Hello everyone, any help will greatly be appreciated!
First forgive my mechanical ignorance. I'm a newly single working mother (my ex decided to live "his life") anyway, I have a 2003 c240. I purchased the car certified pre-owned from the dealer, never had any issues with this car, always taken it in for all scheduled maintenance work. Well my warranty expired, and no I regrettably did not purchase the extended warranty plan B.

Earlier this year I started my car up and a large white smoke bellows out from the exhaust then it just went away as quickly as it began. Weeks later, I'm driving and there it goes again the large phantom smoke. I park my car turned the engine off and a "clicking" sound was coming from behind my dash (sounded like it was coming from the ac vent). I had taken it to my mechanic the next day and during the drive there the check engine light comes on. My mechanic diagnosed the problem as "Plugs 1 & 2 fouled" "ignition coil & ignition wires need replacing" along with replacement of "air filter" which I agreed for the repairs. He also kinda of glossed over something about my a/c but did not seem concerned about that, other than perhaps needing some "freeon" (sp)?

My oil was gummy and he added a small amount of oil mixed with transmission fluid and advised that I drive over the weekend up to 100 miles and to return it back to him the following monday for the complete oil change, which I did. The car continues to bellow this phantom smoke at bizarre times, it can happen first thing in morning when starting, while driving, at take off, at slow speeds or at fast speeds and then it runs fine, however it does seem to lose power during the times it will smoke, also there is a rattling sound underneath the care just moments before I know it about to smoke out, then the car runs like a dream..I know this cannot be good. It does not always smoke, actually maybe once a month if even. The mechanic said it was water (condensation) as the source of the smoke mixed with faint blue smoke he thinks oil from the exhaust.

This weekend I got my oil changed by another shop, and it immediately smoked after changing, the shop immediately drained the new oil out and replaced it with high performance "50"? To stop the smoking, and in his words give me time to quote "Get rid of your car NOW..your piston ring is gone and the cost of repair is more than cars value" unqoute. Both shops specializes in MB. However, the shop over the weekend never repaired my car or touched it other than the 1 time oil change. I have very low mileage 55k, engine is quiet you can barely hear the car running. I really can't afford another car during this time in my life, I can't afford to pay for another engine and with this engine problem (perhaps) I won't even be able to trade it in!

My mechanic is not so sure if it's the ring yet, but he is not sure what it is yet, I have to bring it back to him tomorrow, his test keeps saying Plug 2 is malfunctioned. Any suggestions to take to my mechanic or is it wishful thinking on my behalf that it's not the engine?

 

I wish I could help however I do believe that others much more knowledgeable will chime in shortly good luck!

 

You can try hitting up the w203 community as they might have some who've run into this with your w203 model, but without being mean or anything, owning a Mercedes isn't cheap and given the difficult situation in your life, maybe you shouldn't be in one for now? Trade it in for something much cheaper to maintain and more reliable. I understand it's a tough pill to swallow taking the status drop, but reality is, you're a single working mother and your first priority is your child, not your status symbol.

 

BSlapped in the face with a reality check... a car is the most expensive thing you can own, next to a house (and maybe some needy teenagers)...

 

Yeah, I gotta agree with Mike. MBs can be nasty expensive and the W203 guys will likely have a better handle on whether or not this is a common issue. It sounds like you have either a cracked head or head gasket issues. Either way, it may be fairly expensive to take care of. Best of luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

Michael's advice is excellent. Look at these two links. The first is quality ratings from JDPower for cars similar in size to a C Class. This shows how owners rated the quality of these new cars after owning them three months.

http://www.jdpower.com/autos/ratings...y/midsize-car/

Then, look at this link for vehicles named Top Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which has the most stringent safety testing standards in the U.S.

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/default.aspx

Finding a car with good quality and which is on the Top Pick list would be a great start for your family's new life!!

Ford Fusion, for example, meets those criteria and is usually well discounted. If near term resale is not a concern, the identical Milan from the discontinued Mercury brand would probably have some "desperation" discounts about now. Honda Accord is another great choice, with the only reason for missing the Top Pick list being that it rated "Acceptable" instead of "Good" on roof crush, which is a low-frequency problem. But, it's daily quality is also so good, and long established, that it still merits consideration. Good luck!

 

Thank you all for your responses.
@Azn c300 this not about status, I could care less about the type, brand, year or model of a vehicle, as long it's safe, reliable and dependable and of course affordable. But, thank you for your concern for my children. I guess what I'm really asking before I commit to another vehicle with car notes, could there be another plausible reason this is happening besides the major i.e engine?

