Mottman

Well, hello guys (and gals). Longtime reader, first time poster here with a couple of questions. Let me begin by saying that I've kept up with this forum since I took delivery of my car ('02 C230) in October 2001. The board has proven mighty helpful answering all of my questions thus far without me even having to post. In fact, the average person really would have no need to RTFM if he/she knew how to utilize the search feature on the forum.

Consider me a lucky one because I have had no major problems with my car to date. Oh sure, the transmission clunks into second a lot (hot and cold) and the sunroof used to rattle a little bit if the temperature was within 5 degrees of 75 (no longer does). Oh and I only got about 13k miles out of my Michelins, but I have been extremely satisfied with my car and wouldn't change a thing (except that 2nd gear syncro) .

But enough history, I have a question. I recently encountered my first "real" problem with my car. I took the magazine out of my cd changer and changed one cd (put in Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here, for what its worth). Put it back in, it flipped through them like always and now says MAGAZINE EMPTY. I've tried any number of cd's with the same result. I did a search on the topic and it seems that way back when a lot of us first got our coupes, many had the same or similar problems and the only solution was replacement. Is this true, or is it something I could diagnose? If it has to go to the dealer for service, that is fine but I don't want to be without my car for long (and some have been with changer problems).

One other question. I plan on keeping the car for a while (something I've never done before) and I want to make sure that everything is as it should under the hood. I am mechanically inclined and know cars well and I am not too crazy about the 10k mile oil change intervals. But at the same time I do believe that synthetic oils are great and am probably a little too busy (read lazy) to change my own oil between services especially when MB is footing the bill for scheduled ones. It has been about 3k miles since service A was done on my car. At 13.5k miles, I now notice a slight valve chatter at startup that lasts for about 3/4 of a second. No matter how cold or hot, it has never done this before. I do not drive my car hard at all (but I am no granny). To my knowledge, my dealership used the same weight oil that came in the car but you never really know because the nitty-gritty details of a Mercedes Benz are never discussed; at least at my dealer. It seems to be a lot of smoke and mirrors. I dropped my car off and a few hours later, it was given back to me "serviced". To be completely honest, I don't know what they did. I really wanted to talk with the people that performed my service because I am both familiar and concerned with the workings of my car. But such is not the norm with MBs I guess. I guess they are not completely in tune with the demographics of ALL of the c class buyers - many of whom CARE about their cars.

Well, that was quite a rant and I was rather wordy (though I've seen much longer and ?rantier? posts on this board)
. I guess in a nutshell my questions are: cd changer - anything easy I can do myself to avoid replacement? And the slight, but noticeable valve "chatter" - anybody else heard it? What should I do about it? If it is normal (and in some cars it is) I can deal, but I want it eliminated if it is not.

Again, I've kept up with this board for a while and I appreciate all of your help to date. There are many, many knowledgeable people on this forum and I thank you in advance for any help you can provide me.

ralph99

I've started getting the valve chatter on start-up also . . . maybe at about 15000 miles. Seems to only happen when the car has sat for at least 5 hours or so . . . Started bumping the starter in the morning a few times before actually starting the car . . Until my next B service in another week or so . . .

Matt230K

I think the problem with the CD changer is that Wish You Were Here is such a great album, the changer could not handle it and blew itself up.

But seriously, I think you will have to go to the dealer to get it fixed. Hopefully they will agree that a replacement is necessary and they will get it switched out rather quickly.

I don't have an answer about the valve chatter. It's normal for it to happen, but it shouldn't if the car hasn't been sitting for a long time. However, if it's for less than a second, then I don't know if it's really a problem.

steffen

Yeah I began noticing the same thing on the valve chatter - started happening around 6000 miles for me when the car is cold in the morning. I chalked it up to "car sounds rough when first starting" which a lot of people have talked about with the 2.3l engine...

--S

Halifax

whats a "valve chatter"? what does it do?

Halifax

talking about sound... my car is starting to sound like a ferrari! btw I think thats cool!

ralph99

. . . I know it sounds weird, but if I leave the key in the full-on ignition position for about 5-10 seconds before starting the car, I don't get the valve chatter . . . strange . . .

moomeh

i don't get the chatter when i turn on the car and leave it running till the rpm goes below 1k. when i start and go, i do get chatter. guess it all depends

Matt230K

Maybe the oil pump is starting to pump because you have powered it up, and you are getting more oil to the valves than if you had started it right away.

ralph99

wow, you mean the MB111 has an electric oil pump?

Matt230K

No, I'm not really saying anything. Just throwing out guesses.

Outland

Unlikely. The oil pump is too critical of a piece to be electric. If you have an electric fuel pump die, the car stalls. If you have an electric steering pump fail, you lose power steering. If you have an electric oil pump fail, you loose the whole motor. Oil pumps don't consume much HP anyway, and the simplicity of them is mechanical elegance.

It may be the purge valve you hear, not valvtrain clatter. OHC engines aren't known for the type of clatter that a pushrod engine with a pumped down lifter will make. Ever adjust the vavle lash on an old shovelhead? Now that's clatter!

lars

If you're really worried about this situation, you could look into installing one of the pre-oiler systems available from the aftermarket. Both hydraulic and electric pre-oiling systems are available. You turn the ignition key on, pause to allow the pre-oiler to start circulating the engine oil, and then start up.

The pre-oiler market is aimed towards engines that go weeks to months without being run (so boats and the average high-end collector car). I can't see the value in using a pre-oiler on an engine that will probably run 250,00 miles with regular use, but maybe others can.