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Hey all, just wanted to say hey, introduce the newest set of wheels to roll into my garage, and get some thoughts on my plan of action. My wife has been talking about a new car for a while and we finally decided to go for it. After sliding our butts in and out of some cars, she quickly decided that the C300 was the winner, hands down. Last weekend we drove down to Portland and nabbed a 2012 in Sapphire Gray. It was a bit of a drive but we were both pretty enamored with the color and the dealer (Mercedes) was confident enough in the car to offer a 60 day warranty. The extra power and smoothness of the M276 would've been preferable, but the fact that the M272 had been around for so long at that point gave some reassurance that the really important things would've been ironed out at that point. Besides, it delivered enough thrust to not give it much more thought.
It turned out to be in mostly amazing shape. The paint is immaculate and the interior was in great shape. The wheels have some curb rash but that's not a huge problem since my wife is still learning how to park without feeling the curb It only has 41k miles and had been serviced at that dealership its whole life. The only real booger is that it made a whining sound on startup the first time we fired it up. It didn't make it on any prior starts that day and has since only made it on the first startup after sitting overnight for about 5 seconds. Based on the sound, the scenario, and what I've read here, I'm pretty sure it's the alternator, though given the mileage it's a bit perturbing. For now I'm going to ride it out and see if things like idler pulley have any effect. I don't have the facilities to do significant surgery on the car for another month or two anyway and getting warranty to cover it has its own set of challenges.
That said, at this point I'm ready to give it a stage 0. Brake fluid was replaced recently and considering what's involved in the procedure, I'm going to hold off on the transmission fluid/filter for a couple of months as well. For now:
Oil change - Mobil 1 0W-40 + genuine filter
Engine + cabin filters - Mann
Thermostat - Borg Warner/Wahler plus some coolant from the dealer
Idler pulleys - genuine
Belt tensioner + belt - Febi + Contitech
Power steering fluid - CHF 11S
Spark plugs - genuine
Front + rear differential fluid - genuine
I'm going to be buying most everything from FCP. If anyone has suggestions on brands or anything else I should be thinking about, let me know! Before next winter hits I'll be buying some new tires as it's wearing some summer rubber right now. I'm tentatively planning on some ExtremeContact DWS 06. The engine also vibrates a fair bit at idle so new engine and transmission mounts may be on the list at some point.
I'm also planning on picking up a WIS repair bundle CD on eBay (unless someone has a better recommendation), and
scanner. Is WIS the place to go to find out things like what spec oil or coolant this engine requires?
My car is a 2004 Volvo XC90 T6 so I have a fair idea as to what to expect as far as maintenance and repair complexity, though to be honest from the repair videos I've seen the C300 seems to be a fair bit simpler in a lot of ways. This is our first Mercedes but isn't likely to be our last. My wife picking this car was a bit of serendipity as I wanted to test the MB waters anyway. I've had my "one day" eye on an E63 wagon.
Anyway, let me know what you think! I'm looking forward to being part of the community!
Thanks! Yep, I've been going through old posts to get an idea of what to be ready for. I'm big on preventative maintenance, especially on my wife's car since the tolerance for downtime is much lower.
I do more shopping on Amazon than I probably should too, but yeah, that lifetime warranty is hard to beat.
Nice looking car and congrats. I am looking into these and the wife has decided that the 228i coupe (BMW) is what she likes.
Not giving up yet.
Seeing your car makes me realize why I like the w204.
Fortunately I dodged that bullet because she sat in a 3-series at one point and decided the dashboard-mounted cupholder was a deal breaker. She uses them a lot so I guess I can see it. Personally, seeing all of the BMW traffic on JRITS was my reason for shying away from them. I'm sure plenty of the problems they run into is courtesy of the owners, but given that Mercedes seems to have a better track record and awesome cars, why bother?
It was an upgrade for both of us because I hated driving her last car, an '06 Camry. It was cheap as hell to keep up and never let us down, but it was just so dull to drive. Not to mention the C300 is worlds more attractive.
Years ago we went from a 99 vulva S80 (non-t6) to a 07 C230, just because it was falling apart and she didn't like driving a boat. It was much nicer then the Volvo, but then we traded up to a 2011 C300 and what a difference in throttle response and comfort. She now drives a 2014 C250 but I really wished I could've found a V6. Every time I drive our C250 I can hear the whiny motor along with my regrets but the C300s were getting harder to find around here. I love the Mercedes but I would never buy an automatic for myself, as I need a clutch and 5-speed to satisfy my commuting experience. Manual Mercedes are unicorns and I hate paddle shifters. You could cut off all three of my legs and I would still opt for a manual transmission.
Years ago we went from a 99 vulva S80 (non-t6) to a 07 C230, just because it was falling apart and she didn't like driving a boat. It was much nicer then the Volvo, but then we traded up to a 2011 C300 and what a difference in throttle response and comfort. She now drives a 2014 C250 but I really wished I could've found a V6. Every time I drive our C250 I can hear the whiny motor along with my regrets but the C300s were getting harder to find around here. I love the Mercedes but I would never buy an automatic for myself, as I need a clutch and 5-speed to satisfy my commuting experience. Manual Mercedes are unicorns and I hate paddle shifters. You could cut off all three of my legs and I would still opt for a manual transmission.
