OK friends,... joined about 3 months ago to do as much research as I could get in before buying. Today, I just bought a 2002 C32 w/48k on the odometer @ 26k even. It's black/black with everything stock, and in very good visible condition. Equipped with sunroof and six CD changer in glovebox. You can manually shift, but with left & right taps on the shifter as opposed to on the steering wheel.

I had the chance to read thru all the repair and warranty paperwork the owner had which included a new power steering unit, new front & rear rotors, corrective alignment of pulley assembly and bearing replacement relating to the super charger (???), a visit to seek-n-destroy interior "cllicking noises" in front dash/console area, and a visit to replace a pc something or other valve and sway bar bushings! Also kept were shop receipts (from two different area MB dealers) for scheduled (regular) maintenance visits. What a history to look at.

Drove the car all day today and I have to admit, it didn't feel like a 5 year old car,... very tight, no bounce and hardly any noises other than the exhaust and the whin of the super-charger.

My post is two-fold. First I'm desparately seeking positive feedback on the price ($26,000) I paid for a 5 year old car,... and 2nd, what things to keep my eyes open for in the next 30 days. While this is a private sale, in the absence of a seller warranty, my credit union recommended a 30 day period (minus use) and the seller agreed. We used the credit union's private vehicle sale contract & forms. So I'd really like to know if there are cues to be on the look-out for,... the kind of cues that can quickly signal something is about to fail or IS failing.

BTW,... I have the car now and all things to fanalize the sale are sceduled for Friday (credit union check and title transfer). The seller is a long-time friend of the family and I suspect nothing less than truthful representation.

TIA for any and all advice.

 

I paid 26500 for a 2003 w/ 29k on the ODO 3 months ago

from my research, 27k was the common price, ranging from 23k to 32k

 

Uhmmm,.... seems like I didn't get as good a price as I was thinking. I used the search functions on CarMax and a few other sites and one local dealer to form a reference. Sounds like I didn't do such a good job. I saw a lot of C320 going for 25-26, so I figured 26 for a C32 was about right. I just went to Carmax again and saw only two C32's listed one was 25.5 (02 with 67k) and the other was 26.5 (03 with 77k). Twenty six five for an 03 with 29k sound awesome!

 

Look at the TSB thread, should still be on the first page.

• If it has a Valeo Radiator have it replaced immediately.
• Take your car to a dealer and have them perform a glycol test on the transmission fluid.
• Listen for an electric motor running from the front right fender area after the car is shut off. If it doesn't run for a few seconds after being shut off, it's possible your intercooler pump needs to be replaced.
• Try out your seat heaters - they should heat your back and the ***-part.
• Try the auto-up features on your windows - they should actually go all the way up, and not stop half-way and go back down.
• Check to see if your rear-view mirrors wander around as you drive the car.
• Go over some bumpy roads and see if there is any looseness or creaks/rattles.
• When the car is cold, it might vibrate for a while at about 40mph.
  
• And last but not least....................drum roll please................
  
• Accelerate very slow from a stop, like your going to take off very slowly - just light pressure on the pedal. Continue with this slow acceleration through a few shifts and see if you get a jerk in the power train somewhere around 1500 rpm as you let the car shift. You will have it, everyone with this car does, to varying degrees. You can try various things and different dealers react differently to it. Some say "Meh...live with it" and others replace the tranny, torque-converter, etc...and sometimes they do a retraining of the torque-converter...all depends.

Welcome to the C32. Your next investment should be Advil and then stock in Advil.

All of that said, if you are a DIYer this car can pay back - I know it's subjective, but it looks awesome and turns heads everywhere I go and when it wants to be, it's fast as hell.

Buy a sprint-booster from someone (search the forums/classifieds) and see if you don't like that better. There is a sprint-booster feedback thread on the c32 forums, look for that.

Post pics!

 

I'm selling my 2002 c32 for 19k with lots of extras.. 104k miles but I bet it looks and drives nicer than cars with 50k miles.

 

That's a pretty harsh welcome!

I think it's an overreaction to replace a Valeo radiator without evidence of a problem. I suspect a lot less than all of Valeo radiators have a problem.

Most stuff is consistent with an aging European sedan. You owned an Audi turbo -- there are no "jackpot" problems like the ones we used to lose sleep over!

 

How will you know what kind of radiator it has? Does it say Valeo??

