The Check Engine Light in my new C230K has been on almost constantly since I bought it. Brought it in and they replaced the oxygen sensor and the control module for electronic transmission. One day later the light is on again. (The car runs fine.)
ANY SUGGESTIONS???????

 

I feel your pain. Mine has been in for the same thing twice. The first time was caused by an "intermittant" fuel injector failure on the 3rd cylinder. They reset it and checked the connections to the injector. All seemed ok so they let it go.

A couple of weeks later it returned. I happened to have the engine temperature gauge up on the screen when I left work. I noticed that it didn't want to go above 60 degrees going uphill, and when going downhill it would shoot all the way down to the left so that it didn't even register on the gauge. Even after arriving at home, the temp wouldn't register above 60. This continued for some time until the temps went well above freezing. They checked it and sure enough the temperature gauge had gone bad and had to be replaced.

So yeah, that's my story. It seems to be fine now (knock on wood), but we'll have to wait and see. I hope they've gotten all the gremlins out of it this time. As far as I can tell, whenever the car hickups in any way relating to fuel, whether it be water in the gas to the fuel cap being off to the sensors going bad, the engine light comes on. I wish they had incorporated those errors into the computer screen like the rest, but oh well. The irony of it all is that the excuse I used to trade in my Honda for this car was that the engine light kept coming on .

O2b

 

Mine also called for a coolent temperature sensor and it was replaced but then I had to come back in a week later because it was really the thermostat. Isn't it funny that when a component fails they replace the sensor instead of the component. They must not get paid to diagnose problems and get paid big time to replace parts. No biggy, I got to drive the new C320 Wagon and got a midweek car wash, it was fun.

 

Oops - I meant to type thermostat - nothing wrong with the gauge. The engine just wasn't allowing itself to warm up.

Buellwinkle - I'm jealous! I am going to have to find a new dealership. Mine NEVER has offered to give me a loaner. I've had to drop it off and be picked up and it is really beginning to bug me!

 

With the advent of engine management systems there are sensors everywhere on cars today. Our Dodge Intrepid went into 'limp home' mode last week and the delaer immediately guessed it was a sensor....and he was right. The good news is often the failures are captured and the fix is quick. The bad new is that intermittent problems are still hard to find and every failure sutuation is not caught by the software. And yes, they are compensated for replacing parts but not for diagnostic time. I once had a bad headlight that was blowing fuses and it took them 14 hours to figure it out. They were compensated 1/2 hour for replacing a headlight.

 

Well, the check engine light came on for the 3rd time and I took it in this past Friday. It was what I had guessed - the computer had registered a problem with the thermostat for the 2nd time. My rep told me that they are ordering a thermostat AND a sensor. They hope to troubleshoot it that way and find out which one it is. From the sound of things though, I don't hold out too much hope - have you gotten any more info from them Buellwinkle?

BTW - also had them look at the squeak coming from the front. They lubed a bushing on a crossmember of some sort and it went away for about an hour. Now it is worse than before. I'll have them look at it again when I take it back this coming week.

 

There really is no excuse for this cr@p.

Engines today have no more sensors than engines from 15 years ago. An internal combustion automobile engine (and the fuel injection system) just isn't rocket science. The engine and fuel injection system on these cars really isn't significantly different than what was being used in 1987.

Buell is right - the "technicians" at today's dealerships are not mechanics at all - they are only parts changers. A mechanic is someone who can *diagnose* problems. The idiot mechanics of today are very, very bad at doing that. When they confront a problem, the solution is to just start swapping out parts until it (hopefully) goes away.

As someone who spent time working in a real shop (i.e. an independent repair shop) in the '80s, I was trained to diagnose problems. When you are doing non-warranty work, you can't just start swapping stuff out - customers won't put up with that.

 

Just a quick update - I called my dealer and told them that the squeak hadn't gone away and they said that it looked like it was going to take new bushings. They will replace them when they troublshoot my thermostat/temp. sensor at the end of the week. Unless they improved the bushings over the one I have, I worry they'll last just long enough that I'll have to pay for new ones a few months from now (post-warranty). I'll post more when I know more.