Same boat here, manual BMW are also getting hard to find! Maybe I can give it up. Or I could drive my ZSP E46 a tad longer.
Yeah I've heard the non-turbo 2.9s were a bit of a dog. The twin turbos on the T6 have some nice push. Holy cats they're harder to work on though.
Funny you mention the V6, one of the things I really liked about this car was the way it sounded. The exhaust note when you're winding it up is really good. A lot of V6s don't sound all that great.
I've driven stick enough to be able to get home if needed, but not enough to really appreciate them. Then again, having driven enough terrible automatics I can totally understand why people dig them. A manual E46 would be especially sweet. I've got a soft spot for the E39s and came this close --> <-- to buying an E38 before I ended up with the Volvo. These days you can get E38s for a song.
Thanks for the tip, Bahnstormer! I could see that really cleaning up the look. I always wondered what those chrome bulbs were for.
Turns out that whining noise was the secondary air pump, not the alternator. Once I got a chance to hear the noise with the hood popped it was instantly obvious that the noise was coming from the topside. It wasn't quite the buzzsaw noise I heard in the Youtube videos but you could tell it was getting there. I replaced it today and the whining was replaced with a soft whirring, so I think I can call that one done. Much easier and cheaper than an alternator!
Onto the next issue: the brake wear indicator notification popped up on the dash the other day. It turns out the slide pins on the front passenger caliper are frozen. There's only one wear sensor for the front and one for the back, both on the passenger side inner pad. Coincidentally enough this was the pad that was worn to a nub while the others look nearly new. After tallying up what it would cost to get it all squared away I decided I'm going to let the warranty take care of it ($150 for a caliper bracket? sigh). I guess this is a good time to remind everyone that slide pins should be lubed once a year or so. it doesn't take long and costs next to nothing.
Turns out that whining noise was the secondary air pump, not the alternator. Once I got a chance to hear the noise with the hood popped it was instantly obvious that the noise was coming from the topside. It wasn't quite the buzzsaw noise I heard in the Youtube videos but you could tell it was getting there. I replaced it today and the whining was replaced with a soft whirring, so I think I can call that one done. Much easier and cheaper than an alternator!
Onto the next issue: the brake wear indicator notification popped up on the dash the other day. It turns out the slide pins on the front passenger caliper are frozen. There's only one wear sensor for the front and one for the back, both on the passenger side inner pad. Coincidentally enough this was the pad that was worn to a nub while the others look nearly new. After tallying up what it would cost to get it all squared away I decided I'm going to let the warranty take care of it ($150 for a caliper bracket? sigh). I guess this is a good time to remind everyone that slide pins should be lubed once a year or so. it doesn't take long and costs next to nothing.
I hope you changed the secondary air pump fuse and relay.
I have a thread on this being a problem I'm on pump 2. I would change the switch it can get clogged and cause some hell. That way if it happens again you know it's the valves and most likely the lower valve it's expensive $400+.. my car has been fine since I re built the lower valve.
Good call. I did order a new relay but haven't installed it yet. I'll pop a new fuse in while I'm at it. I saw some people talking about the relay but figured my problem was unrelated. Does the relay just get stuck on the on position and burn the motor out or something? Is there a guide on rebuilding the lower valve?
Mine was full of black dust like this guy found. I assumed it was just a matter of cheap parts.
Good call. I did order a new relay but haven't installed it yet. I'll pop a new fuse in while I'm at it. I saw some people talking about the relay but figured my problem was unrelated. Does the relay just get stuck on the on position and burn the motor out or something? Is there a guide on rebuilding the lower valve?
Mine was full of black dust like this guy found. I assumed it was just a matter of cheap parts.
Ya I figured the relay pops out a little and burns the pump make sure you hear a click when you put the fuse and relay in if not keep doing it slowly and don't push to hard. Mine eventually clicked in.
As for the valve I just took it off and took it apart cleaned the crap out of it. Got all the black crap off then I used high heat rubber seal maker and glue. I made a rubber seal instead of the cheap paper one that had a hole and caused all the problems ( my guess but my car is quite again)
The switch is an easy fix and cheap, I would change it just because mine looked brown in the ends like condensation got in it and I blew it out with an air hose after black **** flew out.
05-17-2018, 02:42 AM
It only has 41k miles and had been serviced at that dealership its whole life. The only real booger is that it made a whining sound on startup the first time we fired it up. It didn't make it on any prior starts that day and has since only made it on the first startup after sitting overnight for about 5 seconds. Based on the sound, the scenario, and what I've read here, I'm pretty sure it's the alternator, though given the mileage it's a bit perturbing. For now I'm going to ride it out and see if things like idler pulley have any effect. I don't have the facilities to do significant surgery on the car for another month or two anyway and getting warranty to cover it has its own set of challenges.