 

Thanks for the list of 'to-do's' Bif. I'm on it. Like I said,... I'll have the car all the way up til Friday when we finalize everything.

I will post some pics tonite. How much do you think a local MB dealer will charge for the trans glycol test? And where can I find a PDF of the owner's manual,... of all the historic documentation kept, the owner's manual is missing.

You're gonna love this one,... This morning I just noticed that the front and back tires aren't the same size. Lotta stuff to discover with this little hot rod! Right now I'm trying to figure out what these three little buttons on the bottom left of my rear view mirror do, and how to switch from AM to FM. I also have to figure out how to make the seats stay where I put them once I turn the car off. It's alsmot impossible getting out when I turn the car off. I've resorted to getting out and THEN reaching in and shuting things down. Crazy ain't it! LOL!

Again,... thanks! And thanks for the welcome too!

 

Good question,... how can I tell? And what problems were these radiators having?

One of the repair visits had to do with the intercooler. It mentioned pulley alignment and bearing replacement. Does this have anything to do with the noise I should be hearing in the fender area? I'm not hearing it!

 

ericpd,

Sorry you didn't wait just a bit longer. I'm about to put my full Stage II+ car up for sale in similar condition to what you've described, but with TSB's addressed already and over $11K in mods for free (total asking price will be not far north of what you just paid)! Either way, the C32 is a sweet ride and you're going to have a LOT of fun with it. Welcome to the family!

 

Just to pay to get it done, I think it's at least $300 (if I can remember correctly). There are a couple of ways to test for glycol in the ATF. The first is the Schiff's reagent colorimetric test (that is the basis of the MB glycol test). You just oxidize your ATF sample to produce resulting aldehyde (if you have contamination) and then add Schiff's reagent to produce the color (purple-ish). If you don't have those reagents lying around, here's a good kit you can purchase:

Product # 2186400 from Hach. It's only about $85

It's not really quantitative, but you can still get a 'yea' or 'nay' result providing you include the right controls (unused ATF and ATF spiked with some antifreeze). I got this kit to verify my home-made analyses and it worked fine.

Alternatively, you can get somewhat of a 'yea' or 'nay' result by just applying a couple of drops of your ATF to blotting paper and let soak in for a few hours. The way the stain appears can tell you if there are tell-tale signs of glycol contamination. With considerable glycol presence, a ring develops around a yellow-ish / brown center. It looks like this:



Create an account with MBUSA.com (owners online). You'll probably need the VIN to set up an account. Once you do that, you can get the pdf from there. It's about 27MB in size.

 

Thanks friend. Got it! Just discovered it has a brand new battery too! What is this clamp thing that fits over the battery? And there's a small hose/tube that's dangling right in front of it. I'm wondering what that connects to. It looks like whoever replaced the battery didn't completely clamp this thing back on. It has a filter on the bottom so I'm asuming it some kind of air flow through it,... maybe interior air. It's a long way from the motor to be air flowing to the engine. It's right up against the firewall on the passenger side and completely hids the battery. Looked like the filter was newly replaced as well,.... what is it?

Also, contaminents in the trans fluid,... am I looking for small metalic bits or something like that? That seems bad for any car.

Thanks again!

 

I respectfully disagree. I only posted what I would like to have read when I joined up when I bought my car.

As for the Valeo, yeah, hunt around near the driver's side near the top of the radiator, and I think it's good preventative maintenance - ~$300-$500 to alleviate what could turn into...what?...

That 2000 Audi with 140k+ miles has less problems on original suspension parts than my C32 with 50k miles with bushings, sway-links, yadda yadda all replaced. Now it's the strut top bearings...at 50k miles?...now I'm having the steering rack issues. The things we are replacing on these cars at 30k-60k miles are not standard wear items.

Hell I didn't even get into all the issues I've had. Those are just the hits. There are a lot of B-sides that just should not happen in a car like this - hell any car. My 1995 Suburban is more reliable - and before someone says MB has more technology so it's going to have those issues...they're not really pushing the envelope with power mirrors and sway bar links.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this car. It's nicer, more pleasant to be in, and more luxurious than anything else I've owned and when the inter-cooler pump is working, my tranny isn't jerking, I don't have coolant leaking directly into my intakes, and Venus is in the 4th house of Capricorn, it's fast as hell - but it's literally been in the shop 12 times in a year.

 

You guys are scaring me now!