@Sportsstick Thank you for your suggestion, I am kinda of looking a the Saturns, I do hear great things about them.

Also how can I possibly trade this car in with engine damage? Do you think the Dealer @ Saturn will give me anything for it? Should I mention the pre-existing problems? Like I said I'm "Green" to this entire car thing. LOL

 

Most of what you hear about Saturns actually relates to the better than average sales and service treatment of customers. The cars are quite unremarkable. That being said, based on only average quality performance and somewhat above average safety, the Aura or Vue of 2008MY or newer could be passable, although the Aura did not do particularly well on rear impact...considered "Marginal". If it must be a Saturn, I would take the Vue if manufactured after December 2007 and had side impact air bags. However, any Saturn is less than the optimal choice for quality and safety, so not sure why you would confine yourself to those. A 2008 4 cylinder Honda-certified Accord coming off lease could be a great opportunity.

P.S. You are aware Saturn has been closed down by General Motors and their used cars must be serviced elsewhere, taking away what was their only true competitive advantage?

 

Ask your mechanic if they only replaced plugs 1 & 2 or if he replaced the entire set. Also, he might need to verify that he gap'd #2 correctly. As far as the mystery smoking, I'd run some seafoam through it (follow the directions) and see if that helps. You'll probably get a ton of smoke when you seafoam it, but the **** is a miracle in terms of "unfouling" an engine. Most mechanics I know do it around 75k miles.

 

The scary thing is JD Power put MB as one of the more reliable vehicles... Lexus was at the top... Ford was also there. Everyone seems to put MB in with the rest of the Germans which wasn't the case..

http://www.jdpower.com/autos/ratings...ings-by-brand/

 

No real inconsistency......much has changed for the better at Mercedes Benz since her 2003 W203 platform vehicle was built seven years ago. However, when and if even a current product needs service/repair, it will certainly be more costly than a Ford or Honda.

Also, you are showing the IQS study, which is based on 3 months-in-service 2010 models, where MB got 5 stars. If you look at JDP's durability data on the same website, you will see MB only gets 3 stars for that study of 3 year old vehices. Either MB has improved, or the vehicles deteriorate relative to the market over time...but the former seems most plausible given that even new MB cars did not do as well years ago.

 

Firstly, I would obtain the correct diagnosis of the problem before making any decision on selling. Selling the car because of a minor problem that can be inexpensively repaired would not be financially clever.

It there is a costly repair involved & the symptoms only exhibit themselves at monthly intervals then you would be stiff if it happened when you were trading it in at the dealers I would not tell the dealer of the problem.

Good luck.Keep us informed.

 

Post the question here https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w203-3/ as that's the correct forum for your vehicle model and see if it's an issue that's already been addressed before. As stated, if it's a big issue, then trade the car in and leave it up to the dealership or places like CarMax to discover the issue as the onus is on them to do their due diligence on the vehicle.

 

All of this fumbling around by clearly unqualified shops does not sound good.
MB V-6s, in general. do not have designed in engineering defects like so many others in their past. For example, oil leaks and head gasket failures are uncommon. And white "smoke" is usually engine coolant, while blue smoke is oil and black is fuel.

As to spark plugs, your engine has two per cylinder for a total of twelve and each one has it's own coil, called a coil pack. There are no "coil wires" since the coilpack is mounted directly on each plug. Defects related to the ignition system can be diagnosed to the defective part by the MB technician's laptop tester, so throwing parts at it to find the bad one (like Christmas tree lights) is no longer necessary. And the official plug replacement mileage is 100K miles.

As to the engine oil, an MB approved synthetic must be used. US market cars were factory filled with Mobil 1 0W40 which is still used today. Oil filters should not be generic auto parts store items. And, I wonder how it was determined that your oil was "gummy" (a technical impossibilty, seems to me) since the engine has no dipstick.

As to "freon", this refrigerant has not been used since the early '90s when it was replaced by R134A.

And the comment about the piston rings is off base because the engine would be consuming a lot of oil if they were worn which I don't believe for a minute.

I wonder if these shops see you and your car as a revenue opportunity.

 

That's now but from 2001 to 2003 at least, the then new W203 had MANY problems. Which cost MB a boatload of money in warranty claims and combined with the early W211 cost MB their worldwide engineering reputation.

I bought one new in 2001 and speak from bitter experience.