe water go into something?
Crossing fingers.
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 1,580
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From: San Francisco Bay area
C63 AMG
So, the problem went away at the 1st dealer?
You might have wanted to wait and see.
One day, driving home in a bad rainstorm, I had a wheel sensor go bad,
it has it's own unique way of telling you, like you can't accelerate and the ESP, ABS lights are lit up.
Then next day it DIED, like the whole dash went blank,
the headlight were on by default and it was stuck in limp mode.
But I was still able to drive it to the shop.
I took it to the local mercedes guy, they couldn't get a reading from the CANBUS,
it was a mess.
So, they left it alone for a couple days.
The problem just went away and never came back.
No idea what caused it, we had a bad rainstorm, maybe water go into something?
Crossing fingers.
You might have wanted to wait and see.
One day, driving home in a bad rainstorm, I had a wheel sensor go bad,
it has it's own unique way of telling you, like you can't accelerate and the ESP, ABS lights are lit up.
Then next day it DIED, like the whole dash went blank,
the headlight were on by default and it was stuck in limp mode.
But I was still able to drive it to the shop.
I took it to the local mercedes guy, they couldn't get a reading from the CANBUS,
it was a mess.
So, they left it alone for a couple days.
The problem just went away and never came back.
No idea what caused it, we had a bad rainstorm, maybe water go into something?
Crossing fingers.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 1,580
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From: San Francisco Bay area
C63 AMG
So got the call from the dealer today saying the car is ready and I went in to pick it up but alot happened the past few days that I will fill you guys up on... So as you can see in the earlier posts I had a brand new 2012 c250 as a rental and I loved it, well something bad happened. I was parked at the mall and I went inside for about an hour or two and when I came outside I see that someone had hit my car and not left a note. I drove home pissed off and when I got home I put my hand under the rear bumper and tryed to push out the fat dent it had, I popped it out but the muffler was super hot and my had hit it and I got a super bad burn on it. I had to go to the Drs and I am having surgery on it tomorrow. Also the fender had popped out but I pushed it back in. There was still some paint that had scratched off. I tried polishing it, wet sand, and touch up paint but it was hopeless. When I returned the car today they said they would contact me tomorrow about the repair costs that they are going to bill to my insurance..now back to the hole EIS. So the repair total came out to somewhere close to 1500, I had a 15% off thing because of my mercedes benz credit card so it came out to close to 1300 for me. They BS'ed this hole thing that I needed to buy at least one new key so I had to do that but at least I got a new key out of it. After I drove the car home I tried taking out the key and it got stuck again. I had never been so mad when I saw the key was stuck after all that head ache. The dealer was already closed when I got home so I will give my SA a call tomorrow and tell him. Man I had the EIS alot. I kinda wish we had those metal keys older cars have so I wouldn't have to deal with all this.
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Joined: Mar 2007
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From: VA
THE C350
Now thats a bad wekk. Hopefully that figure it out and get you back on the road. As for your hand WTF glad that is being taken care of. This is exactly why I get the insurance for $15 when I get loaner from the dealer so I can say oh well and move on with life.
Hopefully you will be back on the road again very soon.
BTW make sure they pickup up your car and bring you a loaner for free since spending that much money to have the same issue again is total BS.
Hopefully you will be back on the road again very soon.
BTW make sure they pickup up your car and bring you a loaner for free since spending that much money to have the same issue again is total BS.
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 1,580
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From: San Francisco Bay area
C63 AMG
Now thats a bad wekk. Hopefully that figure it out and get you back on the road. As for your hand WTF glad that is being taken care of. This is exactly why I get the insurance for $15 when I get loaner from the dealer so I can say oh well and move on with life.
Hopefully you will be back on the road again very soon.
BTW make sure they pickup up your car and bring you a loaner for free since spending that much money to have the same issue again is total BS.
Hopefully you will be back on the road again very soon.
BTW make sure they pickup up your car and bring you a loaner for free since spending that much money to have the same issue again is total BS.
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2019 G70 6MT & 2022 Ford Maverick XL
Back in 2005, I took my 2002 Acura TL to the dealer for one of literally hundreds of different problems it was having and was given a brand new 05 Acura RL loaner car. I'm not sure why I was given a $50k RL instead of a $28K TSX but I didn't argue. I got to keep the RL for 14 days. On the drive back to the dealership a rock cracked the windshield. Luckily for me since my TL was having so many problems a district Acura representative was meeting me at the dealer to discuss the replacement of every Bose component in the car. When the dealer tried to charge me for the windshield on the RL he stepped in and refused to let them.
