FQC32

Hello everyone. Just joined the forum today. As of last Saturday I am a new proud owner of a 2002 C32, 39K miles . Love the car so far, although I've been reading a lot in here as far as the typical things that could go wrong with the car - mainly the IC Pump failure and Valeo Radiator. I purchased an extended warranty for the car so am wondering if I should be proactive and replace these items before they malfunction or wait and then let the warranty take care of it. Thoughts? Thanks in advance for your comments.
Regards,
Francis

Scoop55

Welcome to the board, FQC. Post some pics when ou get a chance! (sorry, I'm no help on C32 issues).

TJ_Andrews

Welcome, I'm in the same boat, got a C32 with 32,500 miles like a month ago. So far so good, but I did replace the radiator and coolant/tranny fluid to be proactive and prevent any failures. And yeah, the IC pump is supposed to fail around 40k miles? I will probably get that replaced soon too. One thing I learned, this car likes to go fast, that's why when I'm daily driving it, I put it in "W(inter)" mode, so it starts in 2nd gear, prolly saves me some gas too.

eugeneC55

Hey Francis, I'm glad you decided to join!
Congrats on the car - don't forget to post some pics! We need to meet up to catch up on things - should be fun.
I think we might have another Chicago meet soon, everyone is getting ready to jump to summer rubber!

Enjoy your car, I hope to see you soon!
Eugene

gkstar

Francis, since the extended warranty is fairly expensive, I would use it to cover things as they break. One caveat though. By doing things productively you are paying money that you should not (with the warranty) but you are possibly saving much time and frustration having to deal with dealerships.

If I was to go proactive, change the rad first as leak may have bad consequences to the transmission. As for the I/C pump, get the most of your pump and wait until it breaks. If you change now, the after another 40k miles you may have to change again.

FQC32

Thanks everyone for the quick responses. I think I'll probably go ahead and replace the radiator to head-off any problems with the transmission. I'm not too mechanically inclined...anyone know of a reputable technician in the Chicagoland area that would do the install for me (including flushing of fluids) once I have the radiator? Perhaps an MB Tech that does some side jobs? By the way, I think I'm going with a Behr Radiator...any concerns with this?

FQC32

Hey Eugene, thanks! And thanks for recommending me to this Forum. It's been very informative. Definitely looking forward to meeting up.

See you soon.

FQC32

Thanks Scoop! I'll definitely post some pics as soon as I have some.

ScottW911

I'd caution you on this one. Have the radiator checked first. Only the early Valeos were bad and your 2002 may already have the Behr. Turns out, mine had the Behr from the factory. No need to unnessesarily buy a new rad.

Welcome aboard.

FQC32

Thanks for that tip Scott. I'll definitely check it out. Maybe I'll get lucky and have one that already has the Behr.

gkstar

My early 2003 model has the Valeo

I hope you are lucky as my car was at the dealership today for coolant loss issue and they could not find anything.

I cornered them asking if they checked for I/C core leak as well as doing glycol contamination test on the trany fluid. They were avoiding a straight answer and later said yes (I wonder now what they have really done). I will see the paper later when I get my car.

Great car though and I missed it while it was there

FQC32

Wow! Sorry to hear about that. I'm going to check if I have the Behr when I get home later today. But I agree, it's a great car.

I'm also a previous owner of a '97 C5 Corvette. I definitely prefer the refinement of the C32.

TJ_Andrews

It's a little tough to find where it says valeo, but just take a flashlight and look down through the cracks on the top driver side at the radiator. That view is what made me see it.

FQC32

Great! Thanks for the tip TJ. That was actually going to be my next question.

FQC32

Ok...any other tips on this? Just tried looking around the top driver side of the radiator with a flashlight and couldn't see anything. The only thing I saw was a number stamped on top - 61515; not sure if this is a part no. or what?

TJ_Andrews

What you were actually looking at was the top of the radiator, right (it's right in front of the fans)? It's kinda small and says "valeo" if it is in fact a valeo. Who knows though, it could have been traded out already by previous owner? Maybe someone else has insight on what that number means.

FQC32

Ok thanks TJ. I'll look again. I also read somewhere else on this forum about someone mentioning the color of the radiator itself. Could I use the color as an indicator? Mine is silver.

moorfan

I don't want to get your hopes up here, but that stamped number is the same one and location on my new Behr radiator. The Valeo radiator has a sticker in the same place that stamp is that says "Valeo". FYI, on the Behr radiator I bought it was labeled "behr" on the side of the radiator (can't remember which side).

You probably already have it.

Regards,
Pete

FQC32

Thanks Pete! That sounds promising. I'll keep looking in the meantime. Just not a whole lot of room to maneuver a flashlight. Arrgh!

FQC32

By the way Pete, did you mean that you have the exact same number stamped on your Behr? Or different numbers just in the same location.
Regards,
Francis

gaz

This caught my eye. In the UK the two gearbox modes are S(port) and C(omfort). Is this different in the US??

ScottW911

MB changed from S and W (winter) to the current S and C modes in 2004. Same funtionality. C or W will start the car in 2nd gear.

vraa

Sport and Summer are the same
Comfort and Winter are the same.

Sport and Summer are normal driving, Comfort and Winter start your car in second gear.

gaz

I was aware it starts off in second gear in C. Always suprises new passengers when you tell them we just blitzed someone from the lights, and we pulled off in 2nd!!!!!!!!!!

jtc55

welcome to the board!

hey Eugene, u need to set up another meet this summer. also, we need to find a place where we can