 

That's an overflow tube - it's meant to just dangle there I think - prevents any overflow of sulphuric acid to the top where the filter is.

Yep - it's the cabin air filter. And good reason to have that battery overflow tube dangling downwards!

You wont find metallic pieces unless you drop the transmission pan (i.e. if you are changing the ATF and filter). If you are finding metal pieces - probably not a good thing! In my previous post, I was referring to glycol contamination.

 

Well then I guess to add balance I need to report that I have a 2002 C32 with 47,000 miles and have experience NO mechanical issues whatsoever. Valeo radiator is radiating just fine. The suspension bushings were replaced before I bought it and I've had no noise or problems.

My 2000 Audi with 50,000 miles had suspension control arms replaced, a leaking steering rack and a toasted transmission. It's all the luck of the draw.

 

Ok,... overflow tube makes sense after looking at it again, and you wouldn't want to have any acid dripping on the filter. A car full of gagging folks comes to mind.

Exactly what is glycol contamination, and where would this glycol come from? I'm more than way confused on this one.

And after looking thru the online owner's manual, I'm thinking my seats may be wired backwards. When I push forward on the seat (***) button, the seat goes back, when I push back on the button the seat goes forward,... AND according to the manual, when you get out, the steering wheel is suppose to get out of the way by telescoping in and raising up. In my case, the seat goes fully forward and the steering wheel moves completely down almost laying on my lap. Like I said, I'm having to get out before shuting the car down,... else I'm nearly pinned in.

Also, I noticed that in the manual, I in-dash navigation system is featured. Was this an option for 02? I got just a plain radio with a drop down head where you can insert a cassette. The 6 disc changer is in the glovebox though. Uhmmm, wonder what an installed nav unit would cost me,... if it can fit in like what's displayed in the manual.

 

Our transmission fluid gets run through the radiator system to keep the transmission fluid cool. In some of the radiators supplied to Benz, there is leakage and as a result the coolant (glycol) bleeds into the transmission fluid as it passes through the radiator. Transmissions HATE running on glycol. It will start with poor shifting, and then kill the transmission.

Your seat/wheel wiring is a serious problem. Maybe easy to fix, but definitelty whacked.

 

Thanks Fifth Ring,... after doing a search and reading some other threads on the glycol subject, I was able to catch up! I'm with ya on the wiring thing,... the way the seats operate seems backwards and opposite to normal expectation. All the button works by in reverse logic so to speak (well just the button that represents your butt). And like I said,... instead of opening up things to make in-n-out easier, the seat travels forward and the steering wheel gets in the way when you take the key out!

Today, I had a chance to open this little thing up a little. UNBELIEVABLE! I'm also discovering more stuff,... like you can raise and lower the windows and sunroof with the key remote. Nice! I just wish the tire sizes were the same,... cheaper maintenance and replacement I'm thinking!

 

I've got all your answers! About a year ago, I bought a second set of OEM wheels, and have swapped around so that all of my wheels are the OEM rear wheel, and I'm running 245/40/17s on all four wheels. There is no rubbing, and it looks pretty good too. And it never hurts to have more rubber on the road.

The pic below is taken at Virginia International Raceway where I beat up on some S4s, STis and others! Other than the auto trans, it's a great track car too.

 

Isn't there a TSB for the reversed seat controls?

 

Yes there is a TSB on seat control modules,... couldn't find it here but it does exist. I found out from my local MB dealer. They are being replaced,... I was also told that a faulty control module also drains the battery.

On the issue of the radiator and anti-freeze leaking into the transmission,... there were no danger signals identified. That's not to say I'll have this problem sometime in the future.

How could MB let their QC go so low? However, as of right now,... I'm having a ball!

 

OK,... here come the gremlins! I'm now experiencing a constant battery drain. This is event #3. At first I thought I might have left something on. Event two I thought maybe the new battery the seller included with the car might have been faulty (yeah right). This time I'm almost certain the drain is coming from the car.

I haven't noticed anything strang electrically with the car,... except the seat controls working in reverse. But I doubt if there is a connection there. I've switched the lights to manual so that I can make sure they're off when I park the car. After my last use, I listened to see if there were any fans working,... I even went into the garage after about 45 minutes to see if the a cooling fan or something had turned itself on (I had this problem with an Acura). Nothing,... I could not find anything that suggested a bat drain.

This morning,... dead battery.

Any thoughts? Anyone else run into this before?