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This is a thread to post anything you've done to your car today, or recently, that you would like to share. It's always great to see and hear what people are doing to their cars.
Please post pics whenever possible to illustrate some aspect of your work.
If this is your first post on the thread, please provide a brief rundown of all DIY work you've done on the car in the past.
I own a 2005 C230 ... very happy with the car. I had dealership and indy work done on the car until around 90k, and then I started DIY'ing after a $1250 brake job quote put me over the top!
About two years ago I did:
* engine air filter and cabin air filter
* brake pads and rotors all around, flushed brake fluid
* flushed PS fluid
* diff fluid change
* oil change and filter
About 18 months ago:
* Stereo! ... Pioneer AVIC z130BT refurb, Alpine MRX-V70 amp under rear deck in trunk, Hertz ESK165.5L & ECX165 door speakers, JL Audio 10w3-d2 in trunk, and KnuKoncept wiring all around.
About a year ago (~100k):
* transmission filter, gasket, complete fluid change, replaced electrical adapter
* struts and shocks all around, new top strut mounts in front
* front control arms, sway bar (with molded bushings), and sway bar links
* fuel filter
* rear transmission mount
* oil change and filter
A few weeks ago (118k):
* spark plugs
A few weeks ago I also replaced one of the front engine mounts because I suspected they had collapsed. I replaced the right side mount which is very easy to get to. it made a big difference in noise and vibration, and surprisingly also the transmission shifting got a lot smoother.
Yesterday, in addition to another oil change, I replaced the left side engine mount. It wasn't really that much harder -- even easier in a way because it didn't have the dust boot over it -- but it did take a lot more time due to the tight spacing under the compressor. To remove the top bolt I bought an offset wrench tool from an eBay seller for 15 bucks -- would have been impossible to do it without the wrench. It took me about an hour or so to replace each mount. Actually one of the easier DIYs I've done.
Here is a photo showing the compressed height of the old mounts compared to a new mount (in the center). Both old mounts were more-or-less bottomed out.
Today I washed my car because that snow storm left it quite disgusting.
This week I did the black gloss vinyl on the roof of my car.
Earlier in the month I did the wheel bearings and hubs, as well as an alignment and balance, prior to my 1500 mile trip to Canada. Averaged 29.8 miles per gallon!
Since I purchased the car:
-New lower control arms
-Transmission fluid and filter
-Rear differential fluid
-Oil and filter
-Crankshaft sensor
-Air filters
Coming soon:
-Suspension work
-New tires all around
-Possibly new rims (or refinish current)
-PS fluid
-Brake fluid
-Ignition refresh (plugs, wires, etc)
-Rear spoiler
-Front lip
I'm not sure how much of all of that will get done, as I plan to buy another car in the 1st half of next year (looking into C32s, C55s, E55s, and E500/550s) but for the time being, I want her running 100% and when I do purchase a new car, this one will be kept in the family anyway.
Put my interior back together after taking out my summer rims that had been swapped out for the winters. Managed to go with the winters one week after I should have, which made me leave my car at work on Wednesday and pick it up on Thursday after the snow had cleaned itself up.
Summers are going to the powdercoaters early next year; hate the current color that I had done last year. Will be going with a red with a gold flake. Also noticed that my passenger's side door sill is cracked, so will have to order one of them.
Shortly, will have to take the car in to get some audio done. Swapping in an A10 and getting my new Sirius receiver hardwired. It's always something.
In the last 6 months...
>Water pump
>(so obviously coolant)
>Oil
>Transmission service (drain and fill)
>Power steering fluid drain'n'fill
>Swapped summers for winters
>Blacked out disgusting-orange side markers
>Full under body inspection and rust clean-up
To do after winter:
>Spark plugs
>Tint (I've been threatening to do it for the last two years but got lazy and my wallet hurt)
@Tommy, I'm hankerin' to buy some Eibach Pros. How are they on the coupe? How do they look? How much of an improvement is there over the stock springs?
Well spent most of my day in the garage taking care of 2 cars. I replaced air filters and found out that my C240 doesnt take cabin air filters under the dash only under the hood. And noticed some dirty oil residue in both sides of my valve covers. Thats gonna hurt. And I ran an AUX cable from the passenger side molding all the way up to my cup holder, that was a PITA. Other than that it was a great day!
C230 Sport Coup + 2006 W164 ML350 + 99 Ford Escort RIP
Last 6 months?
"new" brake booster
New door stop, drivers side. 2nd time.
IR door sensor, did the cold solder joint fix
ESP Yaw sensor
1 Door speaker
Scoche in dash FM modulator ie Aux input to the Audio 20.
Michelin Pilot Sports on all 4 wheels.
Replace one bent rim.
Oil of course
Fuel filter
Diff oil.
Spark plugs
Water pump!
Scrubbed the leather seats till like new!
and of course, replaced the entire rear hatch about a year ago.
Oh yeah, most recently got the new hatch tinted.
Things I'd like to do, replace the steering wheel, or repair the leather on the steering wheel.
Replace the self dimming drivers side mirror $$$$$$!
@Tommy, I'm hankerin' to buy some Eibach Pros. How are they on the coupe? How do they look? How much of an improvement is there over the stock springs?