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Dec 2011
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From: San Francisco Bay area
C63 AMG
Back in 2005, I took my 2002 Acura TL to the dealer for one of literally hundreds of different problems it was having and was given a brand new 05 Acura RL loaner car. I'm not sure why I was given a $50k RL instead of a $28K TSX but I didn't argue. I got to keep the RL for 14 days. On the drive back to the dealership a rock cracked the windshield. Luckily for me since my TL was having so many problems a district Acura representative was meeting me at the dealer to discuss the replacement of every Bose component in the car. When the dealer tried to charge me for the windshield on the RL he stepped in and refused to let them.
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From: Toronto, Canada
2019 C300 Wagon; '75 Triumph TR6; previous: 2004 C230 6spd sold after 17 years of driving
regarding the tie rods, the part is around $56 in Canada so think about half that cost in the US, took me about 1/2hr for each side, there is a great DIY posted somewhere. I never bothered getting an alignment because if you do it carefully you can return it to the original setting providing you are changing parts that are identical (ie OEM).
Majority of the time most of the wear is in the outers (BJ), the inners usually are fine unless you really crunched a curb laterally
Majority of the time most of the wear is in the outers (BJ), the inners usually are fine unless you really crunched a curb laterally
Last edited by Boom vang; Mar 23, 2012 at 01:56 AM.
Thread Starter
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From: San Francisco Bay area
C63 AMG
wow I had no clue it was so easy and cheep, glad I didn't have the dealer do it, I will defiantly look into when i get a day off work and do it my self. Do you know if I can do an aliment even though I have coilers on my car? I was told I cant but I don't see why not.
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From: San Francisco Bay area
C63 AMG
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2019 G70 6MT & 2022 Ford Maverick XL
I was just giving you a hard time. You were using "defiantly" in place of "definitely" and I was being spelling police. Just messing with you.
So you got the EIS replaced and bought a new key (BS) and then the new key got stuck in the new EIS and your coupe is at the dealership again?
So you got the EIS replaced and bought a new key (BS) and then the new key got stuck in the new EIS and your coupe is at the dealership again?
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From: San Francisco Bay area
C63 AMG
I was just giving you a hard time. You were using "defiantly" in place of "definitely" and I was being spelling police. Just messing with you.
So you got the EIS replaced and bought a new key (BS) and then the new key got stuck in the new EIS and your coupe is at the dealership again?
So you got the EIS replaced and bought a new key (BS) and then the new key got stuck in the new EIS and your coupe is at the dealership again?
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2012
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2003 C230 Kompressor Coupe
This happened to me 3 or 4 times when I first bought my 03 C230, it wouldnt "let go" of the key. I hit the Lock/Unlock button on the key, and presto, it let the key out. Its done it once in the last 3 months? So I'm not worried
Member
Joined: Aug 2010
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2002 c230
The EIS job cost me between 2200 and 2400 I can't remember exactly.
They said I had to get a new key too, because the old key might not be recognized by the new EIS or something, which was bull**** because the old key DOES work.
Anyway, my EIS just needed reinitialized, not replaced. After I replaced it, the same thing happened 6 months later, and I had it reinitialized (for no charge since they guarantee their work for a year) and it hasn't happened again a year later.
Of course, I didn't know that at the time, and let some moron mechanic try to permanently hot wire my car to lock the EIS in the position that allows the key to move, and run a wire from it to a switch where I would start the car.
Big mistake.
They said I had to get a new key too, because the old key might not be recognized by the new EIS or something, which was bull**** because the old key DOES work.
Anyway, my EIS just needed reinitialized, not replaced. After I replaced it, the same thing happened 6 months later, and I had it reinitialized (for no charge since they guarantee their work for a year) and it hasn't happened again a year later.
Of course, I didn't know that at the time, and let some moron mechanic try to permanently hot wire my car to lock the EIS in the position that allows the key to move, and run a wire from it to a switch where I would start the car.
Big mistake.
Thread Starter
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From: San Francisco Bay area
C63 AMG
With tax myn came out to 1300 including the key and everything. I haven't driven the car once since I got it back, its just been sitting out side my house. I know I am being super stupid not going back to the dealer and figuring it out but I literally haven't had a second in the past few weeks to do anything because of school and work. I got caught up on everything so monday I am going to go figure everything out. But ya the key thing is straight BS, they just try to get as much money as they can out of you thinking were not smart enough to realize there obvious BS.
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From: Pasadena, CA
2002 C230K, 2013 BMW 328, 2015 BMW X5
I have it on a good source that EIS systems respond well to being flashed, I imagine this is similar to being reinitialized.
Since you are from SF, I wonder if you had some issues with corrosion on the board. I wanted to open up the board and check.
Since you are from SF, I wonder if you had some issues with corrosion on the board. I wanted to open up the board and check.
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From: San Francisco Bay area
C63 AMG
Do you still want it? I am in SF and you can have it if you'd like