They're a decent improvement. The drop is not much, though, so if you're looking to get the front/rear drops to look more similar, these are not the solution.
C230 - buy my extra steering wheel. I have a Cyber Monday special going on right now!
They're a decent improvement. The drop is not much, though, so if you're looking to get the front/rear drops to look more similar, these are not the solution.
*****. That's almost exactly what I was looking for. That and improved performance, of course.
Today, I finally had time to put my flat hood emblem on the car and switched out the side markers with clear ones. Now I just need to get my CF lip spoiler installed then off to concentrating on the interior and audio setup. And thinking about getting new wheels as well.
* Replaced top coolant pipe (o-ring was leaking)
- new unit contained new water temp sensor
* flushed coolant using 5 gallons distilled water
* Replaced starter (went out) with Bosch reman unit
* Replaced exhaust manifold gasket, trying to chase down a minor exhaust leak (still not solved)
Today -- Replaced (added) supercharger oil.
* AC Delco & syringe ... $16
* 0ml out (I think it was dry)
* ~75ml in.
I own a 2005 c230 1.8L Sport Sedan, 125K miles, running great.
My recent DIY Mods/Repairs/Maintenance:
1. Sprintbooster throttle controller
2. K&N Air Filter
3. Aux cable iPod integration, with bluetooth adapter
4. EuroCharged ECU tune
5. Topside ATF fluid change
6. Power steering fluid change
7. Seafoam engine through brake booster line as well as gas tank
8. Transtune in transmission (eliminated hard shift)
Mods/Maintenance in near future:
1. Kleeman Headers and second cat delete (not DIY)
2. Bilstein shocks (not DIY)
3. Full ATF flush with filter change
4. Oil change
5. CL grill change
6. Change to 18"AMG wheels with spacers (customized with black plastidip)
7. HR sway bars
8. GPS radio head unit upgrade
9. Retune ecu after header install
Possible/undecided mods and repairs:
1. Ozz lightweight wheels with new tires.
My AMG wheels are spectacular but are very heavy. I also have several sets of tires. Once I install the AMG wheels will have to decide if the trade of between weight, style, and significant extra cost is acceptable.
2. Transmission 13 pin connector and conductor plate.
Was having some hard shifts, but after adding seafoam transtune the situation seems completely resolved. If I get hard shifts in future likely to check out the leak in gasket in 13 pin connector and may even drop valve body and swap conductor plate. But prefer not to do this if not necessary..
John, was it hard to crack open the fill screw? Is it a torx?
It's a T30 torx. It was only hand tight ... I removed it with a Torx screwdriver by hand ... one of the easiest bolts I have removed on that engine ...
Also, fyi looking at the fill plug line on this pic I found on the internet,
based on the green line I drew, it looks like with 75ml filling to the fill plug level, the oil will cover most of the bottom gear, which I assume would be plenty to oil both gears as they turn. With 135ml of oil I'd think your oil level would be close to halfway up the top gear. I can see if the SC was laying down as in this photo, maybe the fill plug would sit at about 135ml .... but with it in a vertical position the only way to get more oil in there is to shoot it in fast and try to plug that hole as quickly as possible.
Maybe they recommend a "full fill" because they know it leaks out over time, and they want it to last a while before it's all gone ... ?
I think halfway up the bottom gear is still pretty good though. Maybe I'll d another drain-and-fill in a year and see how much has leaked out.
If you haven't serviced the SC yet (in the last 50k miles) you might want to check it and do the fill ... there's a good chance it's empty. I swear my engine is running quieter now that there is gear oil in there. And for $16 for oil + syringe, it's too inexpensive not to do it
The only thing that is of concern is which oil to use.. I've read that MB oil is different from AcDelco etc. And. MB oil is obviously something like 10x the price
It's an Eaton M65/M45 supercharger, to my knowledge Mercedes Benz does not make SCs. There are a few oils that people use for their Eaton SCs ... this seems to be one of the most popular.
Inside the compressor snout where the oil goes, there are two metal gears, a nylon coupler, some seals and some non-sealed bearings. Whatever oil started out in my unit disappeared over the last 11 years, so if you're worried about this non-MB oil deteriorating the seals, well the stock oil managed to make it past the seals, so seal deterioration seems fairly inconsequential at this point.
I don't know why MB prices their oil so high. Maybe they put some research into coming up with an oil that is "better" than the commonly used SC oils out there, and they have to recoup their R&D costs on a product that people rarely use, and don't use much of when they do.
My OM611 has turbo from Garret, never serviced it tho
I realized that ASSYST is not time based at all and it's been 1,5 years since oil change so yesterday ordered following OEM items from a MB dealer in Germany:
- Cabin air filter
- Engine air filter
- Oil filter
- 7liters of Mobil 1 New Life 0-40
Saved a good €30 doing so even with these trivial items. Still 11k km's to service A according to my car but it will take too long to get there. B service was in Nov 2014
Got the rear diff fluid changed last night, on my 07' 4matic and it really cleared up the back end chatter; still need the front diff fluid changed out and that it planned for Monday. Used the write up from here only manage to get 925ml out of the 1L needed so I might get under there again to top it off.
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